- It is better to have a few people who love your side project than many who are indifferent towards it.
- A deep reaction from someone who is using your product and doing something differently because of it is more valuable than a large number of signups for a product that doesn't exist yet.

To judge how promising your side project is as a startup idea, I'd use some advice from my Y Combinator partner, Paul Buchheit.

He says that it's better to make a product that a few people really love than 1 a lot of people are indifferent towards.

If your side project elicits a deep reaction from someone, The kind where they can legitimately say they're doing something very differently as a result of your product existing.

A single passionate user of a crude prototype that was hacked together in a weekend means so much more than a million signups on a waitlist for something that doesn't exist yet.


Speaker 0: To judge how promising your side project is as a startup idea, I'd use some advice from my Y Combinator partner, Paul Buchheit. He says that it's better to make a product that a few people really love than 1 a lot of people are indifferent towards. If your side project elicits a deep reaction from someone, The kind where they can legitimately say they're doing something very differently as a result of your product existing. A single passionate user of a crude prototype that was hacked together in a weekend means so much more than a million signups on a waitlist for something that doesn't exist yet.

See all Y Combinator transcripts on Youtube

Could your side project become a startup?