How to come up with good ideas as a solo developer? How to decide what to build?

Ever since I left the corporate world to build independently, I’ve been wrestling with these two questions. Being a solopreneur is liberating, but it also means waking up to a blank canvas every single day. Before we dive deeper, let me address the first thought that usually comes up: “Is the idea itself what really matters, or is it the execution?”

My opinion is that, when you’re building solo, it’s much easier to pivot on an idea than on the product. Improving or replacing an idea might take a few hours, but changing the product can take weeks or even months.

After weeks of experimentation, setbacks, and recalibration, here are the insights I’ve gathered:

1. Follow your heart

This is the classic one. From Steve Jobs to Sam Altman, you’ll hear the same advice: “build what you genuinely care about”. It’s great advice, but incomplete. Passion helps you push through rough patches, but sometimes your “heart idea” has no clear audience or the market simply isn’t ready.

Without some basic validation, a passion project with no real demand can quietly become an expensive hobby.

But if it does work, you unlock something rare - a blend of work/life harmony and a healthy income.

Example: Markus Persson (Notch) built Minecraft because he loved sandbox games. No market study or growth plan, yet it became one of the best-selling video games ever made.

2. Follow the money

Also termed “riding the wave.” Use Google Trends, AI research aggregators, Perplexity, Reddit, Hacker News and study what’s heating up and build accordingly. Building in a hot space increases your odds of traction.

But the risk? Without any emotional connection, the work can start to feel like an extension of your old corporate job, and burnout can creep in fast.

That said, this is often the safest path if your goal is to scale or raise funding. Ideas from this model tend to have the highest potential for rapid growth.

Example: Midjourney is a classic example of riding the early AI content wave. It launched exactly when generative image models were entering the mainstream. Built fast, capitalized on hype, scaled quickly.

3. Blend heart + market

Find the sweet spot where your curiosity overlaps with real demand. This is where small indie companies thrive. Tap into markets big players ignore, workflows that annoy users just enough for them to pay, but not big enough for large teams to bother with.

In these niches, product quality and craftsmanship matter immensely. You can even price your product at a premium if it genuinely solves a painful problem.

Example: Linear. Its founders cared deeply about design and engineering productivity. Instead of a generic tool, they built a highly opinionated, design centric tool specifically for developers and not project managers.

4. Build for a problem you personally face

This is practically the motto of most solopreneurs. Look at many successful one or two-person SaaS startups and you’ll see this pattern. The founders built something because they were frustrated.

Your personal pain points are some of the clearest signals you’ll ever get. If something annoys you every day and you can’t find a clean solution, chances are others feel the same. As solopreneurs, we operate closer to the ground, we spot inefficiencies others overlook.

Example: 1Password started as a quick side project to manage multiple logins during web development/testing in their consultancy. They evolved it into a full product after receiving favorable feedback from friends and peers who found the tool useful.

My takeaway so far

There’s no single formula. In computer science terms, this is an NP-hard problem. You try things, you learn, you adapt and optimize.

But if your goal is to earn a stable income as a solopreneur, here’s one mindset that might help:

1. Make peace with the fact that your first idea may not be “the one.”

This was tough for me to swallow. I had to discard multiple ideas halfway through implementation because they were either too big for one person or didn’t fit my vision. And it’s not just me, even the most successful founders pivot, evolve, before they stumble upon their hero product.

In the early months, momentum matters more than mastery.

2. Most ideas don’t need a full working prototype, they need a fast feedback loop

  • A simple landing page
  • A quick poll on LinkedIn
  • A Reddit post asking how people solve a given problem and if they are willing to pay for an app that simplifes it
  • Quick UI mockups to get feedback on user experience instead of real code

If people lean in, ask questions, or try to sign up before the product exists, that’s your signal.

Personally, I find that building at the intersection of curiosity, market demand, and personal experience, while validating quickly is the most reliable compass for my journey.

If you’re a solo developer or early-stage builder, I’d love to hear how you choose what to build.