@jamie_sprowl I draw my inspiration from a variety of places. Ideally from personal problems I try to solve, since it’s easier to build in general, but I also come up with ideas in different ways, like by mixing different mechanics / products together, improving an existing product, or just trying to build something completely random. I don’t know if I follow trends much, I’ve considered it but trends come and go quickly, so by the time I would have finished the product it might not be relevant anymore, it’s risky.

@sarah_wright7 Thank you! I’ve been building things from a very young age, I suppose it all depends on your definition of a product 😅 I had been toying with creating my own Windows applications with Visual Basic when I was around 7, and creating games with Flash around that time as well. I just thought it was super fun to be able to invent anything that came to mind. Websites specifically didn’t come about until much later on, I think I must have been 15 or so when I had the idea to create my own social network, which obviously failed (pretty typical to have ambitious ideas early on, I learnt my lesson pretty quick). The first successful one I had I think was at 17, when I created a task manager as a high school project, with some degree of complexity. From there I just kept exploring ideas and sharing them with others, which quickly helped me grow a following on Twitter. In terms of advice, well, I think the main one would be to start small, don’t make your first project an overly ambitious one because it can be highly discouraging when things don’t work or go your way. If you create something simple, even if it’s something that already exists (todo apps are a common place to start, for example), you will get the motivation to keep going and facing more challenges. Also, don’t be a perfectionist, at least in the beginning. It might be tempting to try to get all the details right to make a great impression, but it’s much better to ship fast if you want to learn and get better. Most likely your first project won’t get a lot of users right off the bat, so it’s not worth overthinking it, you can always add to it later on and go from there. As per my journey, I recently did a bit of a shift to work on different things. I started the year with the goal to create projects with many users and trying to maximize revenue, but I realized it was giving me a lot of anxiety, and even panic attacks. It’s a lot of responsibility, especially when people pay you money to use your product, you want to make sure it all works perfectly. So I’ve now moved to a more laid back approach, trying to work on smaller scale projects that I find interesting, exploring new technologies, and things like that. My current one which I’m hoping to launch very soon is a web-based motion graphics editor, a mix between After Effects and Canva. Pretty excited about it and it’s been really fun to build, so I’m hoping it has a good reception 😊

@aaronoleary It might be a simple question, but it’s not necessarily easy to answer 😛 I feel like I enjoyed working on most of my projects (some were pretty tedious, for example Slashy, which I came close to giving up on), but the most fun one would probably be Jumpskip. Not only did I manage to solve a problem I was having, making it easier for me to watch horror movies (which I love), but I also really enjoyed how hacky it was to build. Sourcing the data and sorting it through for analyzing it was surprisingly fun to do, and it was really satisfying reverse engineering parts of the Netflix UI to make my own custom components. I think I might want to revisit this one in the future to add more functionality (different triggers), and make it available for other streaming platforms as well. Maybe I’ll do a write up at some point too, lots of things I’d like to talk about on this one!

@kylerjphillips Hmm, I think I experienced the most growth from building Screenity. I had to learn how to use some new APIs and libraries, and overall it was pretty complicated, but I’ve been using a lot of the skills I learnt from it to build other products like Animockup, Mapus, Slashy, and more. I probably would do it all differently to be honest. I never expected it to get so big, and the way I coded it was pretty hacky so it has been difficult to add new features that users suggest or even fixing bugs in general. The main thing that bothers me about it is how I handled the completed recording screen, I remember I was super exhausted at that point and I pretty much put something together quickly without much thought, which ended up causing me a lot of problems afterwards trying to make it work properly and cleaning up the design to make it look acceptable. I think I will probably deal with this on a v2 which I’m hoping to work on soon though 😊

@ignacio_velasquez_franco Thank you! There’s many different ways to learn these days. I think if you want to start from zero with coding it might be good to have a look at online courses like the ones in Codecademy, they have a variety of Javascript, HTML, CSS, and general web development courses which might be useful. Another good one that I know about is Design+Code (https://designcode.io/), which not only teaches you how to develop React and Swift apps, but also how to design them. In general I’d just start by watching some tutorials, trying to build simple things (like a todo app in React), and once you get a feel for it start working more on your own things. Don’t be afraid to look things up, StackOverflow is an amazing resource for instance when you get stuck. I personally use it all the time, despite coding for several years now. There’s also lots of libraries that can help make your life easier depending on what you want to build. And if coding seems daunting, there’s also options to create products without it, with platforms like Glide or Bubble.

