# Playful side-project wave radar

> Build a small, weird side project around an emerging platform shift so you can test attention before the main category turns crowded.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/playful-side-project-wave-radar/
- Source: [read.glasp.co](https://read.glasp.co/p/hatching-growth-3-how-we-rode-the)
- GrowthDex source hub: [Glasp Newsletter](/sources/glasp-newsletter-read-glasp-co/)
- Last checked: May 24, 2026
- Rarity: legendary
- Budget: low
- Channels: Product, PR, Social
- Stages: acquisition, pre-launch, 0-100
- Key metric: The follow-on launch, YouTube Summary with ChatGPT, later brought Glasp millions of users

## Why this can grow

A playful side project is cheap enough to ship quickly and specific enough to show whether a new behavior is real. If it gets picked up, you learn the language, media appetite, and distribution speed of the wave before everyone else starts shipping me-too products. That shortens the path from instinct to breakout launch.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. For acquisition, I would keep the first test narrow enough that a clear yes or no is possible. Broad reach is not useful if the signal is muddy. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where playful side-project wave radar can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Product and PR channel.
3. Use the evidence from read.glasp.co to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

Before launching YouTube Summary with ChatGPT, Glasp built DALL-E-dle, a Wordle-style guessing game for AI image prompts. PC Gamer covered it, and the experiment helped validate that scrappy AI side projects could win mainstream attention before the team shipped the product that later brought Glasp millions of users.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Secret-signup waitlist illusion](/growth-ideas/secret-signup-waitlist-illusion/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- [Founder screen-share onboarding sprint](/growth-ideas/founder-screen-share-onboarding-sprint/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 1 shared stage
- [Persona-curated community outreach](/growth-ideas/persona-curated-community-outreach/) - same source, 2 shared stages
- [Adjacent-tool ecosystem DM prospecting](/growth-ideas/adjacent-tool-ecosystem-dm-prospecting/) - same source, 2 shared stages

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Related GrowthDex essays

- [Compounding growth usually waits for density](/blog/compounding-growth-usually-waits-for-density/) - SEO, operator-led distribution

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.