Am I my own target market?

Man, your question is a classic. Almost all founders with a technical background start their first product with "I need something like this."

First off, I have to say, this is absolutely a good thing, not a bad thing.

Think about it: you developed a solution for yourself. This means you've at least solved a real, unbearable problem for yourself. This is a much higher starting point than products conjured up from thin air, based on imagined user needs, or developed in isolation. You are already your product's first loyal user, and you've validated its core value.

Now, your confusion is: are you the only user in the world who needs this?

It's like you're on a deserted island, thirsty, and you painstakingly dig a well. Water comes out, and it's incredibly sweet. Now you want to know if people on other nearby islands are just as thirsty as you, and also need a well.

How do you find out? You can't stand on your island and shout, "I have a well here, come drink!" Others won't hear you, or if they do, they'll think you're a scammer.

Here's what you should do:

1. Forget your "well" for a moment, and first understand others' "thirst". What specific problem did you encounter initially? Which process made you particularly frustrated or wasted your time? Describe it in the simplest terms. Don't immediately talk about your technology or implementation; instead, focus on that "pain point".

2. Find where the "potentially thirsty people" gather. You're an IT engineer, so your peers are likely to be found on: V2EX, GitHub, Stack Overflow, certain subreddits, relevant topics on Zhihu, various professional WeChat/Telegram groups, and so on.

3. Engage in "group chats," not "sales pitches". In these places, absolutely do not start by saying, "I've made an awesome tool, come use it!" Doing so will almost certainly get you kicked out for advertising. Instead, talk about the "problem" itself. For example:

   • "Hey guys, I've been spending ages manually processing XX data recently. Any good solutions?"
   • "Does anyone else find that YYY tool on the market incredibly user-unfriendly for feature Z? It's driving me crazy."

4. Listen and observe. After you post, watch for people's reactions.

   • If the post sinks without a trace and no one responds, then perhaps this "thirst" is unique to you.
   • If many people reply with things like: "OMG, me too!", "Exactly, that YYY is trash!", or "I usually write a script, but I have to modify it every time, which is annoying," then congratulations, you've found your "potential users." You're not fighting alone.

5. At the right time, reveal your "well". When the discussion about the "thirst" problem is heated, you can "casually" mention: "Ugh, I was also struggling with this before. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I wrote a small tool myself. Now it saves me an hour or two every day. It's still rough around the edges, but it finally solved the problem." Observe their reactions. If people eagerly ask: "Bro, please share!", "Hurry up, is it open source?", or "Can I buy one?", then your target market has emerged.

To summarize:

Starting by solving your own problem is one of the best starting points for entrepreneurship. What you need to do now isn't to doubt yourself, but to go out and, using the right methods, verify how many "yous" there are in the world.

The core of this process is finding resonance, not selling a product.

Even if, in the worst-case scenario, you find out that only you truly need this thing, that's perfectly fine. At the very least, you've forged a sword that cuts through iron like mud for yourself, boosting your own work efficiency. That in itself is a super cool and proud accomplishment.