@alyssaxuu thanks a lot! 🙏 I'm most definitely adding those courses to my 2023 roadmap. I appreciate a lot the answer and the time you spent on it. Good luck on your next launch. Keep creating amazing products! 💪

@cristinaimre Most frequent product mistakes when scaling? Hmm, I don’t know, I feel like I don’t really tend to scale my products so I wouldn’t know. I think maybe one thing I notice is where people keep on adding features to products without having a user base. Marketing is important, and it doesn’t matter how good your product is if nobody knows about it and uses it. I also think it’s good to have a pricing strategy early on. You might be tempted to offer your product for free to get more users quickly, but might regret it later when you try to break even or have recurring income from it.

@dimabraven It’s complicated, and I think lately I’ve been finding it harder and harder to come up with them. I usually try to look for problems I have, or even repetitive actions I could simplify to make more efficient. Sometimes I try to combine different products together (e.g. Figma + Google Maps = Mapus), or different mechanics. I think the easiest way to go about it is looking for an existing product, and thinking about how you can improve it - sometimes you don’t need to create something completely unique to build something great. For example with Screenity I saw some of the shortcomings of tools like Loom and Screencastify, and decided to address them with my own extension. There’s lots of ways to go about it for sure.

@shyam_prasad_reddy 1. My working day for my side projects specifically only happens during the weekend (since I have a full-time job). I tend to wake up early to have a shower, get my thoughts in order and clear my head. I then go through any emails and messages, see what’s going on, and look through my project planning. In order to get in the “flow” I tend to listen to some music in the background, I recently invested in Youtube Premium so it autoplays and I don’t have to bother with ads or anything. Then I just hack away, doing any design or development work, and constantly testing that everything works well (which it usually doesn’t, I always have bugs and issues to fix haha). I kind of over-optimize a lot, so even when it comes to eating instead of spending time cooking and cleaning up I just have Huel, so I can get a lot more work done, or if it’s later on the day I order some food. Maybe not the best but I like to use up as much of my time as possible for building. On Sundays I also spend an hour or two writing for my newsletter at around midday, it tends to give motivation to keep going for the rest of the day. I tend to stay up until midnight or later, but I make sure to get decent sleep. As per staying focused and productive, well, I think I just have good incentives, so I don’t really question it. I know that if I build more projects I get way more opportunities and it helps me grow my audience, so it’s in my best interest to get this done as soon as possible. I’ve also been able to consistently raise my salary and rate with a larger portfolio and diversity of work, so it’s a good reason for me to stay productive. I don’t know if I have any “hacks”, for me music works very well (although in some cases depending on the song I end up randomly dancing and singing and messing about so kind of debatable 😅), I get in a bit of a rhythm so it’s easier to keep building non-stop. 2. I try to make products that take no longer than 3 months to build. I sort of have a backlog of ideas so I wouldn’t count the time it takes me to come up with it, but all the planning and design I do within those 3 months. If I’m lucky I can manage to build something in a week (which has happened before, but it’s rare), sometimes just a month or two. I kind of set a deadline in my head to force me to work harder, and avoid being too much of a perfectionist to make sure I ship as soon as possible. I’m currently in a good track, as it’s been 1 month since my last launch and I’m almost ready to ship 😊 3. I haven’t worked on any B2B products, so I wouldn’t really know. I feel like I have it easy to acquire customers because of my large Twitter following, and because most of my products are free and open source. Just sharing them on social media and Product Hunt is usually enough for me to get the first users.

