Side projects don't die from lack of time. They die from success anxiety. Shipping means facing judgment. An eternal WIP stays safe in the "potential" zone where it can't disappoint anyone including yourself

Yep, that feels likely. When tech people don't ship, they overarchitect. Add all the stuff 'the big guys' have to Be Ready for the big time when you launch. And then never launch after spending 1000s on infrastructure, tools etc. I have done it, I see many people do it around me.

I'm going through this now. Once I start selling (hardware product), the cat is out of the bag, and further development becomes more difficult because there are paying customers. And we don't have the capacity to scale up if we "go viral". But AI has me pushing to do this somewhat prematurely because there's no guarantee I'll still be employed at the end of the year (due to "AI"), so the side project has to become a real thing right now.