Building for the joy of it

After building products for years, most of which have not gone anywhere, I've just decided to focus on the joy of creation rather than worrying about finding users for them. Sounds counterintuitive, but it's not.

There's a well known saying among builders: "if I build it, they will come." Users will find the product if it exists. Every builder eventually realises this is not true. I've learned that too, the hard way, more than once.

Yes, as a creator you want your creation to be used by the world. You try your best, you give it your all. And still, very few people will use it. The reason is simple, the world is not looking for your product. It does not need yet another app. People are busy with their lives. They will seek out a solution only when something becomes a big problem. Till then, life is fine. So a product that makes life a tiny bit more convenient is just not needed.

But as a creator, you still create. That's the part that doesn't go away. Creation is magical, honestly. The ability to conceive an idea as a solution to some problem, big or small, and then actually build something, is extremely satisfying. Some people get their dopamine hit from scrolling social media. I get it from creation.

With AI, it has become extremely easy to bring your ideas to life. What used to take weeks and months of manual coding can now be done over a weekend. That's a superpower. I now spend my weekends building tools, and it's extremely satisfying. If something clicks and finds users, great. If not, at least I have a tool that makes my own life a bit easier.

Over the years I have created uMark, HexaVault, MyPhotoSign, Klipit, AuthWin, Cam Geo Player, SMTP Bulk Mailer, Video Optimiser, and many more. Some have thousands of users, some have less than 100. Doesn't matter. There are countless products that I have built, released and killed. The process of creation must go on.