At just 15, Om Patel is already ahead of the curve.
He’s tackled a challenge that seasoned founders still wrestle with - validating ideas before writing a single line of code.
After a series of side projects launched to crickets, Om realized what many learn too late: building something clever means nothing if nobody needs it.
“I kept solving problems nobody cared about. I’d build for months… then launch to silence.”
It’s a common misstep. According to CB Insights, 42% of startups fail because there’s no market need.
Om decided to avoid becoming part of that stat.
The Moment It Clicked
Instead of guessing, Om turned to where users complain the loudest: Reddit.
What started as hours of manually combing through forums turned into a lightbulb moment. He built a script to scrape posts, extract pain points, and identify recurring themes. He didn’t stop there.
Soon, he expanded into:
- G2 reviews (where users complain about tools they’re already paying for)
- Upwork job listings (where clients describe problems worth money)
- App store reviews (often brutally honest user feedback)
That tool became BigIdeasDB, now housing 10,000+ validated product ideas pulled straight from real-world demand signals.
“I stopped treating feedback as an afterthought and made it the foundation.”
This shift—from guessing to validating—transformed BigIdeasDB from a side project into a practical market research engine.
What Makes BigIdeasDB Different
Most indie hackers and devs operate in a vacuum. They build what sounds cool, what solves their problems, or worse—what they think investors want.
Om’s approach is different. He starts with pain, not product.
BigIdeasDB now supports:
- SaaS developers who want less trial-and-error
- No-code builders who need fast validation without user interviews
- Indie hackers looking for micro-SaaS ideas that are already in demand
Rather than spending weeks researching a niche, users get a filtered, ready-to-build list of product opportunities—backed by real human behavior.
Related reading: “How founders can validate faster by starting with complaints”
Traction So Far
Since launching BigIdeasDB:
- $18,000+ in revenue
- 7 months of growth, built in public
- Product used by solo founders, agencies, and early-stage SaaS teams
- Featured in indie hacker circles and Reddit threads on idea validation
Om didn’t run ads. He didn’t raise money. Instead, he shared what he was building on Twitter, iterated fast, and let the value speak for itself.
Related reading: “How building in public helped these 3 founders hit profitability”
Advice to Other Young Builders
This isn’t just a story about scraping data—it’s about avoiding wasted time. If you're just starting out, here’s what Om’s journey reinforces:
- Don’t build blind. Start with proof of demand
- Use complaints. Where there’s friction, there’s opportunity
- Share early and often. Your audience will shape the product
- Tools are temporary. Mindsets stick
“I built BigIdeasDB because I was sick of building alone and launching to no one. Now I’ve built something others can use to avoid that same pain.”
Om’s now part of a growing wave of young developers who skip theory and ship real tools, learning as they go, and sharing the process along the way.
You can follow him on Twitter @om_patel5 and follow BigIdeasDB at bigideasdb.com
