Back in November, I was on Discord with some gamer friends when one of them mentioned paying $8 a month for a custom crosshair. I couldn’t quite believe it. A monthly subscription for a dot on your screen?
Then another friend shared his screen and showed a similar tool he was paying for. Soon they were comparing features, setup, and RAM usage. The conversation kept coming back to the same thing: they wanted something simple that stayed out of the way.
I told them I could build one for the price of a drink. Something easier to use, simpler to set up, and lighter on resources. That same day, I built a version and gave it to them.
Their feedback made me take it further. I put together a landing page and started talking to people on Reddit who were frustrated with the same problem. What began as something for a few friends started finding an audience.
Keeping it free eventually became too expensive, so I made it an affordable purchase. People were willing to pay for something that did a small job well.
I think developers sometimes spend too long looking for the next big idea. In this case, the problem was right there in a conversation with friends. I just had to pay attention and build something they could try.