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Comment by kremdela | Hacker News Reader

I struggle with the same issue. I've shifted my thinking quite a bit and now think of it as just solving a different problem.

Say my goal is to write code 6 hours a day with headphones on. In order to do that, I need people to pay me to use what I'm building.

So the problem to solve has become "how to get people to pay for my service/product."

Projects die all of the time because of bad market fit. Less likely do they die because they were built poorly.

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I am having a hard time following your logic. If you wanted people to pay you 6 hours a day to write code, then I am sure you could get great pay working as a programmer.

I think the better question to ask is, "What problem am I solving for my [potential] customers that is worth them paying for it?" (rather than "how do I get them to pay?" The former is a more sustainable business philosophy)

And I am pretty sure market fit and quality of the product are not mutually exclusive. They go hand in hand.

I think we are in agreement. I am interpreting OPs problem as "I love developing code but my projects don't go anywhere." My answer is to switch from writing code to solving the trouble problem, which is "how to find customers for my project."

Also, I've worked for many companies that had shitty code but lots of revenue.

You are correct. That puts it succinctly - I like making things, but I suck at choosing what to make (or selling what I make). Maybe they are the same thing.

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