5 Projects, 5 Weeks, $300 Each

tl;dr#

I’m building 5 different projects, spending 1 week and a maximum of $300 in advertising on each. At the end I’ll follow the money and see which project delivers the best ratio of money earned to money spent. Time counts as money spent.

Why I’m Doing This#

Building random projects has always been a joy of mine and it’s been a while since I’ve made room for it. Starting a side project feels like standing in front of a huge blank canvas. No requirements, no roadmap, nobody to answer to. That freedom is a double-edged sword, but it’s also the whole point. I get to pick up whatever technology stack I’ve been itching to learn and I get to stay in touch with the business side of building, not just the code.

I also get to build things that are actually useful to me. That instinct has paid off before. Years ago I built an app called Motivational Quotes that sent people a motivational quote every morning. There were already a handful of motivational quotes apps at the time. I just thought I could do better. The app climbed to the #1 spot among motivational apps, peaked at #10 in the Lifestyle category and at its height had around 2 million daily active users. An app portfolio company eventually acquired it.

Selling it wasn’t an easy decision and how that sale went down is a story for another time. I’ll leave you with one glimpse. Out of courtesy to my users, I announced that the app was being sold and a high schooler wrote back with an email that touched my heart:

That app started as nothing more than something I built because I wanted it to exist. That’s the kind of building I want to get back to.

Whenever someone tells me they have so many great ideas that they can’t decide which one to work on, my advice is always the same: stop deciding and start building. Give each idea the same amount of time and money, then let the results pick for you. It recently occurred to me that I haven’t taken my own advice in a while.

So here’s the challenge.

The Rules#

Five projects. One week each. A maximum of $300 in advertising per project. At the pace I can manage, a week works out to roughly ten hours of building time. Ten hours to build something that makes money.

At the end I’ll judge them the way you’d judge any business: follow the money. Money earned has to beat money spent, in ad budget and in time. Whichever project delivers the best return wins. Worst case, all five flop and I’m out $1,500 and five weeks of evenings. That’s the bet.

I won’t be sharing the individual projects along the way. There will be one big reveal on September 25th. What I can share is that project #1 is already built and I have no idea what the other four will be. I find my ideas in everyday friction, the small problems I run into and wish someone had already solved. If I build a solution to a problem I actually have, chances are plenty of other people have the same problem. And if not, at least I walk away with something useful for myself.

Why Write It Down#

I’ve noticed that when I don’t write things down, I forget what I actually got done and the time starts to feel wasted even when it wasn’t. These retros are how I keep score honestly. I’ll publish one every two weeks, whether or not I’m actively building that week. They’re mostly for me, but you’re welcome to keep score along with me.

The Scoreboard#

Project #1 shipped this week and its ads are running. I didn’t time myself while building (hence the action item below), so the hours are an estimate.

So far that’s $2.98 spent, 4 clicks and zero paid customers. Not exactly a rocket ship, but the experiment has officially begun.

Highlights#

• Building with AI is so much faster than it used to be. At this point there’s almost no excuse not to ship.
• I’ve been able to carve out 1 to 2 hours a day and commit them to building.

Lowlights#

• AI cuts both ways. For any simple idea you can now find five apps that look suspiciously alike, probably vibe coded with the default look you get when you don’t give opinionated design prompts. Shipping alone doesn’t make you stand out anymore.
• The classic startup lesson still applies: you can’t just build a great product. You have to sell it.

Action Items#

• Set a timer every time I sit down to build so I know exactly how many hours each project really costs.
• Start thinking about what project #2 will be.

One last thing. If you have a problem you wish someone would solve, send it my way. It might just become project #5.

See you in two weeks.