Wordpress templates are just "components" that can't function alone if you think about it.
And don't underestimate the money that can be made with those. There are some dedicated marketplaces for those (can't remember right now their names, sorry)
Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stackoverflow is close, but the only currency is karma. But you can offer it as bounty to answer your question. Throwing money into that dynamic is opening all kinds of worm cans.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/ --- " In defense of Experts Exchange " https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6406373 But (I think) he means as a product, not a service (i.e. for bounties, only the asker pays, so it's a service; though it's true that everyone else benefits too). I like this idea. The big problem, as always, is the boundary or interface of the module/component. (1). The buyer has to specify it, which i…
Matt Cutts (Google SEO) fondly referred to this site as "Expert-SexChange" at Wordpress Conference in San Francisco in 2009! Google it. The video is funny!
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#33I run product development for a toolkit company that exited to a public company in 2011.
Our .NET and Java toolkits sustain a 25 person division with healthy margins and decent growth.
The keys have been:
* make something valuable and charge enough for it so that you can offer great support. If you charge $500, you lose money if anyone calls you -- instead you should want people to call you -- so, charge enough money to make that worthwhile.
* have ways that make the engagement scale. Meaning, it's ok if an average deal is 5-10k, but if someone gets a lot of value, you should want that to scale up to 100k or more
* you can charge like a Saas for things that are not delivered like Saas, and some people prefer it. Meaning, we sell .NET assemblies (not a hosted service), but you can pay xx,000/year for it if you want unlimited deployment.
* You have two segments (broadly) -- companies that make software for themselves -- companies that sell software. They have different needs and get value in different ways -- think about segmentation to price appropriately.
You will be competing against free -- so you need to deliver value. Don't look for markets with no free alternatives. I compete against a ton of open-source very well. We're better and we have support.
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#34I am running Component Owl (http://www.componentowl.com/) for about three years.
The original idea was to create top-notch WinForms and WPF controls (.NET visual components). However, developing single great WinForms or WPF control is pretty challenging task. One need excellent knowledge about the framework and tools. It is much more than programming and deployment. It is also about knowing dark internals of the platform you use.
For example, the greatest challenge was doing seamless Visual Studio integration. Most users didn't know how to add a component to their software. They assumed it will "just appear" in Visual Studio Toolbox window and they just click on it and start using it.
Furthermore, most of my customers haven't just bought the component. They required some adjustments and features here and there. They also needed assistance with implementing the component even though we provided thorough documentation with code samples.
Because of the above reasons, I am currently orienting more on niche components and leaving all the buttons, combos, calendars and other typical controls to big players.
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#35Wordpress templates are just "components" that can't function alone if you think about it.
And don't underestimate the money that can be made with those. There are some dedicated marketplaces for those (can't remember right now their names, sorry)
Themeforest is probably the biggest marketplace for wp themes (run by Envato, the same guys behind codecanyon etc.). WooThemes, although not a marketplace, is another player doing very well selling wp themes.
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#36I've been selling a php self-hosted ad server, mySimpleAds, at http://wwww.clippersoft.net for years, which makes some side money. I recently launched a SaaS version at http://mysimpleads.com . For the little bit the SaaS has been up, people still seem to like the self-hosted version. So, I guess it really depends upon the product and your target customer. There's some things that some people just prefer to host on t…
Do you think maybe it's a self-selected audience? Like these are the people that know and love you as a self-hosted product, and now you need to reach a different, more SaaSy crowd?
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#37We have sold a JavaScript component as our sole source of revenue for about 4 years now, having started selling it 8 years ago. We've played around in the SaaS market, in end-user apps that use the component, but we've never found anything that makes even remotely the amount we make from selling the component. A lot of people think SaaS is easier, I personally find it x10 harder. We ended up gaining far more benefit…
Can I ask what the JavaScript component is/does?
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#38We have sold a JavaScript component as our sole source of revenue for about 4 years now, having started selling it 8 years ago. We've played around in the SaaS market, in end-user apps that use the component, but we've never found anything that makes even remotely the amount we make from selling the component. A lot of people think SaaS is easier, I personally find it x10 harder. We ended up gaining far more benefit…
Can I ask what the JavaScript component is/does?
Looking at his profile:
I'm a co-founder of JGraph. We make mxGraph and draw.io
http://www.jgraph.com/ http://www.draw.io/
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#39I've been selling a php self-hosted ad server, mySimpleAds, at http://wwww.clippersoft.net for years, which makes some side money. I recently launched a SaaS version at http://mysimpleads.com . For the little bit the SaaS has been up, people still seem to like the self-hosted version. So, I guess it really depends upon the product and your target customer. There's some things that some people just prefer to host on t…
Do you think maybe it's a self-selected audience? Like these are the people that know and love you as a self-hosted product, and now you need to reach a different, more SaaSy crowd?
I certainly agree, while there will be some bleed over I think the segment is slightly different. I just haven't figured out how to reach them yet.
Re: Ask HN: Making a living selling software components, not SaaS?
#40I'm a developer, I remember one time I needed to have a particular piece of functionality in an app. I could have built it, but I found that someone was selling what I wanted for $3.00 on the internet, it was a no-brainer. I paid with something like gumroad, downloaded and plugged it in within a matter of minutes, vs the few hours I would have spent writing/debugging.
That's interesting. As you say, it's a no-brainer. I wonder if some kind of micropayment market in functions could be pulled off... The kind of thing Ted Nelson or Jaron Lanier talk about, only for small pieces of reusable code rather than small pieces of reusable text.
One could imagine incorporating the component store into the app store, where developers could get a cut of app profits for providing components while the app store is responsible for all the bookkeeping. Think 5 cents/app sale micropayments, but that includes all apps on the store that want to use your component.