[heathrow83829]

is anyone else here tired of building products for which there is little to no demand?

What if we started with a product idea for which we know there is demand for: things people are already paying money for. For example: apples, or tires, or etc. something you know people are paying money for. and then try and either build that product or another product that makes building the product easier.

[kassner]

That’s called product-market fit (PMF), and once any product reaches that stage (in other words: it’s proven that people will spend money in such solution), it’s a race to the bottom in terms of costs/building it cheap.

Unless your market is location-dependent, most of the time the incumbents have waaay more experience, so the only advantage you can bring to the market is a lower price, as the first expansion any incumbent will do is to higher the price band with better quality offerings.

Think about stuff like an Air Fryer. Convection ovens had been in the market for several decades. Someone (Philips? I’m not sure they were the first) proved there is a market for a smaller counter-top convection oven and all of the sudden there are Air Fryers from literally any supermarket brand out there.

[mr_mitm]

I just build things for myself, so I know the demand. I call it me-ware. Works for me, and once or twice it also worked for others, but if it doesn't, that's fine, too. Of course I don't charge anything, I just release it as FOSS.

The thing is that figuring out how to realize an idea is the fun part. Making it into a polished product that others can easily use with proper documentation is as important as it is tedious and exhausting.

[heathrow83829]

i love the term "me-ware". I've done that many times too! my interests are too weird so no one's interested in the projs i'd do.