I’ve been running my side project for about eight months now, and I’m stuck on something. I have a small group of users who love it, but when I try to talk to people who aren’t already interested, I get a lot of blank stares. I’m wondering if I’ve built something that only solves a problem for people like me, or if I’m just terrible at explaining it. How do you figure out if there’s a real need for what you’re making?
I hear you. When the room goes blank for outsiders, it can feel like you’re chasing a need that only surfaces in a tiny corner of the internet. Maybe you’ve got a real need for a niche group, but you’re not translating it clearly yet. What was the moment you first saw someone outside your inner circle react, even slightly?
Run a lean need test: craft a single sentence that names the need your thing meets, point people at a tiny landing page, and watch what actions they take. If the numbers stay flat, the need isn’t landing; if people engage, you’re closer to something real. Don’t overbuild before you see movement.
Maybe you’re chasing a need that isn’t shared at scale. People love small wins, but that doesn’t prove a universal problem. Don’t beat yourself up for bad storytelling yet—check if you’re getting any pattern in who says yes and who says no.
Have you thought about reframing as a habit change rather than a feature? The need might live in the change you enable, not in what the product does. Describe the behavior you’re nudging and the tradeoffs people accept.
Copy and pitch can miss the read of different readers. Some skim, some dwell. Tinker with storytelling craft; a short anecdote about a user and the need that sparked it travels farther than a bullet list.
Are you sure you’re not overfitting to your initial fans? Nine months is long enough to notice if the core need is narrow. Try interviews with strangers and take notes on the phrases they actually use to describe the need.
Signals aren’t final proofs; they’re a conversation about a need, not a feature map. If your audience isn’t responding to the pitch, you might be testing the wrong need or context.