Recently I decided to check back on my Roam Research graph. It felt surreal browsing through all my old notes. I opened Roam Depot, the community extension browser, and saw that my old Toggl Track extension is still around and has 116 users 1 I built this extension in 2022 when I was deep in the Roam community. It integrates Toggl Track time tracking directly into the Roam interface. .
I felt a pang of guilt. I haven’t thought about this extension or the people using it in years. Later when scrolling through BlueSky I came across a post from Cato Minor 2 Cato Minor was known in the Roam community for his creative CSS experiments and writing about tools for thought. He studies medieval Latin and digital humanities. , a familiar name from the early Roam days.
I opened Roam Research after a long time … and it is like travelling in time.
We had a similar experience hours apart. Too much of a coincidence not to reply. While I was writing that reply something dawned on me.
A few days earlier my business partner suggested that some of our team get involved in a few of my side projects. Esoteric tools I build on my own time for problems only I seem to care about. I felt immediate resistance.
He pointed out, fairly, that it might be my ego getting in the way. It didn’t feel that simple, but I couldn’t articulate why. I told him it wasn’t ego. The problems I care about are just very niche. He accepted it. I accepted it. I still could not name the real reason.
I know the reason now. Seeing those 116 users of a forgotten unmaintained extension in my abandoned Roam graph. The work only makes sense when you’re inside the niche. No one else in the company uses Roam Research. And after years away from the tool, neither am I anymore. I’m an impostor.
If I lost fluency by stepping away, what chance does someone have who was never inside to begin with?
There are countless “I found 101 profitable niche ideas using ChatGPT” posts scattered across the internet, most of them ironically written by AI. They remind me of the listicles and growth hacks that have littered the internet for a decade. They avoid taste, discernment and doing the hard work of actually understanding a community from the inside.
These posts can maybe help you discover a niche you didn’t know you’re interested in. But entering that niche and solving real problems requires becoming part of it. Contributing to the community, having conversations, forming opinions, arguing your convictions. Without that, you’re building on sand. You’ll solve the wrong problem in a niche you don’t understand because you didn’t take the time to know your audience. You’re an impostor too.
The best way to build for a niche, as always, is to get involved, do the work and solve your own problems. Chances are you’re not the only one frustrated by the problem.
Which raises the question. What will I do?
I have declared systems bankruptcy 3 Declaring systems bankruptcy means acknowledging your current setup is broken beyond repair and starting fresh rather than patching. and I’m re-evaluating all of the tools I use to get work done. If Roam Research makes the cut I’ll return in full force and contribute meaningfully to the community again. If it doesn’t, I will transfer ownership of the extension to an active developer in the community. Reach out to me if this is you. All that I ask is that you care.
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