Hobby projects for acquiring entrepreneurial skills. Need guidance.
All,
Need some guidance about building “Side/Hobby Projects” for acquiring entrepreneurial skills. Not side businesses - in the sense that, the intention is not to make money. It is to acquire the required skills & experience to become an indie hacker one day.
I have a full-time job as an engineering manager (Embedded SW Engineering). While I am exploring this site for inspiration to become an Indiehacker one day, I also understand that I currently lack the commitment and skills to achieve that.
While I am good at solving problems using code, that is in a different domain. I am still learning my way through the web/app development skills, UI/UX/ProductDesign skills..etc. Also, I am yet to start on the other hard learning curve of marketing, finding a niche, engaging with users/potential users on their needs, SEO...etc.
I would like to build “Side Projects'' as a means to acquire the required entrepreneurial skills. I don’t want to see them as “Side Businesses” in the sense that I don’t want to focus on making money out of them. I am thinking of finding some problems to solve, building solutions, and offering them as open-source and free.
I recently listened to @jdnoc in the indie hackers podcast also and was inspired by his approach to helping others while building skills. I am also considering helping my entrepreneur friends. The other approach is to build hobby projects from my own ideas.
Are these good ways to start?
Are there any legal hurdles in this? Do I need a business entity for this? Is it ok to build free & open source software as an individual? (even if it involves having users sign up...etc.?)
I also think about what to do with using any cloud services for such projects. While the free tier will help & I can also invest some money for the learning I get, It can’t scale beyond a level when I am offering the solution for free. What if any project becomes an accidental hit and viral? [maybe I am thinking too much here? If such a thing happens, it is a good problem to have and worry about at that time :-). But, I would like to hear about others’ initial experiences here. Did you think and plan for this possibility?]
Note: if the country of residence is important for the legal question, I am from India. I would be happy to hear from Indian indie hackers on their initial experiences if they had started off in this path.
Many of the most successful tech companies started as university projects or hobbies... Experimenting without the pressure of having to make money can lead to finding something new that many people want. Even if you don't find anything special or great, you will still have gained something valuable. Good luck.
Thank you
What I can say by my own experience building a side project, second, 3rd and so on :) is a really good way to:
*feel free to put your own definition of being successful, it's always different for different people :-)
Cheers,
Andrzej
https://pagemtr.com
Thank you. Happy to note the validation of this approach with your experiences. I can already relate to and foresee the reusable components advantage as I attempt to prototype some of my hobby project ideas.
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