Just Remind: How a Random Idea Became a Product

TL;DR:

Solving a problem you personally have is a powerful motivator.
Test your solution quickly by leveraging what you're comfortable with (friends, social media, forums, etc.).
Dedicate specific time slots to build your side project — habit is key.
Even if your solution isn't perfect or you don't have users, you'll learn something, and you'll grow.

The Problem: Forgetting Everything I Read

Two and a half years ago, I realized I had a problem: I was constantly forgetting the valuable insights from the books I read.

I’m a non-fiction reader, diving into books about productivity, psychology, and self-improvement. My Kindle was filled with highlights of the lessons I wanted to remember, yet over time, those lessons faded. I wasn’t applying what I learned, and it felt like all that reading was going to waste.

If I couldn’t remember what I read, wasn’t it just a waste of time? I wanted my reading to have a real impact on my personal growth.

I needed a solution.

The Solution: Simple, Not Perfect

I started thinking about a solution. The idea was straightforward: I needed a way to remind myself of the key takeaways from my books.

I looked into existing tools that could help me with this, but the ones I found were either too complex, incomplete, or simply too expensive. I wasn’t looking for a fancy, over-engineered solution. I just wanted something simple — ideally free — that would help me stay connected to the books I’d already read.

In my research, I realized a simple implementation could solve the problem: an app where I could import my book highlights and receive daily email reminders about them. It didn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

Testing the Idea: Fast and Free

Before I even thought about building anything, I wanted to validate the idea. The question I asked myself was, “How can I quickly see if anyone else has this problem without wasting time on development?”

I’m not big on social media, but I do spend time on Reddit. So, I went to the Kindle subreddit and described my problem, asking if others struggled with the same thing. I also floated the idea of a free, simple app that would send them daily highlights from their books.

To my surprise, quite a few people said they were interested.

That was all the validation I needed to move forward.

Building for Fun: Creating the MVP

With the idea validated, I decided to build an MVP. I wasn’t aiming for anything fancy — just something that worked for me. To keep things simple, I used the tools I was already familiar with: React, Next.js, and Vercel.

The MVP had two main features:

Import Highlights: A basic interface where I could upload the text file containing my Kindle highlights.
Daily Email: A script that would send me random highlights via email.

Here’s how I built it:

Frontend: A simple interface to upload the Kindle text file with my highlights.
Backend: A relational database on Heroku to store the data and serverless functions on Vercel for the API.
Email: I used SendGrid to handle the email service.

At this point, the app was basic — no auto-syncing with Kindle, no cron jobs triggering the emails. I had to trigger them manually. But it was enough for me to test the solution. And guess what? It worked! I was now getting my book highlights delivered straight to my inbox daily.

Once I had something functional, I shared it again on Reddit. People were interested in trying it out, and that gave me the motivation to keep going.

The Journey: 2.5 Years of Growth and Struggles

Fast forward to today, and the app has come a long way. It’s now called Just Remind and offers much more than the original MVP:

Tags and Notebooks: Organize highlights more effectively.
Article Import: Save and remind yourself of important articles, not just books.
Google Chrome Plugin: Easily clip highlights from the web.
Sharing Features: Share your highlights with others.
AI Features: Summarize books and get key takeaways automatically.

I’ve grown a small community of daily users (less than 100), and the project continues to evolve. But it wasn’t always easy.

Struggles with Time and Motivation

One of the hardest parts of this journey was staying motivated and finding time to work on the project. Building something on the side while working a full-time job is tough. There were times when I felt burnt out, and at one point, I quit working on it for several months.

But I kept coming back because I had a personal connection to the problem I was solving. It’s much easier to stay motivated when you’re building something for yourself, something that directly improves your life.

Still, I often struggled with balancing my time. In hindsight, the key to managing time was creating dedicated time slots in my day for working on the app. Making it a habit helped me stay consistent, even when progress was slow.

Trying to Get More Users

Getting users was another challenge. At first, I relied on Reddit to find people with similar problems. While that helped initially, it wasn’t enough to scale. I experimented with different strategies — posting in forums, asking friends for referrals, and reaching out to niche communities.

Despite these efforts, growth was slow. But that’s okay. I’ve come to realize that side projects don’t always have to grow fast. The learning and satisfaction that come from building something yourself are valuable in their own right.

The Future of Just Remind

Looking ahead, there’s a lot I would like to do with Just Remind. I have a lot of ideas on improving the user experience, adding more powerful features, and making the app sociable. I would love to see it turn into a platform for sharing knowledge and inspiration.

But at the same time, those past years have been tough and it's time for me to take a break and let the app be for a while.

Lessons Learned: Extracting Value from a Side Project

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this journey, it’s that solving your own problem is one of the best sources of motivation. When the project is personal, it’s easier to keep going, even when progress feels slow.

Here are a few key takeaways from my experience:

Solve Your Own Problem: When you have a personal connection to the problem, it’s easier to stay motivated.
Test Your Idea Quickly: Before spending time building something, validate the idea. Use platforms you’re familiar with to gauge interest.
Create a Habit: Dedicate time to your project every day, even if it’s just 30 minutes. Consistency is key.
Learning and Growth: Even if your side project doesn’t succeed in the traditional sense, you’ll learn a ton. And that knowledge will help you grow as a developer, entrepreneur, or whoever you wanna be.

I hope this story of Just Remind resonates with you. Whether you’re building a side project or solving a problem you face, remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect — it just needs to work for you.

Stay motivated, test your ideas quickly, and keep learning!