Ask HN: Have a lot to put in, but getting nothing back

I woke up thinking today about what to do and realized that for a long time both in the startup I am trying to get off the ground and in my day job, I have a ton of energy to put in, but I am not getting a satisfactory amount back.

For the day job I get paid well, but it's too disonnected. I develop features that no one understands they want (from experience I know these basic things come up) and maybe a month later, someone will realize how "cool" it is and start using it.

DAE experience this kind of thing? What have you done about it?