@nayamoss Honestly, the way I go about it is pretty simple. I come up with an idea, I make a quick prototype, and then I list all the tasks I will need to do to get an MVP in Notion. I literally just make a heading, and using the todo blocks I write everything down. As I build the projects I tend to add or remove tasks, or even break some down if they’re too big, since it kind of helps me stay motivated every time I check something off, it’s a bit of a rush. I also like to use Figma a lot for planning or inspiration even, I throw everything in there, from products that I like to just writing ideas down. It tends to get very messy but I don’t mind 😛

@hfrdmnk I appreciate it! I think I’m just a bit of a hacky maker. My intention is to build things, not necessarily to become super knowledgable in a specific technology. So when I create things that require me to learn a new programming language, for example with Later, I tend to take as many shortcuts as I can to ship ASAP. I look into similar projects, read through their code, use StackOverflow a ton (who doesn’t?), and I particularly find useful watching videos to get a sense for how developers code using the specific language/framework. Sometimes just seeing in which order they write the code helps me understand how it works. For Swift specifically I found this video by Paul Hudson which helped me get started and then make the necessary changes to make it work the way I wanted.

@yudax Appreciate it! I am not a full-time creator, I actually have a job as a product designer which I do throughout the week. It’s pretty hard to balance, mostly because I end up not having enough time to do things on my own. I essentially dedicate all of my weekends and all the free time I can find throughout the week to work on my own side projects, which is pretty tough. I’d like to say I have a good work/life balance, but the reality is that I don’t. I end up not being able to go out much, or do much at all, which sucks a bit. I just like to think it’s worth it for the opportunities it gets me, and maybe if I keep at it I could some day do this full-time, in a less crazy and demanding way.

@dsarkar Thank you! I don't know if I really look for prospective clients honestly. I usually tend to share things out on social media or here on Product Hunt and I'm able to connect with the right target audience fairly easily (I think it helps that I have a pretty large following), so I don't really have to cold email or seek potential users.

@robertomorais I tend to work on my projects one by one, I don’t think I would be able to handle doing it in parallel, I’d end up prioritizing the product I enjoy working on more and forgetting about the rest. I also wouldn’t consider my projects businesses (they don’t really make money lol), so once I launch I don’t have a lot of work to maintain them, it’s much easier to handle in that sense. I think my tip in that regard is just to create things with low maintenance, I’ve refrained from working on projects with communities or where I’d need to proactively stay on top of it to make it work, it’s just too complicated.

@alyssaxuu Thanks for your answers. I think you nailed it with "Crate things with low maintenance", unconsciously this already was one of my priorities.

@hazim Thank you! I think in part it helps that it’s become a routine since I’ve been doing this non-stop for several years. I also have a bit of an obsession with being productive, I can’t stand sitting around doing nothing. There is just a lot of value to be had with making things, from getting all sorts of opportunities, to meeting awesome people. I’ve never worked on anything that I felt was a complete waste of my time, I always got something in return. So that’s sort of my motivation to keep going with it 🙂

