Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#41

Post by dsugarman » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:00 PM UTC

abhimir wrote: post #3

Our mobile games startup started in Dec 2013 is profitable. Our monthly revenues are 3-4X our monthly expenses (which includes market salary for Co-Founders.) In fact in the last 2-3 months, we have been able to save up almost 18 months worth of runway for our team of 8. Bear in mind that the team is based in India, so our salary and other expenses cannot be compared to Silicon Valley, but in India we pay market rate…

very smart to keep a large runway in the mobile game industry

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#42

Post by jamesgagan » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:00 PM UTC

derptacos wrote: post #37

jamesgagan wrote: post #31

I very recently launched an ecommerce site[1] selling shoe shine kits of all things. We just launched a few weeks ago but are already making money. It was a nice feeling to be able to pay myself yesterday, even if it was only $500! [1] http://shinekits.com

Off-topic, but you should contact massdrop.com these are the kinds of products that may really interest massdrop's customers!

thanks - i will check it out.

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#43

Post by tachion » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:00 PM UTC

My partner finally decided to give it a try to her idea for her own fashion brand[1] (instead of regular career in journaling), designing and hand crafting clothes in small quantities made of self designed and produced specially for us materials and we're just starting being profitable, even tho we're at the moment not very active when it comes to advertising via any channels. The profit varies heavily so far, having very good months and a bit worse ones, but overall, we're positive.

[1] http://facebook.com/kropeczki

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#44

Post by jamesgagan » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:01 PM UTC

svmegatron wrote: post #38

jamesgagan wrote: post #31

I very recently launched an ecommerce site[1] selling shoe shine kits of all things. We just launched a few weeks ago but are already making money. It was a nice feeling to be able to pay myself yesterday, even if it was only $500! [1] http://shinekits.com

Nice! I see you're on Shopify - I started a fraud prevention app that's great for Shopify stores. Would you be willing to try the free trial? I'd love to hear what a fellow HNer thinks of it. Link is https://www.merchantprotector.net

cool - i'll take a look at it.

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#45

Post by 23andwalnut » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:01 PM UTC

I launched Duet (http://duetapp.com) in May 2013 and it's been profitable since day 1. I'm going to start focusing on it more so it can hopefully grow into something I can live off of.

*edit: I'm very curious to know, what about this comment is worthy of downvotes.

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#46

Post by jsonne » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:02 PM UTC

I started an advertising agency in February with another friend who also used to work in tech. We're Ramen profitable (2 founders make below market, but livable, wages). We were fortunate enough to find some clients in the marijuana industry out here in Colorado who have been largely overlooked by other agencies due to the stigma attached to it. Our strength is solidly in the digital space (particularly social advertising).

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#47

Post by humannature » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:05 PM UTC

noname123 wrote: post #26

I started a 401(k) account and put it on S&P500 index fund, it's gone up about 65% in two years. The best part of the business is that I work less than Timothy Ferris, "0-hour work week"; I let the money do the work for me, not the other way around.

*until it doesn't.

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#48

Post by AJay17 » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:15 PM UTC

I started:

http://www.thingsunder15.com and http://www.myfancysauce.com

both slightly profitable.

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#49

Post by coderholic » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:15 PM UTC

I launched http://ipinfo.io back in 2013 and when it hit 50M API requests a day early this year I decided to launch the paid plans, and it's been profitable ever since. It's now hosted across 2 providers in 3 different cities, and handles almost 100M requests per day with a p99 of less than 1s and p50 of less than 100ms. Expect more services and features later this year!

Re: Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

#50

Post by grakic » Thu, Jul 03, 2014, 5:17 PM UTC

jamesgagan wrote: post #31

I very recently launched an ecommerce site[1] selling shoe shine kits of all things. We just launched a few weeks ago but are already making money. It was a nice feeling to be able to pay myself yesterday, even if it was only $500! [1] http://shinekits.com

What is your current best strategy to acquire customers? Are you doing any social marketing, is it mostly organic search or paid search placements?