Where Do Product Ideas Come From?

A question I keep hearing: where do product ideas come from? For those tired of mediocre ideas, @levelsio shared the origin story behind his recent products—hugely inspiring for indie developers.

The key insight: old ideas spark new ideas, so you need to keep learning, thinking about problems, and iterating continuously.

Here’s how each step of his iteration unfolded:

Idea 1

Last year @levelsio started experimenting with Stable Diffusion. After a few days, he found it could generate beautiful architectural images. So he created thishousedoesnotexist.org (0 MRR).

The spark from Idea 1: he noticed many generated images were interior designs. So he tried mixing his own home’s interior with generated styles using img2img. This led to Idea 2.

Idea 2

Shipped: let users upload their home interiors and mix styles → interiorai.com $50K MRR

Around this time he heard about model fine-tuning (DreamBooth back then), which sparked Idea 3.

Idea 3: Could I use my own photos for AI stylization?

Shipped: he posted stylized photos of himself on Twitter—they went viral. He launched avatarai.me

Revenue: $100K+ (this project didn’t last; it was shut down after a few months)

He noticed AI-generated photos weren’t realistic enough—they masked issues through excessive “beautification.” This led to Idea 4.

Idea 4: Generate photos realistic enough to pass as real

Shipped: @levelsio’s current project photoai.com, $50K MRR

Summary

Of course @levelsio’s audience was crucial to his products’ success, but this also showcases an evolution many indie developers can relate to:

• A product that generates free traffic
• A first successfully monetized product
• A product killed due to declining revenue
• A steadily profitable product

Old ideas can spark new ones. Continuous learning, problem-solving, and relentless iteration are essential survival skills for indie developers.

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Original tweet: @levelsio on Twitter