Shipping a Side Project in a Weekend
What it actually takes to go from idea to live in 48 hours — and the shortcuts that make it possible.
Last month I shipped a recipe-sharing site in two days. Not a prototype. A real, working site with a custom domain and everything.
Was it perfect? No. But it was live, people could use it, and I iterated from there.
Here's what I've learned about weekend projects — specifically, where most people waste time.
The 80% That Doesn't Matter (Yet)
You don't need authentication on day one. You don't need a database if a JSON file works. You don't need CI/CD when you're deploying once.
The weekend project trap is spending Saturday building infrastructure and Sunday realizing you never built the actual thing.
Start with the feature that makes your project worth visiting. Everything else comes later.
Assets Take Longer Than You Think
Here's a surprise time sink: making your site not look terrible.
A favicon alone can eat an hour if you're fiddling in Photoshop. Instead, take your logo or a simple icon, run it through a favicon generator, and move on. All the sizes you need, done in 30 seconds.
Same with images. Don't upload raw photos from your camera. A 5MB hero image on a cheap hosting plan is a 10-second load time.
Quick image workflow for side projects:
- Resize to the actual display size (usually under 1200px wide)
- Compress — 80% quality JPEG is fine for photos
- Use WebP if your audience is on modern browsers
- Total time: 2 minutes per image
The Launch Checklist Nobody Follows
I've shipped maybe a dozen side projects. Here's what I actually check before telling anyone about it:
- Does it load on my phone? If it doesn't work on mobile, half your visitors bounce
- Is the favicon there? Missing favicon = amateur hour
- Do the links work? Click every single one
- Is the OpenGraph image set? This is what shows when someone shares your link
- Is it fast enough? If the page takes more than 3 seconds, fix images first
That's it. Not a 47-point checklist. Five things.
The Secret Weapon: Physical Sharing
Once you're live, print a QR code and stick it on your laptop, notebook, or desk. When someone asks "what are you working on?" you hand them a scannable link instead of spelling out a URL.
Silly? Maybe. But I've gotten more early users from QR codes on stickers than from posting on social media.
What to Skip on Weekend One
- Analytics (add it next week when you have actual traffic)
- SEO optimization (Google won't index you in a weekend anyway)
- Perfect responsive design (decent on mobile is enough)
- Social login (email/password or no auth at all)
- Terms of service page (unless you're collecting sensitive data)
What to Nail on Weekend One
- Core feature working end-to-end
- Fast load time
- Works on mobile
- Clear one-sentence description of what it does
- A way for people to reach you (even just an email link)
The best side projects ship fast and improve slowly. Perfectionism kills more weekend projects than bad code ever will. Get it live, share it with ten people, and see what happens.