
Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start? - throwaway8891
I want to build a side project. Especially, one that makes money. Even if it brings in $100, I feel that it will provide more satisfaction than my current job.<p>I can code in python with some help.<p>Can you provide some ideas on where to start? What are some simple things I can build by myself? Any ideas?
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tmaly
I would recommend finding an existing market. By that find something that
already exists and has paying customers. If they have hundreds of reviews or
if there is a forum where the product or service is actively discussed go
there. Look for one or two common problems that paying customers have that is
not being addressed. Try to make a product that is similar but solves those
one or two problems.

Then work your way nicely into the forum and be helpful. Only after some time,
suggest your product as a solution.

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matt_the_bass
Do you have any hobbies? If so, what is the king you wished you had for that
hobby. Make it for yourself, then sell it too.

Mine was making cool gifts for people. Now I have a art-piece that I sell:
www.finewordclocks.com

It’s not a lot of revenue but it’s fun, gives me an excuse to buy cool “toys”
aka tools, and I get to teach my Kids about making cool things with fancy
tools.

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mindcrime
The archive[1] of the video content from YC's "Startup School" is freely
available. There's some really good content there that would probably help you
a lot. I'd suggest go through those, and just skip the ones that obviously
aren't relevant to where you're at (like the ones on fundraising, hiring
staff, etc.). The ones about "product" issues would likely answer a lot of
your questions.

The other thing I'd suggest is to read _The Four Steps to the Epiphany_ by
Steve Blank - or the follow-on / 2nd Edition, which was re-titled as _The
Startup Owner 's Manual_. They're the same book in a sense, but they're
different enough that I'd actually recommend reading both eventually. But
personally I'd still start with TFSTTE.

[1]: [http://startupschool.org/library](http://startupschool.org/library)

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soulchild37
[https://indiehackers.com/products](https://indiehackers.com/products) has a
list of apps that earns money. If you want to skip through those market
research work, you can clone some of the profitable apps there, maybe with
your own little twist.

If you are willing to do the market research work, pick an audience (say,
python developer, since you are one and understand it most), find out whats
their problem (maybe setting ENV? maybe setting up a server to deploy to?) ,
and start from there.

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aregsarkissian
Start by finding a small group of people that have a problem that you might be
able to solve by writing python scripts or a simple web app perhaps built with
flask. Joining a few meetups or online forums or looking for problems in your
current job may give you an idea of how to connect with these people. Then it
is a matter of throwing together the simplest possible app that could address
the main issues these people are having and going and talking to them to see
if they would pay for it and adjust your product based on their feedback

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invalidusernam3
This doesn't really answer your questions directly, but it's something that
I've learned the hard way over the years: start small and fail early.

Don't spend hundreds of hours on ideas before you know if it will work or not.
If your intention is to make money, make the smallest MVP you can to start
testing if it has real potential. If it clearly doesn't work, move onto the
next idea.

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iamthelord
I run a side project that earns $500-$800 per month and my intention was to
make something useful for myself. Never thought of money. You should not think
of money first. Only think of usability. Think about money later.

~~~
kull
Link ?

