[jays]

The largest problem developers have with bootstrapping a project is that they focus way too much on building vs solving a customer pain point. This leads to bloated MVPs and little feedback from customers.

Devs need to flip their focus. Instead, spend a lot of time with customers, build marketing landing pages, which include mockups of the software, and see if you can attract paying customers. Gather feedback early and often.

Once you're successful with that, you'll have a clearer path of what to build. Then go build it.

The magical part of this approach is that you'll have most of your sales and marketing pitch down by this point, so launching your project into a business will be so much easier and more likely to succeed.

[sombremesa]

I can also read it like this, though:

> The largest problem d̶e̶v̶e̶l̶o̶p̶e̶r̶s̶ people have with b̶o̶o̶t̶s̶t̶r̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶j̶e̶c̶t̶ doing their own thing is that they focus way too much on b̶u̶i̶l̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ what they like to do.

Isn't that the whole point of doing your own thing, though? If you really want to make money (desperately) the strategy would certainly change, but a lot of developers are really just pursuing a hobby or side project with a (probably unrealistic) dream of striking gold.

[jays]

I suppose it could. I guess one would need to look down deep to understand what would make them most happy in the end. Taking the risk of running a business should be part of that consideration.

Personally, doing my own thing has been about personal freedom and optionality. I don't think you need to make it big to fulfill that dream.

Many people believe that you need to build a billion dollar company or you've failed. There is nothing wrong with making a $100k/year business and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Happiness should be the goal.

[subhro]

This. Also read the book “Challenger Sale”. Solutions, not products, earn you money.