Don’t Start a Company, Start a Side-Project.
Two extra reasons to start a side-project.
Solve a problem others have or scratch a personal itch. Obviously excellent advice 👏 but I’d like to expand and add two additional reasons why I started my side-project — Fifty. This is not gospel, I just felt like talking about it. Also, is this just a thinly veiled attempt to market my side-project? Who knows — keep reading to find out ✌
Starting a side-project to learn 🎓
Since you’re going invest time — you might as well learn something. Make sure the project requires a skill you would like to improve or learn. This can be a technical skill — like a new shiny new framework, language or design pattern, or non-technical — like marketing, SEO, or UI design.
Fifty did not present any new technical challenges. It’s built with React and backed by Firebase. It did, however, present new non-technical challenges. Marketing, customer support, customer outreach in the form of a newsletter, blogging, etc. Fifty offered me the opportunity to explore & improve all these new skills.
Starting a side-project to have fun 🎈
A side-project is not supposed to be work, it’s supposed to be fun. That’s why you’re not starting a company. Not that a company can’t be fun — it’s usually just a bit more enjoyable to hack away on something interesting than to worry about “where is this going”.
Fifty is fun to work on. I get to code, blog, and chat with Indie Hackers about the projects, products, or companies they are building. I now have an excuse to do new things I find fun (like blogging)— not that you need an excuse to have fun, this was just the first I blogged about something. Not sure if “blog” is even the current term — feels a bit 2000's.
As long as Fifty keeps on ticking these two boxes — I will keep working on it. Heaven forbid it turns into a company.
Cheers ✌
Find me on Twitter & Indie Hackers
Because “company” is in the title— here’s something about the internal structure of tech companies.
