[programminggeek]

Thanks, in my experience that's basically true. I've never really wanted to go after funding or go for acquisition, but I can see how that path in some ways has a higher probability of success than hustling on side projects.

[mechanical_fish]

No, your second sentence is factually incorrect (except for the first clause, of course). Don't let the fact that you're not interested in building a business fool you into thinking that building a business is more difficult than it is.

You're not interested in building a business. That became clear when I read your sentence: "At the end of the day we aren't that driven by money, and we aren't really running a business." I didn't even need to glance at your "anti-sales page", though that page certainly hammers the point home, then jumps up and down on it for good measure.

It's not a radical act of rebellion to do good work at your day job, get paid, go home after work, and have fun building things in your spare time without any thought of profit. This is how most of my favorite people live their lives. This is all fine. What is not fine is trying to define this happy life as a "failed business" and trying to calculate the "ROI" of your fun, then lapsing into despair because the spreadsheet has a zero in it. That hasn't been doing your happiness any favors, it isn't doing your audience any favors, and it isn't leading you to draw sensible conclusions.

Stop being an uninspired businessperson and become an inspired maker of stuff. You're almost there.

[programminggeek]

Well thank you for the inspiring words.

I think you're right and I'm at my best when I'm an inspired maker of stuff.

My hope is that sharing our experiences, we transition to making awesome stuff and sharing it with other people that like what we do.

You're also right on trying to calculate the "ROI" on our fun is the wrong approach. At best revenue is a data point, not the goal in itself. If the goal was money for its own sake, we'd make much different choices.

[sskates]

Ouch. 3 years is a long time to go with nearly 0 revenue. If you're selling to businesses, the most important thing is you go talk to people who will be your customers. In person. Build it and they will come is a total myth, you need to actually get out there and sell! patio11 did the same with Appointment Reminder.

[programminggeek]

Yeah it's tough and if we didn't have the early small wins, we probably would have quit years ago.

In selling to businesses, I agree that we need to get out there and talk to businesses about what problems they need solved and are willing to pay for. I did a little bit of that before building v1 of Answer Customers, but we would have been better served by spending months interviewing business owners than by building software.

One thing I've learned is that being a builder is a bit of a curse. It's too easy to get excited about an idea, come up with reasons why it has to work, and then just build and ship. Fighting that urge is difficult, but necessary to find success.

Hopefully it doesn't take 3 years for other people to figure this out.