Side Features Become Products

A strategy of identifying successful side features from existing products and spinning them off into standalone businesses. This approach has proven successful for multiple companies by recognizing and capitalizing on unexpected user behavior or engagement.

Key Examples:

• Reddit's Origin:

  • Inspired by Delicious.com's "/popular" feature
  • Transformed a side feature (link aggregation) into the main product
  • Became "the front page of the internet"

• Product Hunt's Origin:

  • Inspired by Hacker News' "Show" section
  • Took the product showcase aspect and made it the core offering
  • Successfully sold for $20 million

How to Find These Opportunities:

• Look for unexpected sources of traffic in analytics
• Monitor which side features get disproportionate engagement
• Identify favorite side features that could stand alone
• Review cost sections of P&L statements for potential opportunities
• Watch traffic referrals for emerging platforms

Key Principle:

The best ideas are often discovered rather than conceived - look for existing behavior patterns and successful features that could be expanded into full products.