Build an audience first, product second.
The old way was to build a minimal viable product first and then an audience.
The better way today is to build an audience first.
Why? Cause distribution and trust matter more than anything if you want to have a shot of generating a profit.
Here's how.
First identify a possible set of problems you might want to solve and the audience that might have those problems.
Then go look for places where that audience is talking.
Could be Facebook, Reddit, in private communities, in-person meetups, etc. Start listening and taking note about what people are asking about, looking to get help with, and the things that get the most engagement.
The next step is to start creating content and adding to the conversations.
You can do this by posting content in the places that you found and then use that same content as the foundation for the content you create and own.
From there it's time to create a cornerstone asset that allows you to capture email addresses. And then it's about building a brand. And voila you have an audience.
Rinse and repeat.