Why I Chose to Build HomeGoal

Building my first app is a learning experience in itself. But before choosing technologies, learning to code with AI, or opening Cursor, I needed a problem worth solving. Here's why I decided to build HomeGoal.

When I started exploring the idea of building my own software products, I knew I wanted to create something for consumers.

After 15 years working in B2B software sales, I had spent a significant part of my professional life working with software companies, customers, and business problems. I understood the commercial side of software, but I wanted to experience something different: building and growing my own products.

I also knew that I didn't have a traditional coding background. I would need to learn how to turn an idea into a working application, use AI to help with development, and figure out how to bring a product to market.

The first question, however, wasn't which technology to use.

It was much simpler:

What problem could I solve with an app that people would actually find useful?

That's how I arrived at HomeGoal.

HomeGoal is a personal home-buying companion designed to help people understand how much they need to save, track their progress, and work toward the goal of buying a home.

In this article, I'll explain why I chose this idea, which problem I'm trying to solve, how I approached the first version of the product, and what I've learned from turning the idea into a real application.

1. I wanted to solve a specific problem

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial goals many people will pursue.

Before someone can buy a property, they usually need to build up savings for a down payment, cover additional purchase costs, and understand what kind of property they can realistically afford.

That creates several questions:

• How much money do I actually need before I can buy a home?
• How much should I save every month?
• How long will it take me to reach my target?
• Am I making enough progress?
• What happens if I increase my monthly savings?
• Is my target realistic given my current financial situation?

These questions sound straightforward, but answering them requires people to bring together several pieces of financial information.

They might use spreadsheets, online calculators, budgeting applications, or simply make estimates in their heads.

Each approach can help with part of the problem, but I saw an opportunity to create something more focused: an application that connects the user's financial situation with a concrete home-buying goal.

I didn't want to build another general-purpose financial dashboard.

I wanted to build something that helps users answer one important question:

Am I financially on track to buy the home I want?

That became the central idea behind HomeGoal.

2. I wanted to focus on one outcome, not build another budgeting app

There are already many applications that help people manage their money.

Budgeting apps can track expenses, categorize transactions, monitor spending habits, and show how much money is left at the end of the month.

These are useful capabilities. But they don't necessarily provide a clear plan for achieving a specific financial goal.

HomeGoal takes a different approach.

Instead of starting with the question of how users should manage every aspect of their finances, it starts with the home they want to buy and works backward.

The application connects three important elements:

1. The target: How much money is needed to prepare for the purchase?
2. The financial situation: How much can the user realistically save?
3. The progress: How long will it take to reach the target at the current savings rate?

This creates a more goal-oriented experience.

For example, someone might have a target home budget of €400,000 and currently have €15,000 in savings.

Rather than simply displaying the current balance, HomeGoal should help that person understand how much more they need to save, what monthly savings amount is required, and when they might reach their goal.

If they can save an additional €200 per month, how much sooner could they get there?

That's the type of practical question I want HomeGoal to help users answer.

The focus is deliberately narrow: helping people work toward buying a home, rather than trying to become a complete personal finance platform.

3. I wanted to make the journey easier to understand

One of the most important product decisions was to make the financial journey visual and understandable.

Numbers alone don't always communicate progress effectively.

Knowing that you have saved €15,000 doesn't necessarily tell you whether you're close to your target, whether you're saving enough, or how much longer you need to continue.

I wanted HomeGoal to turn those numbers into a clearer picture.

The application is being designed around a few core elements:

Financial overview

Users should be able to see the key numbers associated with their home-buying goal, including their savings, target budget, estimated down payment, and additional purchase costs.

Savings progress

A visual representation of how far users have progressed toward their target, making it easier to understand what they've already achieved and what remains.

Timeline

An estimated date for reaching the savings target based on the current savings rate. Users should also be able to see how changing their monthly savings could affect that timeline.

Monthly savings target

A clear indication of how much they should save each month to stay on track with their chosen goal.

AI-powered guidance

An AI Coach designed to help users understand their progress, explore different scenarios, and think about practical ways to improve their savings plan.

The objective isn't to overwhelm users with financial information.

It's to give them enough clarity to make better decisions and stay motivated.

4. I deliberately kept the first version small

When you start building an application, it's very easy to imagine everything it could eventually become.

I could add expense tracking, bank integrations, mortgage comparisons, property search functionality, financial education, advanced AI features, and much more.

But trying to build all of that at the beginning would be a mistake.

I'm approaching HomeGoal as an MVP — a minimum viable product.

The idea is to build the smallest useful version that can demonstrate the core value of the application and allow me to learn from real users.

For the first version, I'm focusing on a relatively straightforward user journey.

A user provides information such as:

• Country
• Monthly income
• Monthly expenses
• Current savings
• Target home budget
• Optional target timeline

Based on these inputs, HomeGoal can estimate the savings required, calculate how long it might take to reach the target, and show whether the user is on track.

The dashboard then brings the most important information together in one place.

