Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#21

Post by glasses » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

What about letting someone take over the project but you get to keep a share of the profits for guidance and advice (30% or so).

It benefits both parties, you know what features the project needs to implement and what direction it needs to take to make more money, while the new owner/developer gets ramped up. You guys can even agree to a one year period of help and then separate, but at least the project keeps running and making money.

Not sure if this is usually done, but it seems like everyone wins :)

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#22

Post by echoless » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 7:52 PM UTC

EvanMiller wrote: post #15

echoless wrote: post #10

I think there's another option. You could hire a freelancer and have him/her fix the bugs and get it working on Yosemite. Depending on the complexity of the code, this may or may not be feasible.

Thanks for the suggestion. The code is somewhat complex, though I've tried to isolate the really hairy parts in separate libraries (e.g. OpenCL code). I'm really not sure what the ramp-up time would be, and whether it'd be too much. Where would you look for a Mac freelancer? For the record the Yosemite issues are the most glaring ones, but there are deeper crashes and bugs (think "mysterious Core Data error") that ha…

> Where would you look for a Mac freelancer?

Odesk and Elance. Only hire people who've worked on multiple projects and have high ratings. There are plenty of talented people out there.

> For the record the Yosemite issues are the most glaring ones.

I commiserate. Apple's arbitrary decisions on what APIs are deprecated in newer versions must be really frustrating for developers. One of many reasons I shy away from creating desktop applications.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#23

Post by debacle » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 7:55 PM UTC

I think one of the big problems with the app store model is that it creates this idea that you only pay once for software, ever.

Your software doesn't have bit rot, it's just old. It was useful at one point in time and it is just a bit less so now. Consider the value proposition of a Magic Maps 2.0 to your users and what sort of feature list you could create. Decide an upgrade price point, and send an email to your users and create a newsletter allowing them to sign up for the new version. If you get 500 sign ups, cost out the features and have a freelancer develop them. If you get no sign ups, pack it up or sell it to someone.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#24

Post by deedubaya » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 7:57 PM UTC

EvanMiller wrote: post #11

nthState wrote: post #8

Many of us would love an app that was making $10k a year. That's a lot of money, can you do without it? If it was me, my financial situation may be different, but, I'd drag myself up by the scruff of my neck and set aside some time to fix it......$10k a year!

You're right, it's a fair amount of money, and I'm lucky to have this problem. Right now I'm doing everything I can to focus on another app. I'm trying to give that app 100% of my time and attention, even if I could be making more money in the short term doing something else. I personally find it difficult to work on multiple large software projects at the same time. There's just so much I can keep in my head at once…

The answer here is to stop supporting the old app. If you're like me and can't turn your back on something you've invested so much time into, you're in a predicament.

I had a similar situation, and went the route of open source. The product died, as no one but me really wanted to maintain it. It was effectively the same as turning my back on the project while maintaining sales, except without the $$.

I'd recommend you ignore it and focus on your new app for long periods of time. Don't fix any bugs for months on end, then take a little time to knock out the big ones. Ignore the edge cases and focus on the big picture, that this app isn't your big thing, the next app is.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#25

Post by niels_olson » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:02 PM UTC

EvanMiller wrote: post #11

nthState wrote: post #8

Many of us would love an app that was making $10k a year. That's a lot of money, can you do without it? If it was me, my financial situation may be different, but, I'd drag myself up by the scruff of my neck and set aside some time to fix it......$10k a year!

You're right, it's a fair amount of money, and I'm lucky to have this problem. Right now I'm doing everything I can to focus on another app. I'm trying to give that app 100% of my time and attention, even if I could be making more money in the short term doing something else. I personally find it difficult to work on multiple large software projects at the same time. There's just so much I can keep in my head at once…

Don't underestimate the value of having a different train of thought to turn to now and again. It may stave off burnout on the major project. Consider hiring the work out for now.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#26

Post by EvanMiller » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:12 PM UTC

deedubaya wrote: post #24

EvanMiller wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, it's a fair amount of money, and I'm lucky to have this problem. Right now I'm doing everything I can to focus on another app. I'm trying to give that app 100% of my time and attention, even if I could be making more money in the short term doing something else. I personally find it difficult to work on multiple large software projects at the same time. There's just so much I can keep in my head at once…

The answer here is to stop supporting the old app. If you're like me and can't turn your back on something you've invested so much time into, you're in a predicament. I had a similar situation, and went the route of open source. The product died, as no one but me really wanted to maintain it. It was effectively the same as turning my back on the project while maintaining sales, except without the $$. I'd recommend yo…

Thanks for the advice. I've basically ignored it for the last couple of years, but with the Yosemite changes the bugs are reaching a breaking point. One of my concerns is that the bad reviews are starting to have a "negative halo" effect on my other app, so I'd like to take some kind of action on it.

In some sense I've been here before. My very first app was an iPhone app, actually one of the first police scanner apps, with a glowing map of Chicago that got me into the whole software-mapping thing. I had to put that one out to pasture a few years ago, even though I thought there could have been a viable little business in the right hands.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#27

Post by EvanMiller » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:15 PM UTC

glasses wrote: post #21

What about letting someone take over the project but you get to keep a share of the profits for guidance and advice (30% or so). It benefits both parties, you know what features the project needs to implement and what direction it needs to take to make more money, while the new owner/developer gets ramped up. You guys can even agree to a one year period of help and then separate, but at least the project keeps runnin…

I like the idea, but it seems a bit risky and would require a lot of trust. I'd be open to this with someone I trusted, but I don't want someone to take the software as passive income and ride it down without fixing bugs etc.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#28

Post by EvanMiller » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:19 PM UTC

niels_olson wrote: post #25

EvanMiller wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, it's a fair amount of money, and I'm lucky to have this problem. Right now I'm doing everything I can to focus on another app. I'm trying to give that app 100% of my time and attention, even if I could be making more money in the short term doing something else. I personally find it difficult to work on multiple large software projects at the same time. There's just so much I can keep in my head at once…

Don't underestimate the value of having a different train of thought to turn to now and again. It may stave off burnout on the major project. Consider hiring the work out for now.

This is a good point. However, in this particular case, the software has reached a size where it's more stressful than relaxing for me to think about. My sense is that this psychological function would be better served by a smaller project.

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#29

Post by tylerhall » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:21 PM UTC

I was in the same situation as you a few years ago. My Mac app was making enough money to be helpful but not quite enough to be worth the trouble. I seriously considered open sourcing it. But I stuck with it and, four years later, it grew and began supporting my family full-time.

If you truly believe there's no chance of it ever growing larger, than by all means, retire it. I've sunsetted many apps that never caught on. But don't give up on it too soon!

Re: Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?

#30

Post by WoodenChair » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 8:21 PM UTC

EvanMiller wrote: post #19

opless wrote: post #2

I'd consider selling it. I'm sure there's a 100lb GIS gorilla that would snap you up. Have you tried waving it at them. I'm afraid the only one I know is MapInfo who I'm sure got bought out by Pitney Bowes back around 2005?

Thanks. To sell to a larger company I think I'd need to build a small company first with at least a handful of employees. I'm trying to step away from this code if I can to focus on another app, and generally large companies only want to buy software that come with personnel.

It can't hurt to try. It's certainly worth sending some cold emails to some GIS companies.