Side Features Become Businesses

A strategy for finding new business opportunities by identifying successful side features within existing products that could become standalone businesses.

Key Examples from Transcript

• Reddit's Origin

  • Came from Delicious.com's "/popular" feature
  • Was a side feature showing most bookmarked links
  • Paul Graham noticed significant traffic coming from this feature
  • Turned the side feature into Reddit's core product: "front page of the internet"

• Product Hunt's Origin

  • Inspired by Hacker News' "Show HN" section
  • Ryan Hoover noticed the popularity of the product showcase tab
  • Turned the side feature into a dedicated platform for product launches
  • Sold for $20M after making the side feature the main product

How to Find These Opportunities

• Traffic Analysis

  • Look at referral sources in analytics
  • Pay attention to unexpected traffic sources
  • Monitor which features drive engagement
  • Example: Scott Belsky discovering Pinterest through his site's traffic

• Cost Analysis

  • Review your invoices and P&L statements
  • Look for interesting patterns in the cost section
  • Can reveal potential investment or business opportunities

• Feature Analysis

  • Identify popular side features in existing apps
  • Look for features that could stand alone
  • Consider what users are naturally drawn to
  • Watch for organic user behavior around specific features

Success Indicators

• Natural user adoption of the feature
• Unexpected traffic or engagement
• Strong user feedback or enthusiasm
• Feature solving a distinct problem
• Potential for standalone monetization

Action Steps

• Monitor analytics for surprising patterns
• Study successful side-feature-to-main-product stories
• Look for features that solve distinct problems
• Consider what could be extracted and expanded
• Test the feature as a standalone product