The Lifecycle of a Side Project: From Exciting Idea to Dead Domain

How does a side project actually start?

It always starts the same way. You read a blog post, hear a customer complaint, or wake up at 3 AM with a fix for something broken. The rush is real. You grab your laptop, register a domain for $12, and sketch a landing page before breakfast.

I've done this maybe 14 times myself. The first 48 hours are pure serotonin. You tell three friends, open a GitHub repo, and pick a name that you'll regret in six months. The domain costs $9-$15 on Namecheap, and the idea feels bulletproof.

What happens during the build phase?

You code for 3 weekends straight. The MVP emerges: ugly, functional, yours. You maybe launch on Product Hunt or Hacker News. If you're lucky, you get 47 visitors and 2 signups. If you're not, you get crickets.

At this stage, you've sunk about 40-60 hours and maybe $50 on hosting, domains, and a logo from Fiverr. The project is alive. You check analytics twice a day. This is the peak. Almost every idea hits this crest around week 2 or 3.

Why do most people stop caring after month 3?

This is the crux of the side project lifecycle stages. Month 1 is fun. Month 2 is work. Month 3 is a question mark. The dopamine from building fades, and the reality of marketing, support, and iteration sets in.

Research by the indie hacker community shows roughly 92% of side projects never generate recurring revenue. I've let 3 projects die by month 4 because I got a new job, had a kid, or just found a shinier problem to solve. It's not laziness. It's attention scarcity.

When does a side project officially become a dead domain?

A project dies when you stop paying for the domain. Usually that's 12 months after the spark. You get the renewal email from your registrar, look at the $14 charge, and think: "Why?" You cancel. The domain expires.

At dead.domains, we've buried 0 projects so far. But our browse the graveyard page sits empty, ready for the first batch. I expect the most common cause of death will be "founder lost interest" not "no users." We can't confirm the most common TLD yet, but .com dominates the web, so I'd bet on it.

What's the cost of killing your own project?

Let's be precise. If you built for 60 hours at a freelance rate of $75/hour, the sunk cost is $4,500. Plus hosting ($10/mo for 6 months = $60), domain ($12 + $14 renewal = $26), and misc tools ($30). Total: about $4,616.

Then there's the emotional cost. You tell your Twitter followers you're pivoting. You archive the repo. You feel a little ashamed. But really, it's fine. Every dead project teaches you something. The only real waste is leaving it on life support for years. bury your dead project and move on.

How does the domain end up in a graveyard?

When you bury your dead project on dead.domains, you list the domain with a backstory. Buyers browse the remains for cheap ($9) and sometimes revive them. It's like a thrift store for broken dreams.

I'd estimate 1 in 20 domains get reborn. Someone buys "supersocialcalendr.io" for $9, slaps a new landing page on it, and tries again. Most don't succeed. But some do. The second owner benefits from the first owner's failure-they inherit the domain authority and any existing backlinks.

What does the dead.domains marketplace actually look like?

Empty right now. Zero projects buried. Zero buried in the last 30 days. The most common cause of death is unknown. The most common TLD is .com (0 domains). But the structure is there. You can browse categories, read obituaries, and buy a piece of someone's past.

The founders built this as a side project itself. Meta, right? They understand the lifecycle. They're not trying to be Shopify. They're a tiny utility for a tiny crowd. And that's exactly why it might work.

Browse the graveyard at dead.domains if you're curious what other founders left behind.