Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#161

Post by zerr » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 7:39 PM UTC

desktopapp wrote: post #156

zerr wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what other cross-platform are out there Qt, wxWidgets, Gtk,... > The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. I have to use it for the job. And yes, I think it is bloatware, memory hog with a non-intuitive UI.

99.9% of users have no idea they are inside a web frame. And so what if a good app uses 100-200M of ram these days? That's like one tab in Chrome. Electron has very low idle CPU usage, which I think impacts more users than does the memory. Each of those cross-platform widget toolkits look like shit. The bigger issue is obviously lazy developers not polishing their electron app, but you can do basically anything with…

The question is - why? (besides not learning right tools) From app I want intuitive UI/UX, that means I want that raw gray "win95 look" controls, be it button or tree... I don't want some monstrous CSS/HTML crap.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#162

Post by randomnumber314 » Wed, Dec 21, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

jv22222 wrote: post #111

jasonswett wrote: post #24

I'll add something I wish I had realized several years ago: build a SaaS is not the only path to a product business, and for a solo founder, it's (in my opinion) probably not a very good path. I spent 5 years trying to get a micro ISV off the ground which made scheduling software for hair salons. It was a terrible idea for a large number of reasons (described in detail here: https://www.jasonswett.net/im-shutting-dow…

Hey Jason, Amy Hoy says the best way for solo founders to start off is with in info product. Just to cut their teeth at marketing and such. One thing, now that you have got that ball rolling I think you might consider another saas product in the future because you have so much learning about that. The one good thing about a saas product with good market fit is that you will get years of recurring revenue from the sam…

http://blog.plugg.io/2016/12/18/blog-let-walmart-delivery-dr... published draft?

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#163

Post by thepredestrian » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 6:30 AM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #18

sure, i do it. Develop a custom system for a company and then charge a monthly use and/or maint. fee. If the original development was tested well you are essentially getting free money every month. I have a full time job but one client on the side. I built a system for them that I net $1,250 per month on and do 2 hours of work a month at most. Rackspace takes care of almost all host related items for me. I have a par…

How does one know what to build? And even then, how do you approach businesses to sell your product to?

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#164

Post by thepredestrian » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 10:44 PM UTC

desktopapp wrote: post #131

ppsg wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are your thoughts on various business models? The traditional "sell once, offer paid upgrades" seems to be better suited for apps with a stable feature set, where you can take a year or two to produce the next major version. However, a more iterative approach to development doesn't work with this model very well. The recently popular switch to subscriptions (Adobe, Office, 1Password, Jetbrains, YNAB, etc), while…

I think it depends on your software and your price point. You're never going to sell a $20 app as SAAS without a service component. 1Password probably didn't have a long term path forward selling a stand-alone $65 password manager. Certainly something worth thinking about from the beginning. If you can have a desktop app that integrates with a service and have SAAS pricing you will be truly living the dream.

Interesting. What exactly do you mean 'desktop app that integrates with a service'? Any examples?

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#165

Post by thepredestrian » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 10:58 PM UTC

jamesq wrote: post #97

seibelj wrote: post #5

I haven't done this, but if I was going to, I would target an existing platform that big companies depend on (salesforce, slack, more niche CRM's, etc.) and create a super focused niche plugin that 1) Is not core value prop of the platform, 2) Has little chance of being duplicated by the platform, 3) Has no competition, 4) Solves a real problem companies have. For example, do research that shows that 7% of companies…

We've just done something similar with our product https://fliprss.com - it integrates with MailChimp and Campaign Monitor to solve a niche problem neither solve. We knew it was a problem for at least one company as our client approached us to see if we a product that would allow them to send automated newsletters with multiple RSS feeds based on individual subscribers preferences. It's since turned there is a demand…

Maybe I'm a little too inexperienced to understand how this works - how does your app access Mailchimp without their permission? Are you using their API? Sorry if it's a silly question