The Startup Ideas Podcast
The best businesses are built at the intersection of emerging technology, community, and real human needs.
“I build for myself. I think we're entering into this era of personal software”
What It Means
Build software for your own specific needs first, then find others who share those needs, rather than trying to build for a broad market
Why It Matters
Personal use provides better product instincts than market research and reduces risk of building unwanted features
When It's True
When you have domain expertise and AI tools make individual development feasible
When It's Risky
When your needs are too unique or you lack sufficient domain knowledge
How to Apply
Start with tools you would use daily
Build exactly what you want without compromise
Share with similar people in your network
Scale only after seeing organic demand
Example Scenario
“Build custom news aggregator for your specific interests, discover hundreds of others want the same filtering approach”
Related Knowledge
It's not going to be what you build as much as what you don't build
With AI making everything buildable, success will come from choosing what NOT to build rather than capability limits
Things that are technically out of bounds for you...are very much possible as a solo engineer
AI tools now enable individual developers to build complex systems that previously required entire teams