$0.000 Revenue and Still Winning: The Side Project Mentality #

So, you launched. You put together the landing page, wrestled with Stripe’s dashboard, wrote blog posts, probably annoyed your friends with “please share this!” texts. Six days later, someone on r/sideproject hits us with: “My side project made $0.000 revenue and I’m so grateful!” Honestly? Mood.

Let’s talk about why this isn’t as absurd as it sounds. Because if you’re focused entirely on dollar signs at this stage, you’re reading the wrong milestone map.

The Hardest Step: Hitting Publish #

Most people never even launch. That’s the real graveyard of side projects—unfinished code rotting in private GitHub repos. You shipped. You took something out of your head and put it into the world where strangers can judge it.

This is huge. Indie hackers love to say “build fast and launch often,” but the psychological weight of launching never really gets easier, no matter how many times you do it. Stats back this hesitation—something like 90% of Hackathon projects never even make it to a minimal demo, let alone a real product launch.

You’re in rarified air. $0 revenue is still ahead of $0 effort.

Why Measuring Revenue at Day 6 Doesn’t Matter #

Revenue is a lagging metric, especially for side projects. Here’s how it usually plays out for most folks:

1. Days 0–30: You think you’re launching to people, but no one’s actually listening yet. Your audience is 3 people and a Twitter bot account. Nobody cares.
2. Days 30–90: If you show up consistently—blog, SEO, Reddit, whatever—you’ll start finding the first trickle of users. If you’re lucky, one pays. Most don’t.
3. Past 3 Months: OK, now you’ve gotten feedback, iterated, and maybe found your fit with that tiny niche of power users who really want what you built. Revenue starts to show up.

Expecting to make meaningful money 6 days after launch is like planting seeds on Monday and looking for a full-blown tomato plant by Friday.

Celebrate the Real Wins #

Reddit user @edubuilder24 (from the original thread) nailed it: “I launched three projects and got zero sales on one, $12 on another, and $4K MRR on the third… no pattern, but you only learn by doing.”

Launch isn’t about money—it’s about momentum. Here are some wins you might have that don’t involve checking your PayPal balance:

1. Traffic spikes: Maybe your Product Hunt post or Twitter announcement actually got some clicks. Even 50 visitors in your first week is better than sitting at zero.
2. Feedback: Did anyone DM or email you saying, “This looks cool, but…”? That’s gold right there. Lean into it.
3. Leverage for the next wave: Maybe you didn’t make money, but you built the skills to run ads and set up a Stripe integration. Next time publishing will feel easier.

Some of the best tools indie hackers love started as free side projects. Buffer, for example, took months just to validate if people liked their landing page, long before their first payment.

Earn, But Also Learn #

Look, I get it. Money talks. We’re not running charities (well, unless your side project is a charity). But chasing revenue this quickly can tank your momentum. Worse, it might steer your product in the wrong direction—toward features that look profitable but fail to resonate long-term.

Let your side project breathe. Talk to users. Remove the “I’m a failed founder unless someone pays me” chip off your shoulder. If you solve a real problem for even a small fraction of people, the money usually follows.

Just don’t drown in analysis paralysis. The community loves breaking out tools like Amplitude or PostHog to obsess over metrics two weeks in, but honestly? Overkill for most people. You don’t know what’s valuable until you have more traffic or validation.

Bottom Line: Gratitude Over Revenue (for Now) #

Celebrate the fact you moved from 0% to something. This is the indie hacker way—big dreams, small steps. Aim for revenue, sure, but don’t let it kill your motivation if it’s slow to show up.

As a wise Redditor once said (probably): “The real MVP (minimum viable product) is getting out of your own head.”

Go ship your next thing.