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Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

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Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#61

Post by tlack »

zerostar07 wrote: post #9

I 've been living off facebook apps since 2008. Upside: life free of commitments. Downside: Too much free time. Right now, i 'm doing a PhD course.

I'd love to hear more about your apps if you're comfortable with sharing the information.

Background: I've been working for a couple of months on a Facebook Page app called FanBldr.com and I've found it fairly difficult to operate.. it's hard to get feedback from users, Facebook is always updating the platform, and I'm not even sure what percentage of my users will upgrade to paying once I drop the paywall bomb. I find traditional web app development easier to manage and operate in the long term.

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#62

Post by sahillavingia »

Not a founder, just a dude. But I've built Dayta, Color Stream, Gumroad, and more by myself. Dayta has a few hundred thousand downloads (many paid), as does Color Stream. I made enough in around six months to sustain me for the next 2-3 years. I'm now going full-time with Gumroad.

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#63

Post by fleaflicker »

xpose2000 wrote: post #52
fleaflicker wrote: post #44

Built, sold, and just reacquired fleaflicker alone. Have ambitious plans to grow. If you're an NYC hacker and want to build and scale a fantasy sports application to take on ESPN, Yahoo, and the NFL, contact me!

We should talk. I am going to head over to fleaflicker and try to find a contact email. :)

Awesome, Ori at fleaflicker, contact me directly.

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#64

Post by ashbrahma »

bignoggins wrote: post #7

I'm the single founder of Bignoggins Productions. I do sports apps for mobile devices. My apps have been pretty successful, reaching as high as #32 overall paid on iPhone and #60 overall paid on iPad. Been full time for about 9 months now. Made 75K last year, and on track for 250K+ this year. Almost all profit as my overhead is insanely low. Currently traveling the world with my wife while working on apps (our travel…

Do you pay yahoo for access to their Fantasy/Sports API?

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#65

Post by ednc »

z92 wrote: post #38
philipDS wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're living the dream man. Awesome.

Only thing not in the equation is children.

Don't let that be an excuse (I'm trying not to :-) ). There are plenty of travel bloggers out there with kids. They've all found ways to make it work.

http://unstoppablefamily.com/ is one example

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#66

Post by acangiano »

sahillavingia wrote: post #62

Not a founder, just a dude. But I've built Dayta, Color Stream, Gumroad, and more by myself. Dayta has a few hundred thousand downloads (many paid), as does Color Stream. I made enough in around six months to sustain me for the next 2-3 years. I'm now going full-time with Gumroad.

Awesome job. Regarding Color Stream, is this intentional?

> NOTICE: This domain name expired on 08/13/2011 and is pending renewal or deletion.

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#67

Post by ednc »

bignoggins wrote: post #7

I'm the single founder of Bignoggins Productions. I do sports apps for mobile devices. My apps have been pretty successful, reaching as high as #32 overall paid on iPhone and #60 overall paid on iPad. Been full time for about 9 months now. Made 75K last year, and on track for 250K+ this year. Almost all profit as my overhead is insanely low. Currently traveling the world with my wife while working on apps (our travel…

That is awesome. I'm hoping for a similar post in 6 months! Congrats on living the dream!

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#68

Post by ednc »

blparker wrote: post #35
bignoggins wrote: post #7

I'm the single founder of Bignoggins Productions. I do sports apps for mobile devices. My apps have been pretty successful, reaching as high as #32 overall paid on iPhone and #60 overall paid on iPad. Been full time for about 9 months now. Made 75K last year, and on track for 250K+ this year. Almost all profit as my overhead is insanely low. Currently traveling the world with my wife while working on apps (our travel…

Pretty interesting story. Have you considered writing a blog post to document your story? That would be a nice read.

+1 Always love to hear about (real) app success stories, and folks who have found a way to make it a sustainable business (and not just the one hit wonders of 3 years ago)

Re: Ask HN: Small product, single founder success stories?

#70

Post by freemarketteddy »

gopi wrote: post #18

I am a single founder, made around $10 million in pure profits in the last 8 years from relatively few internet projects/products. The interesting thing is i am not even a professional developer (but can write simple scripts and understand technology)

I'm betting its a consultancy that fills up IT positions in big companies.....the hiring business is one of the easiest ways to make money!
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