Any Reason Not To Build Multiple Small Web Apps?

If you're goal isn't to make money then there's nothing wrong with this. I have over a dozen apps I've launched in the past year, each one is a small app focused on a single little goal. None of them are making me rich, but they do bring in enough to cover any associated costs. They're mainly there to scratch my own itch or there was something I was trying to learn in the process. The ones that have a decent user base I've started to build out more.

As a developer I like building things, and each one I try to learn something new. If you like building apps like me don't let anyone tell you that you can't just keep building stuff. If you find it enjoyable that can be its own reward in itself.

Do realize though, that from a purely business standpoint it's probably much more productive to focus on one thing at a time and either validate it or move on. If that doesn't bother you though then who cares?

I've tried doing the same thing, with the idea to throw a few apps and see what sells. The problem is you can't focus and apps that might be successful, you may consider as losers. It's nice to build stuff as a developer, but as a business you need to focus on one thing. Try hard to get 10 customers in first 3 months and if doesn't work, try something else.

If you get many people to see(or try) your product and it doesn't sell, it's better to try something else.

There are two rules that I'll follow for my future apps:

• always B2B
• always look for markets where there is competition, but gives you the possibility to niche down to specific segments. Instead of a general app that covers multiple niches, build one that works very well for a specific niche, much better than the current broad market competitors.

There are a lot of tools that for specific segments of their users are hard to set up, the UI is confusing, requires ton of integrations to solve a specific issue for that segment and so on.

Instead of trying a totally new market where you go blind and you also need to educate people, pick a sub-market of something people already know, but do it better.

I like this approach, the best client is us

Go deep into niches, especially if you're part of the target audience. If they're all roughly the same domain, even better! The one additional cost to consider (besides domain names) is the maintenance of several separate codebases in the long-term.

It's an excellent way to apply the Lean method - since you're super agile and can crank out iterations or new products based on feedback received from prior stage. More power to you!

What is your goal?