I have the same problem doing things myself. I see the overlapping demographics too, I see the nebulous potential use cases too, I see the end products too, I finish them and then get saddened by the lack of polish or details I could put into it to match competitors.
After spending some time at big corps I came away with a realization: I needed a team to back me up.
Those guys that work at the fancy office parks with the free lunches and bus shuttles to everywhere, they don't work that hard! It's because they have the right amount of people to do the right amount of work on the right amount of things.
I also think of it as a fireteam from my Marine Corps training. When we engage in a firefight we utilize tactics of a lead, advance, backup with fire, lead, advance, backup with fire again, repeat.
You need backup.
The process you've established is correct, you just have to keep using that process to find the right product fit. Then you need to make a go at it, delegating work, polish, market, and sell.
Then the real question is: how do you build a team? We're talking about just one or two other people who are basically "cofounders". Finding these relationships is much harder than just hiring somebody, because you need to work especially well with them.
Having built a product, I'll also add that early on it's not just about finding someone you can work well with, they also need to believe in the product and bring some level of passion for it to the table.
I can work well with any number of people, but few understand the importance of things like audience building, using the product on a daily basis, etc., and even the ones that do might not act on that stuff. Overall passion for execution and moving the product forward are critical.
Maybe this is what you meant, but I wanted to add my 2 cents to clarify.
It's absolutely what I meant. I'm not actively looking to start a company or product right now, but I've wondered how more introverted people form those relationships with just the right people.
I'm curious if it usually happens naturally or if there's a lot of people that find cofounders after building the initial product.
Just like product design, I've found it sometimes takes months and years to find the right team, and sometimes it just happens. Lots of luck in business, especially when it comes to building teams.
This, times 100. My current side business (which is hopefully going into a full time business soon) has these three roles - biz dev, ui/ux, and web dev. It allows people to focus on what they do best, but still have some cross over. Luckily each of us has experience in each other areas as well. I could be wrong, but I feel like this setup of those 3 areas is ideal for launching a web based business.
Second that. I have been in the same boat. Built a niche search engine from scratch learning through open source projects and academic papers. Shut it down after 2 years when it became really difficult to manage operations, UI, testing, SEO.
Although promising in concept, I just could not polish it to a point where lots of people would be interested. Tried to bring in a co-founder later in the game, but its really difficult to find someone with the same amount of passion for your idea.
In hindsight, I should have just contracted out non-critical portions and maintained a more reasonable budget. I did learn a lot in the process though. So don't regret it as much.
I have the same problem doing things myself. I see the overlapping demographics too, I see the nebulous potential use cases too, I see the end products too, I finish them and then get saddened by the lack of polish or details I could put into it to match competitors.
After spending some time at big corps I came away with a realization: I needed a team to back me up.
Those guys that work at the fancy office parks with the free lunches and bus shuttles to everywhere, they don't work that hard! It's because they have the right amount of people to do the right amount of work on the right amount of things.
I also think of it as a fireteam from my Marine Corps training. When we engage in a firefight we utilize tactics of a lead, advance, backup with fire, lead, advance, backup with fire again, repeat.
You need backup.
The process you've established is correct, you just have to keep using that process to find the right product fit. Then you need to make a go at it, delegating work, polish, market, and sell.