It is “simple” Find out what people want Make it Sell it to them Unfortunately, engineer brain loves to skip step 1

Ive recently become friends with a younger person who makes a lot of money off vibe coded mini saas. He is fanatical about step 1. If he can’t find n people begging him to make it he will go validate the next idea. He’s ruthless with this aspect and will drop an idea instantly if people dont care. It really woke me up to the reality of it all. Made me realise how much i delude myself into making things people dont want because i enjoy the making process. I will at best half ass step 1 and the proceed to spend a few months hand crafting some software no one wants. Meanwhile he spends two months validating and one month vibe coding something that people would be embarrassed to post on HN and then sell 100usd/month subscriptions to it. Its crazy

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hadifrt20 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is exactly the trap. I keep catching myself spending weeks on the tech stack and architecture before I've talked to a single person.. the building feels productive and quite comfortable, it's like a quick reward to us for having an idea without needing to battle test in the field

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fnoef 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I just don’t understand how does it work. Like where do you find such people? How do you make them beg you? Isn’t building in a saturated market kind of proves that there is demand?

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shivaniShimpi_ 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

the begging thing is a bit of a myth imo. what it actually looks like is you describe the problem out loud to someone and they go , god yes that's exactly it - before you've even mentioned a solution. that reaction is the signal. you're not manufacturing demand you're just finding where it already exists. the hardest part is you need to talk to a lot of people before you find that reaction, that was the biggest pitfall i fell into during my first startup. trying hard not to make the same mistake twice, youve to be really mindful

	▲	maxaw 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Begging is hyperbole, its as you describe. Just looking for the strong reaction

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maxaw 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you cant find the people, may not be the right market for you :) ideally you are exposed to target market directly, and daily. Or you team up with a cofounder who is. Re: building in saturated market - “prove” is a strong word. It’s another signal. And you can judge for yourself how strong :) i dont think anything can replace direct customer feedback

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Gooblebrai 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> kind of proves that there is demand?

It proves that there's demand but you might not get a piece of the cake. That's being able to sell/speak to the people in your market is so important