This gives me a foundation to test the central product idea before investing time in more advanced functionality.

I want to avoid a common mistake in product development: spending months building features without knowing whether they actually solve a problem for users.

5. Building HomeGoal is also teaching me how to build software

Another reason I chose this project is that it gives me an opportunity to learn software development by working on a real product.

As someone without a traditional coding background, I needed a project that would challenge me but still be manageable if I approached it step by step.

HomeGoal has provided exactly that.

I'm using AI development tools to help me build the application, understand the code, implement functionality, and work through technical problems.

My current development setup includes:

• Cursor: My primary AI-assisted development environment.
• Next.js: The framework used to build the application.
• TypeScript: Used for the application's code.
• Supabase: Used for backend functionality, including authentication and data storage.
• GitHub: Used to manage the application's source code.

I didn't start this project as an experienced developer. I've been learning these technologies while building the application.

That means almost every new feature involves two challenges.

First, I need to work out what the feature should do from a product perspective.

Second, I need to understand how to implement it technically.

AI helps me bridge that gap, but it doesn't make the process automatic.

I still need to understand the requirements, give clear instructions, review the changes, test the functionality, and investigate problems when something doesn't work.

In some ways, this makes the process slower than simply asking an experienced developer to implement a feature.

But it also means I'm building knowledge that I can reuse in future projects.

And that's important because HomeGoal isn't intended to be the only app I ever build.

6. I want to build a business, not just an application

Getting an application to work is only one part of building a software business.

A product can have useful features and a polished interface, but that doesn't mean people will discover it, understand its value, or pay for it.

That's why I'm thinking about HomeGoal from a business perspective as well.

The commercial objective is to build a sustainable subscription-based product.

For that to work, I need to understand:

• Who is most likely to benefit from HomeGoal?
• What makes the problem important enough for them to look for a solution?
• How can I reach potential users?
• What features provide enough ongoing value to justify a subscription?
• What makes people continue using the application?

These are questions I need to answer through research, marketing experiments, and feedback from actual users.

I'm also working on the Andi Hein personal brand, where I share my experiences building apps with AI and learning how to market them.

That gives me an opportunity to document the journey, build an audience, and develop relationships with people interested in similar topics.

HomeGoal will need its own product-focused marketing as well. People looking for help saving for a home are not necessarily interested in the technical process of building an app.

So I see two connected but different marketing activities:

• Andi Hein focuses on building an audience around entrepreneurship, AI-assisted app development, and marketing.
• HomeGoal focuses on reaching people who want to make progress toward buying a home.

The two can support each other, but they shouldn't be treated as the same brand.

Ultimately, the success of HomeGoal won't be measured by how much code I've written or how many features I've launched.

It will be measured by whether people find it useful and whether I can build a sustainable business around it.

7. What I still need to learn

HomeGoal is an ongoing project, and I don't have all the answers yet.

There are several important questions I still need to investigate.

Will people actually use it?

The problem makes sense to me, and the product concept is clear. But that doesn't prove that people will adopt the application. I need to get it in front of potential users and understand how they respond.

Which features matter most?

I've identified the core functionality, but user feedback may change my priorities. Features that seem important during development may turn out to be less valuable in practice.

Will users pay for it?

A useful free calculator isn't necessarily a subscription business. I need to understand which features provide recurring value and what people are willing to pay for.

How can I reach the right audience?

I need to experiment with content, search engine optimization, communities, social media, and other acquisition channels to find out what works.

How can I make the product useful across different countries?

Home-buying costs, down payment requirements, mortgage practices, and taxes vary considerably between countries. A product designed for an international audience needs to account for these differences rather than assume one universal set of rules.

These questions are part of the reason I'm building in public.

I want to share what I learn rather than wait until everything is finished and present the project as a success story.

What's next for HomeGoal?

My immediate focus is on continuing to improve the core experience.

I want users to be able to understand their financial starting point, define a realistic home-buying target, and track their progress toward reaching it.

From there, I'll continue refining the experience based on feedback and what I learn from using and testing the application.

I'll also keep working on the business side: positioning, pricing, marketing, and finding the first users.

There will be mistakes and changes along the way. Some ideas will work, others won't, and I expect the product to evolve as I learn more about the people it's designed to help.

That's part of building a product from scratch.

Final thoughts

I chose to build HomeGoal because I wanted to solve a specific problem: helping people understand and track their financial progress toward buying a home.

I didn't want to create another general budgeting application or build a product simply because a particular technology was exciting.

I wanted to start with a meaningful outcome, build a focused solution, and see whether people would find enough value in it to use it.

The project is also my first real step into building a software business of my own after 15 years in B2B software sales.

I'm learning how to develop applications with AI, make product decisions, and bring products to market — all at the same time.

HomeGoal is the first chapter of that journey.

If you'd like to explore the product, visit homegoal.app.

And if you're interested in following the process of building and marketing apps with AI, you'll find more of my experiences and lessons here on andihein.com.

One product, one step at a time.