I'm Alyssa X, I've built and shipped 10+ products. AMA.

@auttomatta For a first project I think it's important to be realistic, avoid being too ambitious and make sure it's something you can complete. Also very important to avoid being a perfectionist, you don't want to get stuck working on the same project over and over worrying about the smallest details. The fastest way to learn is by launching and sharing things with others to get feedback, so it's better to just ship something that isn't perfect than spending ages tweaking every single thing until you get frustrated and give up on it entirely.

@dimabraven It’s complicated, and I think lately I’ve been finding it harder and harder to come up with them. I usually try to look for problems I have, or even repetitive actions I could simplify to make more efficient. Sometimes I try to combine different products together (e.g. Figma + Google Maps = Mapus), or different mechanics. I think the easiest way to go about it is looking for an existing product, and thinking about how you can improve it - sometimes you don’t need to create something completely unique to build something great. For example with Screenity I saw some of the shortcomings of tools like Loom and Screencastify, and decided to address them with my own extension. There’s lots of ways to go about it for sure.

@darjanhren I think in order to be a successful maker (I don’t know if I would call that myself, haha) you need to have a lot of perseverance. While there’s a lot of makers who are proficient in multiple areas like design, development, marketing, and more, many are perfectionists who can’t manage to ship a single project, or they give up too easily at the slightest sign of adversity. To date I’ve probably built close to a hundred different little apps and prototypes, many of them failing or not even seeing the light of day, and with a lot of obstacles in the way (I could go on and on with all the setbacks I’ve had in pretty much all my projects, especially for those out of my comfort zone and skill level) but it’s never stopped me from keeping at it.

@nayamoss Honestly, the way I go about it is pretty simple. I come up with an idea, I make a quick prototype, and then I list all the tasks I will need to do to get an MVP in Notion. I literally just make a heading, and using the todo blocks I write everything down. As I build the projects I tend to add or remove tasks, or even break some down if they’re too big, since it kind of helps me stay motivated every time I check something off, it’s a bit of a rush. I also like to use Figma a lot for planning or inspiration even, I throw everything in there, from products that I like to just writing ideas down. It tends to get very messy but I don’t mind 😛

@aaronoleary It might be a simple question, but it’s not necessarily easy to answer 😛 I feel like I enjoyed working on most of my projects (some were pretty tedious, for example Slashy, which I came close to giving up on), but the most fun one would probably be Jumpskip. Not only did I manage to solve a problem I was having, making it easier for me to watch horror movies (which I love), but I also really enjoyed how hacky it was to build. Sourcing the data and sorting it through for analyzing it was surprisingly fun to do, and it was really satisfying reverse engineering parts of the Netflix UI to make my own custom components. I think I might want to revisit this one in the future to add more functionality (different triggers), and make it available for other streaming platforms as well. Maybe I’ll do a write up at some point too, lots of things I’d like to talk about on this one!

@juliaenthoven Thanks! So the way I work, I usually do a prototype first without any design just to get an idea of how the product should work, and to see whether I would be able to complete it. If I am successful, I then start wireframing, and making some first high fidelity designs to find the right look for the product. I then sort of go back and forth with it, sometimes I design a feature and then develop it, other times I just develop it right away and see how it looks like. I’m not very strict with it to be honest, besides even when I have the design, after I develop it I realize it would look or work better a completely different way. And ha, well, I am not an expert in AI or video creation specifically. But I’ve seen what’s possible now with tools like DALL-E for creating all sorts of images with prompts. I imagine something like that might be available for videos as well, for specific footage or even animations. Or even things within video editing, having a raw video automatically cut and color graded, getting the best parts, or dividing into sections with automatic lower thirds and title cards. Although I have seen apps which already do a pretty good job, even with being able to edit video through audio transcriptions, it’s all really impressive. Definitely looking forward to what’s to come in that space (I’m sure you’re working on a lot of exciting things yourself over at Kapwing 😊).

@hazim Thank you! I think in part it helps that it’s become a routine since I’ve been doing this non-stop for several years. I also have a bit of an obsession with being productive, I can’t stand sitting around doing nothing. There is just a lot of value to be had with making things, from getting all sorts of opportunities, to meeting awesome people. I’ve never worked on anything that I felt was a complete waste of my time, I always got something in return. So that’s sort of my motivation to keep going with it 🙂

