Anyone have trouble building products they wouldn't be a serious user of themselves?

I had a privacy focussed dating platform, accelerated by Facebook(pre 2017); as far as user traction was concerned it was our most successful B2C application.

But I have never used a dating platform myself and was never interested in it; So it was indeed hard to run the platform emotionally, I built what people wanted but not really what I wanted.

Anyways, I had to close my startup due to my health issues, in retrospect I was happy to pull the plug on this product than it was for other less successful products which I was emotionally invested in.

But to answer your question directly, knowing the difference between Startup ideas vs Problems ensured that I build only what I really want to solve later on.

Hear ya. I get this sometimes myself too.

Here's the tough pill. Our core problem is we are not doing the research in the beginning. We just want to start building. If you really want the solution to your own problems, you'd look for the solution. Only you are exhausted with the available options, we should start building. It's the symptom of us constantly on the look out for things to build on.

I (fly)fish as well 🎣. Here's something that might get you motivated: what if your business brings in enough money so you can go fishing one day per week?
I don't believe you necessarily have to build a product that you would use yourself. It can also be a product that enables you to do things that you otherwise (with a day job) couldn't do. In the end the result is the same: you're motivated and happy.

That’s interesting. I’ve had a similar experience in the past, when trying to build a book recommandation app for example. It was the thing that I wanted more than anything at the time.

My logo design app is born out of the opposite approach though. After working as a contractor for years, I noticed that there was an unfulfilled need by tons of people.

So even though logo design was not “my” need, after gaining so much awareness of how it impacted people, it became very motivating. I even stopped my “passion app” to work on it, since the potential seemed way greater.

What I’m getting at is that if you are looking for projects outside what you would do for yourself, you can try to see how you can bring value to people. Find the thing that you are good at that people could use more of in their lives. Then build a product around that. Motivation will come from having people thank you and be grateful for what you’re doing.

Are you working on this by yourself? I think it is a lot easier to work on something you aren't a user of if you have a cofounder. Trying to understand the user is really really hard if you don't have first person perspective on the use cases. It also helps with motivation to have a cofounder.

I've worked on a lot of projects solo and I know that at least for me, I need o work on something I'll use. I understand the use cases, but more importantly, motivation comes easier. I build something and I get to use it instantly.

It doesn't matter how good an idea is, you may not be the right executor of that idea if you can't put your heart and soul into it.

Build something that fixes one of your own problems but choose a problem that others have. You are one member of a particular audience.

You have to almost always have to eat your own dogfood -- one way or another -- to build a killer successful product.

Yes, I've definitely been there. Building for an audience you're part of and passionate about is definitely a good way to mitigate this a little bit.

But as you said, sometimes even that doesn't help too much.

Recently I stumbled upon the concept of "what did you came for?" (sounds a little bit weird, but bear with me :-D). The idea is that with every project you have some goal in mind you might not be aware of. Sometimes you just want to play around with a new technology. You pick a project and use that technology. After you've learned a lot and the project is 90% done you "don't feel it anymore". You came into the project to learn the new technology and that mission was accomplished. It's ok to leave it as is and move on. The only important thing is to acknowledge that dabbling around with the technology is what got you into the project in the first place.

I think a good balance between motivation and "validation" is important. Building something and sharing it as fast as possible to get feedback and see engagement. At the end of the day you want your project to be valuable and useful. Maybe you built it for yourself and start to hate it. That's usually a sign that you might want to share it with your audience to get some validation and ideas on how to improve it.