About Side History
👋 Hey! I'm Adam Howell and I love two things:
- Side projects
- Getting right into it
Why Side History?
The idea behind this site (and the book it comes from) is simple: I believe side projects are one of the most powerful forces in creativity, independence, and even survival. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve built side projects almost non-stop, and now I’ve built this one — Side History — to document the fascinating, surprising, and often-overlooked history of side projects.
But first, let’s define the term.
Side projects get called lots of things — hobbies, passion projects, extra cash grabs — but for me, a side project is anything you work on outside of your main job. Nights, weekends, sick days, early mornings, whenever. In the beginning, it’s not your job — but if you stick with it, sometimes it can become one.
My Story
25 years ago, I switched my college major from Biology to Computer Science after falling in love with the stories of dorm-room startups changing the world. Late nights in my lofted dorm bed, learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL became my version of a social life (sorry, roommate). The reward? Instant gratification. I could make something real and put it on the internet the same night.
Those early lessons shaped my entire career. I've worked for startups, run my own, and freelanced — but I’ve always, always had something else on the side. A project. An experiment. A little spark.
This website? Side project.
I’ve been working on Side History — researching, writing, editing — after-hours, while also running my ecommerce business (more on that below), raising kids, and trying to get more than five hours of sleep a night.
Some nights I’m exhausted, wondering why I’m still tinkering away. But other nights? Everything clicks, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
Why Side Projects Still Matter
If you’re like me and still plugging away on projects in your 40s (or beyond), you might notice that you don’t have as many people to share the journey with. Back in the day, my friends and I would swap ideas over beers or late-night snacks. Now?
Some don’t have time, others don’t have the motivation, and many just don’t need a side project anymore. Big salaries, stock options, and comfort can do that.
Me? I’m still here — nights and weekends — because, honestly, what else would I do?
The world has changed. 25 years ago, knowing HTML felt like a superpower. Today, it takes a lot more. But even with AI, economic uncertainty, and a zombie-fied internet, I still believe side projects are one of the most meaningful things you can do.
Side projects aren’t just hobbies. They’re experiments in creativity, freedom, and sometimes survival. They’re how we learn, build, stay independent — and occasionally — how we change the world.
Some of My Side Projects
Temptation Blocker (2004)
An app to lock you out of distracting apps, requiring a ridiculous 32-character password to quit early. Over 300,000 downloads in the pre-social media days. It ended up in The New York Times, Newsweek, and even on NPR.
Mocksup (2009)
A 48-hour hackathon project that let you link design mockups into clickable prototypes. Eventually acquired by InVision after my co-founder and I struggled to give it the time and resources it needed.
Phoneys (2016)
A viral iMessage sticker pack that let users fake hilarious iMessage bubbles. It hit #1 in the sticker store, made $30K in under a week, and then… Apple shut it down. Fun while it lasted.
The Achieve Mint (2020)
A business born out of my own search for meaningful, modern sobriety coins. Launched in 2021, it's since grown into a thriving ecommerce brand, generating $240,000+ annually.
And Now: Side History (2025)
Here’s the wild part: despite side projects shaping so many lives and companies, nobody had written a history of side projects. Plenty of books on startups, inventions, and famous entrepreneurs—but nothing specifically about side projects themselves.
That’s what Side History is. Hundreds of stories of side projects from throughout history. Some changed the world, some fizzled out, but all of them were born out of curiosity, creativity, and that unstoppable urge to build.
“What was the world’s first side project?”
“What’s the most impactful side project ever?”
“Who’s the most powerful person to ever have one?”
These are the kinds of questions I try to answer here.
A Programming Note
You won’t find deep dives on the usual suspects — Apple, Facebook, Nike, Slack, etc. — in these posts. We all know those stories. Instead, I focused on the other stories. The underdogs, the overlooked, the weird ones, the ones without venture capital, the ones that might remind you of your side project.
Because these are the stories I love.
And I think you’ll love them too.