@shyam_prasad_reddy 1. My working day for my side projects specifically only happens during the weekend (since I have a full-time job). I tend to wake up early to have a shower, get my thoughts in order and clear my head. I then go through any emails and messages, see what’s going on, and look through my project planning. In order to get in the “flow” I tend to listen to some music in the background, I recently invested in Youtube Premium so it autoplays and I don’t have to bother with ads or anything. Then I just hack away, doing any design or development work, and constantly testing that everything works well (which it usually doesn’t, I always have bugs and issues to fix haha). I kind of over-optimize a lot, so even when it comes to eating instead of spending time cooking and cleaning up I just have Huel, so I can get a lot more work done, or if it’s later on the day I order some food. Maybe not the best but I like to use up as much of my time as possible for building. On Sundays I also spend an hour or two writing for my newsletter at around midday, it tends to give motivation to keep going for the rest of the day. I tend to stay up until midnight or later, but I make sure to get decent sleep. As per staying focused and productive, well, I think I just have good incentives, so I don’t really question it. I know that if I build more projects I get way more opportunities and it helps me grow my audience, so it’s in my best interest to get this done as soon as possible. I’ve also been able to consistently raise my salary and rate with a larger portfolio and diversity of work, so it’s a good reason for me to stay productive. I don’t know if I have any “hacks”, for me music works very well (although in some cases depending on the song I end up randomly dancing and singing and messing about so kind of debatable 😅), I get in a bit of a rhythm so it’s easier to keep building non-stop. 2. I try to make products that take no longer than 3 months to build. I sort of have a backlog of ideas so I wouldn’t count the time it takes me to come up with it, but all the planning and design I do within those 3 months. If I’m lucky I can manage to build something in a week (which has happened before, but it’s rare), sometimes just a month or two. I kind of set a deadline in my head to force me to work harder, and avoid being too much of a perfectionist to make sure I ship as soon as possible. I’m currently in a good track, as it’s been 1 month since my last launch and I’m almost ready to ship 😊 3. I haven’t worked on any B2B products, so I wouldn’t really know. I feel like I have it easy to acquire customers because of my large Twitter following, and because most of my products are free and open source. Just sharing them on social media and Product Hunt is usually enough for me to get the first users.

@alyssaxuu Thank you so much for your detailed answers :)

@hfrdmnk I appreciate it! I think I’m just a bit of a hacky maker. My intention is to build things, not necessarily to become super knowledgable in a specific technology. So when I create things that require me to learn a new programming language, for example with Later, I tend to take as many shortcuts as I can to ship ASAP. I look into similar projects, read through their code, use StackOverflow a ton (who doesn’t?), and I particularly find useful watching videos to get a sense for how developers code using the specific language/framework. Sometimes just seeing in which order they write the code helps me understand how it works. For Swift specifically I found this video by Paul Hudson which helped me get started and then make the necessary changes to make it work the way I wanted.

@chunza2542 1. Depends on what is in the market. If it’s oversaturated, with lots of similar products and competitions, I might simply move on. But if I see opportunity, where I can build a better product or I can address specific user needs (very useful to look at product reviews in that sense, they can give you amazing ideas), then I just go for it, it’s just easier too since I have a frame of reference in that case. 2. My criteria is: time it takes to build, difficulty, how much of an impact would it make (would it go viral?), any opportunities I could get from it (for example if it’s in a specific niche or related to some company, if it could get me some contract work), and whether I find it fun to work on. 3. Ha, that’s a tough one. I don’t know if I’m great at names, I usually go for something simple, pick one word that describes the product, and either change it up a bit (like Slashy, Mapus, Flowy…), just use it as it (like Later), or combine it with another one (like Animockup = Animation + Mockup). I try not to spend too long on it, although I feel like branding can be pretty important.

@aaron_davis1 Ah, tough one! I think design for me is more important, it's what I do for a living, and I think it would still allow me to showcase my product ideas through simple prototypes which is what I find fun. Developing I can find it quite frustrating at points, and without design for me at least it's all pretty lifeless and dull.

@dsarkar Thank you! I don't know if I really look for prospective clients honestly. I usually tend to share things out on social media or here on Product Hunt and I'm able to connect with the right target audience fairly easily (I think it helps that I have a pretty large following), so I don't really have to cold email or seek potential users.

@kylerjphillips Hmm, I think I experienced the most growth from building Screenity. I had to learn how to use some new APIs and libraries, and overall it was pretty complicated, but I’ve been using a lot of the skills I learnt from it to build other products like Animockup, Mapus, Slashy, and more. I probably would do it all differently to be honest. I never expected it to get so big, and the way I coded it was pretty hacky so it has been difficult to add new features that users suggest or even fixing bugs in general. The main thing that bothers me about it is how I handled the completed recording screen, I remember I was super exhausted at that point and I pretty much put something together quickly without much thought, which ended up causing me a lot of problems afterwards trying to make it work properly and cleaning up the design to make it look acceptable. I think I will probably deal with this on a v2 which I’m hoping to work on soon though 😊

