When Does a Side Project Deserve a Real Shot?

The test I'd trust is the one a buyer would use: would a stranger pay a multiple for it as it stands today? That forces you to separate recurring, verified revenue from launch-week spikes and your own unpaid hours, which is usually where early excitement falls apart. If the honest P&L only works when your time is free, it's a side project; if it still works with a hired operator's cost in it, it deserves the real shot.

Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?

Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?

Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?

Interesting. How are you measuring whether it is working?

Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?

Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?

Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?

I’d look for evidence that gets stronger without founder energy: users return on their own, invite someone, or create a workflow or data investment that would be annoying to abandon. Payment matters, but a single paid request can still be custom work in disguise. A useful threshold might be three unrelated users repeatedly solving the same problem in roughly the same way, plus at least one paying without a special concession. The warning sign is engagement that disappears whenever outreach stops. How do you separate genuine pull from users simply being polite to the maker?