I’m on the hunt for my next indie-hacking project. Here’s a list of DOs and DON’Ts I’m keeping in mind while evaluating new ideas.
DON’Ts
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Don’t pick something you care nothing about You don’t need to be “passionate” about it, but if you have zero interest or connection to what you’re building, burnout is around the corner.
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Don’t rely on unstable or unofficial services Especially for core features. You’ll be busy enough, don’t add a brittle dependency that breaks every other week and leaves you with little time for anything else.
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Don’t think you have to come up with a novel idea Original ideas are great… but risky. No market history. No validation. You’re flying blind. A proven idea with existing demand is usually a better starting point.
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Don’t try to create demand where there is none Creating a market is hard. Painfully slow and often impossible. Unless it’s your life’s mission, skip it.
DOs
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Scratch your own itch If you’re the user, you’ll better understand the problem, the solution, and the roadmap. It makes everything easier.
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Solve or reduce a pain point N.B.: Pain comes from two places: what someone has (a problem) or what they lack (a desire). You can solve either.
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Improve something that already exists and has a market That means it’s validated. Look for issues with current solutions (product-wise, UX-wise, marketing-wise, distribution-wise). But improve something. A copycat has no reason to exist and will likely be outcompeted by the existing solutions.
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Pick something you can build and ship an MVP for in 2-4 weeks max No new Facebook. No new marketplace. Think lean, think fast.
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Pick something you’d use regularly (at least monthly) If you use it often, you’ll give it more love, which means faster improvements. If others use it often, they’ll talk about it more, which means faster word of mouth.
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Ride a wave (if you care about it) Trends are great, as long as your interest and the market both outlive the hype.
Two Frameworks for Sourcing Ideas
The above are filters. But where do ideas actually come from?
Here are two frameworks that I’m using:
A. Do things → Post about them
Try things. Share online. As you go, you’ll hit friction: your own pain points. If something keeps coming up or is big enough, hack a way to solve it or reduce it. Post about it. If it resonates, it might be your next product.
Bonus: you build an audience while you do it.
B. Improve an existing product
Check out marketplaces like Acquire, or browse the App Store or Chrome Web Store. Look for products with real traction — profit, usage, or buzz. If you find something you’d use or are genuinely curious about, run it through the above filters and see if you can improve it somehow.