Building on Weekends
#SideProjectSunday is the weekly Twitter ritual where makers, developers, and entrepreneurs share projects they’re building outside their day jobs — apps, tools, courses, content, or experiments.
The Culture
Every Sunday, indie hackers flood Twitter with:
- Screenshot progress updates
- Revenue milestones (“$100 → $500 MRR this month!”)
- Launches (“Just shipped [project], check it out!”)
- Learnings from failures
- Code snippets, design mockups, landing pages
Famous Side Projects That Became Businesses
- Notion (2013): Ivan Zhao built prototypes for years while doing contract work
- Instagram (2010): Kevin Systrom’s nights-and-weekends photo app while at Burbn
- Craigslist (1995): Craig Newmark’s email list side project → worth billions
- Twitter (2006): Jack Dorsey’s side project at Odeo before it became standalone
- Gmail (2004): Paul Buchheit’s “20% time” project at Google
The Indie Hacker Movement
Side projects are the on-ramp to:
- Quitting your job ($5K MRR = ramen profitable)
- Testing ideas without risk
- Building audience before launching
- Learning new skills (coding, marketing, design)
Platforms like Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, and Hacker News amplified side project culture.
The Grind
“Weekday job, weekend hustle” lifestyle. Wake at 5am before work, code after dinner, sacrifice social life. Many burn out. Others hit $10K/month and quit day jobs.
COVID Explosion
2020 pandemic = side project boom. Layoffs + WFH boredom + stimulus checks = thousands launched side businesses. Gumroad sales 10x’d, Substack writers monetized, OnlyFans creators exploded.
Sources: Indie Hackers, Product Hunt