Would you help a stranger with their side project, or only ask when you're stuck?"

I'm a Python dev with no startup experience, validating an idea before I build anything.

The problem I keep noticing: people building side projects mostly do it alone. Not because they lack ideas or skills, but because there's no one around who gets what they're working on and can actually help when they're stuck.

So I'm thinking about a platform where:

— You post a project goal and a weekly update: what you shipped, what you didn't, what's blocking you

— You can attach a specific help request to any update: "need 2 hours of feedback on my landing page" or "looking for someone who's done cold outreach"

— Other builders respond and help. No money, just skills exchange

The public update is the accountability. The help requests are what make it more than just shouting progress into the void.

I posted this in a roast community and two interesting things came up: people said the help exchange is actually the most interesting part (more than the accountability), and that the hardest problem will be getting people to give help as consistently as they ask for it.

So before I build, two honest questions for people here who ship side projects:

1. When you're stuck on a project, where do you currently go for help? Does anywhere actually work?

2. Would you show up to help a stranger with their project, or only ask when you need something?

The second question is the one I genuinely can't answer yet, and it might make or break the whole thing.