@mares Wow, a lot of questions haha. Let me try to answer them all the best I can. 1. Top 10, hmm, not sure I can think of so many 😅 I think mainly I’ve learnt to not be too much of a perfectionist, plan things well ahead of time, don’t get stuck on the details, talk to users to know if you’re in the right path when building… 2. The apps I use the most are Figma, Visual Studio Code, Notion, Chrome, and Telegram. As per not very well-known app, hmm, maybe Handbrake for compressing down videos (it does an amazing job), or Rotato which I used for my Later product teaser to create a 3D animated mockup video. 3. I think it would be amazing if that was possible. It would allow people to make their ideas a reality even if they don’t have the skill or technical know-how. I think it could be useful for generic sort of things, or for developing small features quickly (even things like GitHub Copilot which are pretty handy), but for more complex, creative, and advanced things it would likely still need an actual human developer. 4. Nothing I can think of right now. If I knew I would have built it already probably haha. 5. I got into coding pretty early on since I was always super passionate about inventing things, like art, films, games… I started with Visual Basic and Flash, and got into web development a bit later on. 6. Honestly, I don’t think there is a particular person I admire. I’ve never been a fan of idolizing people, I just appreciate their skills and achievements. I think there’s a lot of people I am inspired by, in a variety of ways, but not a single person I look up to as some sort of role model. 7. I kind of wish I was a better developer. It’s funny because people tend to think of me as a developer first and designer second, but it’s actually the other way around. Sometimes it can be a limiting factor for me when working on products, but I usually manage to figure things out (usually in very hacky and unorthodox ways). Developing is tough. 8. Mostly because I enjoy it, it gets me opportunities, helps me grow my audience and network, and I get some passive income along the way. 9. I don’t really get to read a lot to be honest, I work too much. I like to read a lot of fiction, sci-fi horror specifically. I enjoy stories from Stephen King, like The Jaunt, or The Mist. Michael Crichton also has some great books, like The Andromeda Strain or Sphere. Something a bit different I like to read is some of Junji Ito’s horror mangakas, I guess you could say I’m sort of into weird stuff haha. More related to what I do, I enjoyed reading The Accidental Billionaires (and especially the movie The Social Network), and How To Turn Down a Billion Dollars. 10. Haha I’ve been asked a ton of questions, I don’t know if I can think of any myself. Maybe what I do outside of work and making, some of my other interests? I like to watch movies and shows (currently watching Killing Eve, so good!), write sci-fi horror stories of my own, I'm also very into fashion (although I don't necessarily follow trends, but I do enjoy wearing a lot of bold and statement pieces), and I have a pretty thorough skincare routine which takes me a while every day but I think it's totally worth it, my skin looks and feels so good 😛

@alyssaxuu hey, thanks so much for the very thorough and thoughtful response! i relate to 6 and 7 a lot haha, and i think the question you chose to answer for 10 was so great! we don't get to hear much about what people do or enjoy besides work, so thx for sharing about it! gotta copy that skin care routine 💁‍♀️ if u don't mind elaborating, i'm curious about what you'd do/feel if for 3, ai did eliminate the need for human developers?

@auttomatta For a first project I think it's important to be realistic, avoid being too ambitious and make sure it's something you can complete. Also very important to avoid being a perfectionist, you don't want to get stuck working on the same project over and over worrying about the smallest details. The fastest way to learn is by launching and sharing things with others to get feedback, so it's better to just ship something that isn't perfect than spending ages tweaking every single thing until you get frustrated and give up on it entirely.

@chunza2542 1. Depends on what is in the market. If it’s oversaturated, with lots of similar products and competitions, I might simply move on. But if I see opportunity, where I can build a better product or I can address specific user needs (very useful to look at product reviews in that sense, they can give you amazing ideas), then I just go for it, it’s just easier too since I have a frame of reference in that case. 2. My criteria is: time it takes to build, difficulty, how much of an impact would it make (would it go viral?), any opportunities I could get from it (for example if it’s in a specific niche or related to some company, if it could get me some contract work), and whether I find it fun to work on. 3. Ha, that’s a tough one. I don’t know if I’m great at names, I usually go for something simple, pick one word that describes the product, and either change it up a bit (like Slashy, Mapus, Flowy…), just use it as it (like Later), or combine it with another one (like Animockup = Animation + Mockup). I try not to spend too long on it, although I feel like branding can be pretty important.

@christiano4 Ha, yeah it's tough. Personally since I don't do this full-time I don't have the financial risk, I have a normal full-time job which I do throughout the week, and I only build over the weekend. It can be a bit frustrating at times, but I think it's super rewarding when I get to launch my products and see people's reactions, especially if I've made something that makes their lives easier. I do agree it can get lonely, since I have my job and I build over my free time I don't really have a lot of time on my own, so I don't really get to meet or hang out with people a whole lot unfortunately. I've been trying to balance it out better, but I think ultimately unless I find a way to do this full-time (or have my job be part-time) or I slow down on making products there's not much I can do.