My Side Project with Zero Customers Sold for $6,750
Last month, I was scrolling through my private GitHub repos.
It was a graveyard. That genius SaaS idea from 2021. The little AI tool I tinkered with for a weekend. The app I swore would be "the one." All of them, sitting there, dead.
Six projects. Zero users. Zero dollars.
I’m not alone in this sad little ritual. I see it every day. Brilliant developers spending six months building in a cave, only to launch to the sound of crickets. Then they just... move on to the next idea.
We're all building things backwards.
The Dirty Secret About Your "Big Idea"
Here's the lie every founder tells themselves: "If I just build a perfect product, customers will show up."
That's a fantasy. A dangerous one. The code is the easy part. The real work is cutting through the noise, and most of us are showing up to a gunfight with a half-finished slide deck.
Then I stumbled upon the story of a developer named Jonathan Geiger, and it completely changed how I see this game. While working a full-time job, he sold a side project for $6,750.
The kicker? It had zero paying customers.
Let that sink in. He sold a project with no revenue for more than most people’s monthly salary. Why? Because the buyer wasn't paying for revenue. They were buying momentum. They were buying a head start.
That's not a failure. That's a sellable asset.
What Actually Works (Based on Real Sales, Not Startup Hype)
I decided to dissect this playbook. No more building in secret. No more "launch and pray."
Here’s what I learned.
1. Market Before You Write a Single Line of Code
The biggest mistake we make is treating marketing like a chore we’ll get to later. This is like building a car and saving the "figure out how to steer" part for the end.
Geiger's strategy is the opposite. For his next project, he planned 20 blog posts before the product was even built.
This isn’t just "blogging." It’s building a customer magnet.
Target the Pain: He wasn't writing about his "vision." He was targeting the exact, painful questions his future customers were typing into Google.
Create Landing Pages for Everything: Instead of one generic "Features" page, he built separate pages for every use case. "API for Social Media" and "Automate LinkedIn Posts" attract different people. Speak their language.
Build Links on Purpose: He didn't wait for links to appear. He hunted them down, listing his site in directories and even paying a freelancer to do the grunt work.
The test? If your marketing plan is "I'll post on social media on launch day," you don't have a plan.
2. Build a Trojan Horse (And Give It Away for Free)
Want the fastest way to get your ideal customer on your website? Solve a tiny piece of their problem for free.
Geiger built and launched several free micro-tools related to his main product. This is a devastatingly effective strategy.
Think about it:
It delivers instant gratification. No sales pitch, no demo call. Just a useful tool that makes someone's day easier. You just earned their trust.
It’s a traffic and backlink machine. People love sharing genuinely useful free stuff. Your free tool will get more organic promotion than your paid product ever will.
It’s the perfect sales funnel. The person using your free "social media image resizer" is the exact person who needs your full "social media scheduling" suite. Now you have a direct line to sell them on it.
Your free tool is a Trojan Horse that gets you inside their walls.
3. Stop Working in Secret
Can we talk about "stealth mode"? It’s the dumbest idea in the startup world.
The old fear was that someone would steal your idea. The new reality? Your future buyer is watching you on social media right now.
Geiger shared everything. His progress, his numbers, his challenges—all out in the open on Reddit and LinkedIn.
One of his buyers found him on LinkedIn after seeing his posts.
Building in public isn’t about ego. It’s a calculated sales strategy. It attracts:
Your first users (the ones who love being on the inside).
A real community (people who are now rooting for you).
Buyers (people who are literally paid to find cool projects with momentum).
By hiding your work, you’re not protecting your idea. You’re starving it of oxygen.
The "Competition" Reality Check
The biggest mental block for builders is the fear of competition. "Someone's already doing it!"
Geiger's take on this blew my mind:
"I validate by searching for competition, if I don’t have competitors... I don’t build it."
He actively looks for competitors. If he can't find any, he gets scared and walks away. This is genius.
Competition isn't a stop sign; it's validation that you've found a real market where people spend money. Someone else already spent their time and cash proving the problem exists. Thank them!
Your job isn't to be first. It's to be different. Niche down, be better, be cheaper, have a better personality. There are five pizzerias on my block, and they're all busy on a Friday night.
My First "Real" Side Project Sale (And How Simple It Was)
After the project with zero revenue, Geiger built another one.
CaptureKit built in ~3 weeks.
Traction: 300+ users, 7 paying customers ($127 MRR)
Result: Sold for $15,000 just 2.5 months after launch.
That tiny $127 MRR wasn't about the money. It was the ultimate proof. It screamed, "People will pay for this!" and de-risked the whole thing for the buyer. He listed it on a few side project marketplaces, the buyer reached out, and they used a simple escrow service to handle the payment. No lawyers, no suits, no fancy pitch deck.
The 3-Step Plan to Resurrect Your Side Project
Here’s your homework. Go to your project graveyard.
Pick ONE dead project you still believe in.
Write ONE blog post that answers a question your ideal customer would Google. Post it this week.
Write ONE "build in public" update on LinkedIn or Reddit. Don't sell. Just share what you were trying to build and one thing you learned.
That's it. You've just taken the first step from building a product to building an asset.
The Truth About Turning Your Code into Cash
The best side projects aren't the ones with the most beautiful code or the most unique ideas. They're the ones that build an audience while they build the product.
Your project should be a living, breathing asset that grows in value every day, even if your Stripe balance is $0.
The real question isn't "Is my idea good enough?"
It's "Am I brave enough to start marketing it before it feels ready?"
Start there. Your bank account will thank you.