The cleanest product strategy is selfish.
Build something you need.
Not something you think “the market” needs. Not something a spreadsheet suggests. Not something a competitor validated.
Something that bothers you enough that you’d pay to make it disappear.
When you build for yourself, you don’t need personas. You don’t need surveys. You don’t need a 40-page research doc.
You need relief.
The market is abstract. Your frustration isn’t.
If you hate bloated project tools, build a simpler one. If booking systems feel clunky, fix the flow. If photo restoration feels slow and awkward, redesign it so you’d actually use it.
You already know where the friction is. You feel it every time you click.
Building for yourself does something else, too. It removes the performance.
You’re not chasing trends. You’re not trying to impress investors. You’re not polishing for applause.
You’re solving a daily irritation.
That changes the tone of the product. It gets sharper. Leaner. More opinionated.
And opinionated products stand out.
The irony is this: when you build for yourself properly, you often end up building for thousands of people just like you.
Because you’re not special. You’re specific.
Specific beats broad.
Be your first customer.
— Scott