5 years, 30+ failed projects… and finally one that’s growing

r/SideProjectu/Alex-grow·August 14, 2025

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The Post

I could have stopped in 2021 or 2022 after many failures, but I kept building. I know indie makers who managed to become successful very quickly, but in 90% of cases it does not happen fast. From my experience (and from talking to many other indie makers) I've learned that 3 years is about the time it takes for most indie makers to start earning enough to work on their projects full time. I'm still building new products despite already having profitable ones. My latest project, Refgrow, is the simplest way for SaaS founders to add an affiliate/referral program inside their app in minutes. I launched it because I saw how powerful referrals can be for growth and I wanted to make it effortless for other founders. It has already brought in thousands in revenue and is growing faster than I expected. But none of this would have happened if I hadn't started building and launching projects one after another back in 2021. The main lesson: Consistency beats luck. Keep shipping, keep learning.

Why this launch worked

This launch resonated because it tapped into a common struggle and aspiration within the r/SideProject community: the difficulty of achieving success with side projects. The founder's story of '5 years, 30+ failed projects' is highly relatable, while the clear articulation of a simple, valuable solution (Refgrow) and its early success provides inspiration and proof of concept. The emphasis on consistency and learning further empowers the audience.

What Worked

Relatable narrative of perseverance and overcoming failure resonating with the indie maker community.

Clear and concise explanation of the product's value proposition (simplest way to add an affiliate/referral program).

Demonstrates tangible results ('thousands in revenue', 'growing faster than I expected') which builds credibility.

Community Response

122

Same here. Success rate is about 10%. Some get profit in first months, other take years until i figure out what i did wrong

VihmaVillu

NEVER GIVE UP

automationwithwilt

Bro how do you come up with so many ideas? I heard it is crucial to have your own pain point as an idea for product to build. Does that work for you? Also, I suppose you did all that in full time? I’m having thoughts lately to gain some finances to do it full time. And lastly, how much did it cost you to build each product, on average?

tabrun

Coming up with/finding ideas is the easiest thing for me, I think it's because I like to think outside the box. I've tried different approaches to finding ideas, looking for my pain points, analyzing other people's pain points on Reddit or elsewhere. I've only been indie hacking full-time for the last 2 years, before that I combined it with hired work. Each product used to take 2-4 weeks before the MVP launch, now it's faster thanks to AI.

Alex-grow

Even after 5 years of building, it is still difficult to launch successful products

Alex-grow