@mikk_martin 1. It mostly comes down to good planning. If you intend to build something in a short amount of time, make sure what you want to create isn’t too ambitious and wouldn’t require too much time to develop. I tend to identify the things that would be critical for a MVP, and those that would be nice to have, and then write it down in a Notion doc. Then over the weekend (as this is sort of a side hustle for me) I just keep picking some tasks, and try to get at least 5 of them done each day. I kind of cheat sometimes by creating easy ones, but psychologically I feel it helps me to keep going. I also think it’s important to avoid being a perfectionist. Many times I’ve had certain features, designs, or implementations I wasn’t perfectly happy with, but I refrained from reworking them just because it wouldn’t be worth the time, these things don’t make or break a product (usually). 2. Good question. I feel like I see all my projects as part of a plan, some sort of journey, in a way they are means to an end. Over the years I’ve set different goals for myself, early on I was trying to find a job for example, so I created projects that would look good in my portfolio, and made case studies and explorations for companies that I’d like to work for. More recently my goals changed a bit, looking for revenue and growing my audience, so I take those factors into account as well and see which of my ideas is more likely to help me achieve those. And of course I also prioritize projects that I find fun, or where I would have the chance of learning something new, such as for my app Later where I learnt a bit about Swift programming. Still, easier said than done, sometimes I end up blocked with multiple project ideas and it can take weeks before I decide on something (since I don’t want to start working on anything that I can’t finish, it’s a bit of a rule I set for myself).

@cosmickitten 1. I only work on one thing at a time, to ensure that I get everything done and don't leave things unfinished. I don't typically have to do a lot of prioritization since I don't tend to have a lot of potential ideas lying around, but when I do I mainly consider how challenging it would be to build, how long it would take, the potential upside in terms of money or opportunities, and whether it could go viral. I also think about what things I could learn by building the product (maybe a new language, like with my Later app), and if I would enjoy spending a month or two working solely on it (wouldn't be good to lose interest and get bored just a few days in). 2. It depends on the product. For example with Jumpskip I built the product for myself, it ended up not being widely used, but I am thankful I made it because I can watch horror movies without being spooked by jumpscares. Or Carden which I built as my friend @anne_laure_le_cunff wanted a fun gamified way to use flashcards for memorizing things online, as opposed to using Anki which looks and feels a bit boring. With other products where I'm not necessarily solving a problem for myself I do make sure to talk with people and figure out if it's something that they need or would use, recently I've gotten into the habit of sharing sneak peeks of what I'm making on Twitter just to collect early feedback, plus through my newsletter every week I get to see what people think about what I'm building.

@christiano4 Ha, yeah it's tough. Personally since I don't do this full-time I don't have the financial risk, I have a normal full-time job which I do throughout the week, and I only build over the weekend. It can be a bit frustrating at times, but I think it's super rewarding when I get to launch my products and see people's reactions, especially if I've made something that makes their lives easier. I do agree it can get lonely, since I have my job and I build over my free time I don't really have a lot of time on my own, so I don't really get to meet or hang out with people a whole lot unfortunately. I've been trying to balance it out better, but I think ultimately unless I find a way to do this full-time (or have my job be part-time) or I slow down on making products there's not much I can do.

@izuorah_dubem The way I usually go about it is starting with the code by building a simple prototype. If I am successful with it, then I make a plan in Notion of all the features I want the product to have, and I make some concepts in Figma. I like to have something pretty high fidelity to get started from that point on, so it takes me a few days designing tons of different iterations and screens until I get back to developing. Then it’s just a balance, some things I tend to code without making a design first since it’s faster, others I like to think though beforehand so I don’t have to redo things later.

@alyssaxuu Wow thanks a lot. This will help my planning better

@tim_kober I had plans to turn Mapus into a fully fledged product, the main issues I had were the fact that being a real-time collaborative tool it got expensive to run, and that the use cases are pretty niche. It mostly comes down to urban planning, organization for events or protests, helping in rapidly changing situations like emergencies, and things like that. Very few and varied ways to use the product, so there isn’t a very good way for me to market it and position it really, and much less make it cost effective, since I’d need to charge for it to break even. I did see Felt (https://felt.com/) recently launched which does essentially the same thing, and it seems to be pretty solid. Maybe one day I will revisit it!

@robertomorais I tend to work on my projects one by one, I don’t think I would be able to handle doing it in parallel, I’d end up prioritizing the product I enjoy working on more and forgetting about the rest. I also wouldn’t consider my projects businesses (they don’t really make money lol), so once I launch I don’t have a lot of work to maintain them, it’s much easier to handle in that sense. I think my tip in that regard is just to create things with low maintenance, I’ve refrained from working on projects with communities or where I’d need to proactively stay on top of it to make it work, it’s just too complicated.

@alyssaxuu Thanks for your answers. I think you nailed it with "Crate things with low maintenance", unconsciously this already was one of my priorities.

@mikestaub I’d like to say I have some sort of intrinsic motivation and that I just work on projects because I find it fun, but that would be a lie. Sure, I do enjoy coming up with ideas and being able to see them to light, but a big reason why I build is because of the range of opportunities it offers. I’ve essentially built a very big and impressive portfolio over the years, which has helped me get plenty of jobs and meet all sorts of interesting people. Plus with every new project I create, my audience grows, which in return helps me have a bigger reach. And of course the obvious one, the money. It’s nice to have a bit of a passive income stream, it keeps things diversified and I don’t have to stress so much about life in a way 😛