3 Years, 20+ Failed Projects, and What Finally Worked

Table of Contents

If you’ve scrolled through r/sideproject long enough, you know the vibe: excited launch posts, crickets 3 months later. Then, every now and then, someone breaks through. This post—“3 years, 20+ failed projects… and finally one that’s growing”—hit hard because it’s familiar. Painfully so.

So what’s the deal with the failed 20? More importantly, what’s different about #21?

Pattern Recognition: Why Things Fail #

Most failed projects share the same corpse markers. It’s rarely some massive technical flaw. Nine times out of ten, the killer is “no one cared.” A real comment summed it up perfectly: “Building’s fun, but I realized I was solving my own problem… and literally no one else’s.” Ouch.

The #1 reason projects fail: no market validation.

You get an idea, fall in love, build it over a summer… and oops, it turns out 10 other people already tried this, or worse, no one ever needed it to begin with. Shoutout to that week I thought making an AI that auto-replies to friend group chats was genius. Useless. Should’ve stopped after writing the landing page.

Second killer? Shipping too slow. You spend months perfecting your onboarding or animating the perfect gradient button. Meanwhile, someone else gets their scrappy (uglier) version out first. Guess who wins? Spoiler: it’s not the dude obsessing over font kerning.

Shifting from Failing Fast to Learning Fast #

The person in that Reddit thread finally cracked it on the 21st. Why? Two huge shifts:

Validation before building. Instead of coding first, they tested their concept with a $12 Canva mockup and a Gumroad pre-sale page. 137 signups later, it was clear this wasn’t just an idea—it was an actual problem people were opening wallets for. This is underrated. If 20 failures taught me anything, it’s that saying “would you use this?” is worthless. People love sounding supportive. Asking for $10 upfront? That’s feedback.
Smaller bets, faster cycles. They stopped trying to make “the app.” Instead, they started cranking out micro-projects: tiny tools, Notion templates, one-page services. It sounds counterintuitive, but these smaller wins helped them spot patterns in what people actually cared about. Less risk; more learning.

This is huge. It’s harder than it sounds to keep things small—especially when your brain is screaming “but wait, what if this was a SaaS platform with 100 features and AI baked in?” It’s not. Stop it.

Why This Approach Works in 2026 #

This matters now because indie hacking is not the playground it used to be. Five years ago, you could launch a half-baked note-taking app and see traction. Now? The App Store, marketplaces, and even niche platforms like Gumroad are saturated with polished (“too good for its size”) competitors.

But, here’s the leverage: people still want things made for them. AI tools are powerful but generic. Polished doesn’t mean personal. The smart indie hackers (like 20-projects guy) now focus on hyper-specific audiences—single-problem tools like “email cleanup for lawyers” or “inventory tracking for indie bookstores.” When you solve a needle-sharp pain point, your competition drops significantly.

And let’s be real: Google’s not jumping into your niche tool for rare comic collectors.

How You Can Avoid Being the First 20 #

Start with MVPs that feel embarrassingly small.
- Would you pay for it today if it just did one thing really well?
- If no, it’s probably overbuilt.
Validate better. One Reddit post blew my mind recently: they sold a Figma plugin (barely functional) by DMing 50 designers with “I think this fixes X for you. Pre-orders?” 15 pre-orders in, they knew. This beats spending 3 months on a dumb “waitlist” page.
Hone your pickiness radar. Not every failure is worth pivoting into a “smaller niche.” Some ideas are just bad. Learn to walk away faster.
Follow growth, not hope. Once you see real customers (even 10), double down aggressively. Often projects fail because we jump too soon to the next idea. Growth compounds faster than inspiration.

When to Quit (It’s Sooner Than You Think) #

Look, it took 3 years and 20 projects for the Reddit poster to hit gold. But the lesson isn’t “grind longer.” It’s “iterate better.” You need to kill faster. Some ideas die as drafts, some in Figma, some after the first customer call. But holding on too long (hoping something magically clicks) is almost always a waste.

Reality check: If you’ve launched and had zero traction within 3 months, be honest. Did you really give it market validation? Or is nobody biting because it solves nothing?

FAQs #

What’s the best way to validate an idea pre-launch? #

Gumroad pre-orders or paid mockups are the gold standard. Spend a weekend making a simple pitch and slap a $5, $10, or $25 price on it. If people pay before the product exists, that’s validation.

How small should your MVP be? #

Think “does one thing brilliantly,” not “might do five mediocre things eventually.” The rule of thumb: if you can’t ship it in a week or two, it’s too big.

I’ve just had 2-3 failed projects. Should I keep going? #

Yes, but only if you’re tweaking your process. If you’re repeating the same mistakes—building before validating, skipping launch, over-engineering—you’re not learning. Make smaller bets, learn faster.