“this phrase pet rock project it's really meant to diminish the value of a simple project of something that has Niche appeal and is a little bit quirky maybe a little bit simplistic or confined but I believe it's perfectly fine for India hackers to build these particular tools”

Discount the "pet rock project" critique — it's envy, not market signal

When salaried-developer crowds (Hacker News, Reddit) call your niche tool a "pet rock project," treat it as projection, not feedback. They're conditioned to measure value by company scale, and an indie hacker shipping a simple useful tool on their own terms threatens that frame. The right response is silence and continued shipping — the people paying you money are the only signal that matters, not the people who hate-comment on a launch post.