How long did you wait before calling it on a side project?
I shut down a project last month that I’d been working on for about eight months. It had a handful of paying users, a few nice messages, and growth that basically flatlined after the first launch spike. The weird part is I probably knew it wasn’t working around month four. I just kept telling myself one more feature would fix it.
Talking to other makers, I’ve noticed two camps:
People who give something 90 days, check the numbers, and move on without much drama.
People (like me) who hang on way too long because quitting feels like admitting the idea was bad.
Would love to hear how you think about this:
What signal finally told you a project wasn’t going to work?
Do you set a deadline or a target before you start, or just go with your gut?
Have you ever stuck with something past the point you wanted to quit, and it actually paid off?
Replies
It is so hard to let go when you have a few nice messages and paying users tricking you into thinking it's close. But if you're dreading working on it and just pushing a boulder up a hill, it's totally okay to just let it go.
@amanndaphillips yeah the paying users part got me. felt like quitting meant letting them down so i kept going way longer than i should have. and honestly i was dreading opening the code for months lol. how do you tell when it’s just a boring phase vs actually time to stop?
No deadline for me. I only build things I use myself. The kanban tool came from Trello's free plan running out on me, and the form builder from a client who wanted to cut what they were paying for a pricey form system. Even with zero customers, just me and my clients using it makes our work more efficient, so it's a win anyway. If it turns into a SaaS that earns money on top of that, great. That's why I have never shut down any of my services.
@hisashispace honestly love this approach. if you’re using it yourself it’s already worth it, customers or not. mine was the opposite i built it for people i thought would want it and didn’t really use it myself. so when growth stopped there was nothing keeping it alive. did any of your tools get users outside your clients?