How I Want to Go from an Idea to an IT Project That Makes Money

How I Came to the Thought That I Need My Own Project

Like, probably, the absolute majority of developers, I have always dreamed that at some point I would build my own product — one that would bring me insane amounts of money. It always feels like something obvious, something that will definitely happen one day. But the questions of how exactly it should happen and what kind of product it should be quickly become much more complicated.

It usually looks more like a plan along the lines of: “A bit here, a bit there — and boom, millionaire.” It is easy to live with thoughts like that until you start realizing that you have already been working in IT for several years, you have already grown as a developer, and you are already beginning to understand what should be done properly and what should be avoided. Yet despite all of that, your own business remains just as far away as it was before.

And sure, you may already be earning decent money simply by working at your company. But this way, you will never be able to make some huge multiple of your current salary. You are still heavily dependent on the company you work for: you can be fired, your working conditions can change. Personally, that scares me from time to time. And considering the incredible speed at which artificial intelligence is developing, you even start wondering whether it will replace you — and what the hell you are supposed to do then.

The only answer for me is still the same dream: to finally create something of my own. To finally take control of my life. To finally make my income depend only on myself. For me, the question of building something of my own has now become extremely urgent — something I can no longer keep postponing.

Let’s assume I have made up my mind and I really want to take this seriously. But where do I even start?

We live in a world where, at first glance, everything an ordinary person might need already exists. And building a product today that actually helps people and is genuinely in demand is not that simple. Besides, I am not some super engineer. I cannot single-handedly build AI 2.0, a better Google, or other insanely complex technical projects.

The product has to be understandable. It has to be something I can actually build. That narrows the range of possibilities a lot, and this is where you realize that this path will not be as simple as you would like it to be.

So What Will This Post Be About?

This will not be a step-by-step guide on how to build a product from scratch that eventually becomes a unicorn company. At least because I have not had that kind of experience myself yet, even though I would obviously like to.

As I wrote above, I am still at the very beginning of this path. So this post is more of a plan for myself: where to move next and what exactly I need to do right now.

At first, I wanted to gather all these thoughts into one post and go through each point one by one. But by the second stage, it became clear that the text was getting way too long. So I decided to leave the general plan and structure here, and gradually turn each point into a separate article. Over time, I will add links to those articles directly in this list.

What Is the Action Plan?

Here is how the launch of such a project currently looks in my head, and what steps it consists of:

1. Find an idea that solves a real problem.
2. Understand exactly who this product is for.
3. Research the pains, needs, and behavior of the target audience.
4. Analyze competitors and existing solutions.
5. Define the product’s value and its key difference.
6. Estimate whether I can realistically launch this project with my current resources.
7. Think through how to validate the idea before full-scale development.
8. Define the scope of the MVP: what must be included and what can wait.
9. Think through the monetization model.
10. Understand where to find the first users and how to bring them into the product.
11. Assess the main risks and weak points.
12. Create a step-by-step action plan for the start.

Conclusion

At this stage, the most important thing for me is to stop looking at my own project as some abstract dream and start treating it as a real path made up of specific stages.

That is exactly why I put this plan together. Next, I want to gradually break down each of these points separately to better understand how to move from the simple thought of “I want something of my own” to a product that actually has a chance to survive.