“Build it and they will come” is a load of garbage. If you want to make money, you’re doing it backwards:
A coder says: “What do I know I can I build that I think is neat,” builds it, and then tries to market and sell it. This strategy rarely works to build a viable company.
A businessperson says: “What do I know I can market and sell,” and only after being sure of the answer, goes on to build the product. This is how a company is born.
It’s depressing to me to see the husks of good software gone rotten because there never really was a market or viable avenue to sell the product in the first place. Such a waste of real talent.
Before you start a new project, ask yourself, “Do I know how to get the word out to a large number of people about this product, who have a burning desire to pay good money for this?” If the answer is definitively “Yes”, then go for it!
But if you’re stuck in the idea that you don’t like marketing and sales, you should stay with what you’re good at, which is being a coder, and not a businessperson.
