1. They never launch
2. They never make any money
If you can avoid these two pitfalls, you will likely achieve one or more of a) earning; b) learning; c) increasing your 'luck surface area'. So, it's a good opportunity if you can do it. There are plenty of reasons why you wouldn't have launched including:
- you kept your idea secret
- you tried to do too much
- you underestimated the areas that you're not skilled at
- you assumed that if you built it they would come
- More here: http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/launch-first-product-what...
The reasons for not making any money, or rather not making enough money that you wish to pursue it are multitudinous but include:
- you didn't choose a profitable product idea
- you underestimated the slow ramp of death: http://businessofsoftware.org/2013/02/gail-goodman-constant-...
- you charged too little
- you didn't solve a problem for people who were willing to pay you
- More here: http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/find-profitable-product-i...
I hope that helps and Good Luck!
The impetus for building it was that I was trying to find a good solution to my own problem and wasn't happy with existing solutions. I knew that it was a niche product, but I figured at the very least if I built this I would use it. Before building it I also talked to a couple of friends who said "Oh, yeah, I'd pay you for that." That was enough validation for me to spend a weekend building a basic version with a friend of mine. After that I started using it immediately and had those two friends sign up (and pay). Their feedback, and my own usage, gave me the motivation to keep improving the product.
The other thing I would mention is expectations setting. The "build it and they will come" mentality is really hard to overcome when you're excited about your side-project. You figure you will turn it on and people will immediately start signing up. In my case it was several weeks (maybe even closer to two months) before I had a paying customer other than those first two friends. It's easy to be discouraged during that time and completely abandon your project. Have a basic marketing plan, stick with it, and don't set your expectations too high. It will take time.
Why not try to build something that solves a problem somebody else is having? They could be your first customer!
The first two are kinda easy, but if it's "money", work from the money back to the idea rather than figuring out how to make money from a certain idea. Who's spending money, where, and on what? What sort of people do you have exposure to (on Twitter, HN, wherever)? How could you improve on something people already spend money on? Etc.
You can do this as a side project because there are lots of things that can make a great side project, bring in a few 1000 dollars a month or more, but wouldn't be interesting to someone trying to launch a business they want to scale.
Look at tools and plugins for software people use already, especially software that has a reasonable pricetag and that people us in their businesses. Anything you can sell to people for whom time is money is a really good start!
I launched a side project 5 and a half years ago which went on to become our entire business. I wrote about that, in a way that I hope will help other people do the same, in my book The Profitable Side Project: http://rachelandrew.co.uk/books/the-profitable-side-project
2 - go on elance/odesk to find some paying clients (pay is low, but easy to find). You can also use this to try different things and discover what kind of work you enjoy best. you can also call some technology consulting firms - they are always looking for talent.
3 - specialize in that area. tailor your website/blog to talk exclusively about that technology. between the inbound from your site and client base from consultant you'll easily be able to build an overwhelming referral stream.
For me, I wasn't sure if I still wanted to program, so I went back to the things that got me excited when I started (math models of perception) and I fell in love with it all over again. Now my dilemma is turning that back around and actually working on what I'm most passionate about in a full-time setting. In the meantime, hobbying it is better than not doing it at all
I fall into the category of starting too many things that I don't finish. I've recently realized that the size of the things I was working in was just way too big, especially since When working on a side project you are working around your life schedule.
After limiting the size of my projects I've found I am completing all of them
Since this will be a side-project (and your time is limited), try automating as many aspects of the business from the beginning. I am not implying that you should BUILD automation into the onboarding process, but use services like Zapier to make your life a bit easier.
All Work "related" to your day I should have said.
Know your business model. Know how many steps it takes for you to monetize anything. Know your audience.
I would also say it's important to find good advisors. A good accountant/CPA is very important and it may be worthwhile to meet with a good lawyer. We created CEA (certified entrepreneurship advisor - https://ceanow.org) after seeing how much good advice is so needed and have courses on business planning and entrepreneurship.
I build small web apps for companies on the side. Little data management things the office can share... something like you might make with Access but obviously a lot nicer, more customized and networked. I host them also and charge a monthly fee. I don't think this is a way to get stinking rich. But it keeps me busy after work.
If you really pay attention, something will stick out at you.
You'll likely have many ideas. Research them all, come up with some kind of a plan for each. Sit on them for a while...one of them will jump out at you.
His advice exceeds anything I could offer you.
I would also recommend Rob's book as a starting point. Many of the problems people run into are mindset related and knowing what else is out there, what things people have tried, and how they worked out is really important. Once you realize that something is possible, you can make it a reality. But without having concrete examples, it's difficult to make that mental leap.
I'm in the process of writing my own book on this topic called The Single Founder Handbook. http://www.singlefounderhandbook.com that you might find useful as well. Should be available within a month, but four areas it focuses on are Idea Generation, Filtering, Validation, and Execution. People have a tendency to jump right to code sometimes without thinking about whether or not the idea ticks off a bunch of specific criteria or validating it.
I think you'd find these areas helpful.