Earlier quoted context omitted.
So people can avoid sponsoring creators that already have a fair income level.
"Fair" is relative.
What do you mean?
Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
101–110 of 129 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#102I've been developing a cross-platform file manager [1] for the past 2.5 years. It is shareware with a nag screen. It currently makes ~$500 per month. Generally, I would say yes, shareware still works. But it is hard a) to write desktop software [2] and b) to convince people to pay for it. I would not give people the sources. It would make them feel even more like "I don't need to pay for this". What works for me is t…
I don't want to be overly negative, but I have launched quite a few indie 6 figure apps over the last five years, and something generating $500 a month isn't really working (in my book). Have you even tried to just sell licenses for it? If your software delivers value then that should convert better than a nag screen. Worth giving users a 30 day trial and seeing how that converts.
Would be interested to know more about this. I see you posted an article last year, but it's since been deleted.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#103At my company, they want to pay for software so that they can ask support or blame someone if something wrong happen. I think, the best license is: expensive commercial license (to be taken seriously), free license for personnal use (to be appreciated by developpes), free time limited commercial license for software evaluation.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Non-commercial includes the indirect commercial cases that would apply to the tool. // AIUI that is wrong in USA and UK (don't know about other countries). At least if using the "non-commercial" definition used in IP law. For example, you create an advert for free for an event that charges money, that's commercial. You give stuff away that impacts someone else's ability to sell, that's commercial. You do a free eve…
WTH is AIUI pls?
Not parent, but "As I Understand It"
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like john_moscow has pointed out, though, that deters people from becoming Patreon creators. It's very normal for people to underestimate the difficulty of what others do or the real worth of their work. Besides that, supporting someone economically in a capitalist environment is giving them your vote for them to continue doing what they're doing. Not voting for them, when you otherwise would, solely because you can…
What deters people from becoming Patreon creators is not being supported. I certainly would never voluntarily support someone if I for all I know they could already be grossly overpaid for what they do. If supporting someone with X€ is any kind of "vote", it's a vote that they should get X€ more than they currently get for their work. It may be hard to make an educated decision about that, but it's impossible without…
> If supporting someone with X€ is any kind of "vote", it's a vote that they should get X€ more than they currently get for their work.
No, think of each unit of currency as equaling 1 vote.
It's a vote that, between the various things that they could be doing, they should continue doing what they're currently doing.
For example, in a programmer's case, he could be employed by a company which will give $X votes. He could also be working freelancing gigs and earn $Y votes. He could start his own SaaS business and earn $Z votes. He could do open source work and earn through Patreon $W votes.
Only he will know where he stands in each of those markets, and, on average, you can bet that he will do what gives the most votes (i.e. money).
Not voting because you think he's got enough votes, is like not voting for a presidential candidate because you think he's got enough votes, despite otherwise wanting to vote for him/her. Imagine presidential voting was done such that you can see, in real-time, the votes of your preferred presidential candidate (without needing to vote for him/her) but not being able to see the votes of other candidates. That's pretty messed up, right? You see 10,000 people have voted for your candidate and think, "that's enough for him; he doesn't need my vote", and it turns out that other candidates have 100,000's of votes. It could be that the majority of the voting population would prefer your candidate, but because many of the people that preferred him didn't express themselves through their vote, someone else ended up being picked as president. That means the voting system failed, and that's why such transparency here is disruptive.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh. I didn't know Patreon published info on what creators are earning. Wouldn't that be a design flaw? What's the benefit to anybody? It seems to only deter potential sponsors.
Design flaw? No, I think it's called "transparency"
The good old battle between privacy and transparency! Nothing better to start a heated conversation: Finland publishes all personal taxes https://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2011/11/finland-publishes-al...
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't want to be overly negative, but I have launched quite a few indie 6 figure apps over the last five years, and something generating $500 a month isn't really working (in my book). Have you even tried to just sell licenses for it? If your software delivers value then that should convert better than a nag screen. Worth giving users a 30 day trial and seeing how that converts.
Would be interested to know more about this. I see you posted an article last year, but it's since been deleted.
As in, interested in how I did it? I've been considering putting something together in the not so distant future -- throw me an e-mail with your contact details and I'll add you to the (currently very small) mailing list.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#108>let anyone who feels it is worth pay for it.
Don't rely on altruism to be a good indication of real demand. People like to get good deals. When you get for free something that is of good value -- it's a good deal and most people will go for it.
The freemium model would work better to estimate demand.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#109Have a trial for a period you think is enough for the company to know they'll get value out of using your product and post that ask for a licence fee. To start with I suggest you give the MVP product for free. The users will be paying you with their feedback.
Feedback from people who don't pay anything is useless if you want to build a business.
Having built products from scratch I know for a fact that selling to the first 10 users is really hard but if you give it to them for free and get the feedback on what didn't work and improved on it - it makes selling to the next 100 people that much easier.
Right now OP is making an assumption that his product is useful. It's a guess. Doing the beta for free for a small set of users validates it with small effort.
In fact the first release should be as minimal as possible. Op can charge those users in the subsequent releases.
Re: Ask HN: Does Shareware still work in 2018?
#110I’ve been attached to the “shareware” industry since the 90’s, providing platforms to software developers to sell their products. It’s given me an angle of the industry that few get, namely, I’ve seem the sales number for literally thousands of different companies in the industry.
The first thing I would say is that shareware (in the classic definition) is not really a thing anymore, but “try before you buy” software (which is really the evolution of shareware) is very much alive and well.
The second thing I would say is that most people would be surprised by how much some of these companies sell. Certainly not everyone does well, but we see small companies selling tens or hundreds of thousands (USD equivalent) per month. Some reach seven figures a month.
I can’t think of a single company that I’ve worked with that had VC-style funding. Most are bootstrapped with a small minority getting small “friends and family” investments.
It is still possible to make a lot of money with try-before-you-buy software. A few tips:
Don’t underprice. If you can provide enough value that they’ll pay something you’ve got more room in your price than you might think.
Feature limitations work better than time limitations.
75% of you sales come within one day of the trial download, and of those, 75% come within the first two hours. It’s important that the product conveys why and how to buy.
Don’t forget about other markets. In the early days most sales came from the US. These days, the US represents about half. When you get traction, consider translating your product and don’t forget to offer your product for sale using multiple currencies and payment methods. Third-party e-commerce platforms make this easy. They’ll also take care of a lot of the regulatory burden for you (taxes, export controls, fraud & chargebacks, etc.).
If your product is targeted at large companies, offer premium support for a fee. Something as simple as a “response by email within one business day” SLA can be enough.
SEO matters a lot in helping people find your product. High quality content about the problem your product solves helps a lot. In the early days find where people who need your solution are talking about their problem. Be transparent, offer genuine, non-spammy help as a solution expert and people will allow you to talk about your product. This can help a lot as you get established.
If someone will donate, they’ll buy. You’ll feel more benevolent asking for donations but you’ll make a lot more money if you sell the product. We’ve seen both models. It’s not even close.
If your product is not targeted to a highly-technical audience, open source might sound cool but means nothing to them. They won’t buy more because it’s open source.
I could go on and on. I’ve said enough but there is still plenty of opportunity here. It takes time - be patient. Most of the successful companies I know started as a side gig.