What could be more boring than Screenshot API?

The next project I am building is ScreenshotOne — a simple screenshot API for websites.

Why I am building it

Screenshot API — sounds boring, yes? But my goal was to build any project and try to get the first paying customers. I had not planned to do an exciting project.

I want to test the saying that "idea does not matter, but the execution is what matters". I picked up the idea mainly randomly but at the intersection of my current back-end development skillset and additional challenges like UI, UX, CSS, SEO, and marketing.

By building an actual project, I need to fill the gaps in my skills, and I have a lot of gaps.

Excitement

I am not sure that I agree that you should choose the domain you love and are excited to work in. Passion is not something you can control by definition. And it can fade with years, months, or even weeks.

But if you have success with something, you will love it and tell everybody that this is your true passion or even a calling.

Side effects

The more I build such a simple thing, the more I find many opportunities to do new businesses.

I write deeply technical articles to promote the project. For example, I wrote about how to take a screenshot with Puppeteer. I would outsource this copywriting, but I have not found an agency that could do it as well as I demand.

I have not found a decent SaaS template for Go, or those that I found were outdated. So, I reinvent the bicycle by myself. It is an excellent opportunity for the business itself.

I can continue how many new ideas I found by building just this simple small thing.

Summary

The project is in the middle phase, I am not polishing it yet, but I am gradually creating different parts of it — docs, payments, dashboard, etc.

If you are interested in how far I can go, you can follow me on Twitter.

Start whatever, whatever, but start.