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Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

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Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#81

Post by iliis »

alexkearns wrote: post #63
larsberg wrote: post #26

Made a wireless stumbler for iOS in about two days that sold a bit over $100k total. Admittedly, I spent probably another day in random debugging for version 3-ish of it (just went walkabout in Chicago with a debug build, logging AP details when it had bad behavior). And then ungodly amounts of time answering e-mails and on the phone with the iOS app review team, but that was long after the "weekend project" phase.

Very nice bit of work but what is a wireless stumbler?

A program that looks out for any wireless networks it can detect. Mostly used to find an open access point, debugging wireless lans or just to map them. See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardriving for more.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#82

Post by lucian1900 »

conesus wrote: post #23

NewsBlur - http://www.newsblur.com - a visual RSS feed reader with intelligence. I have a few hundred paying users and a few thousands free users. I develop it almost entirely on the train, which I'm on for almost an hour and a half everyday. It's a ton of work and is profitable in the sense that the hundreds of dollars a month in server costs are just a bit more than covered by the premium users. But otherwise, it d…

Awesome UI on that website. Also, your dog.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#83

Post by aeden »

I started DNSimple (https://dnsimple.com/) a year ago and it's doing pretty well. It's a side project but I put a lot into it, so it's really like a second job. I currently put all of the money back into it rather than paying myself, so profitable might be pushing it.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#84

Post by herrherr »

alexkearns wrote: post #68
herrherr wrote: post #67

getmetricmail.com creates simple Google Analytics reports and sends them to you as a PDF. Currently 3000 free users. A handfull pays, so it makes about $100 per month. A good example of Freemium gone wrong.

It's a great idea. Don't give up yet. Do you allow people to add multiple email addresses that the reports would be sent to. I imagine that would be v useful for businesses. For example, everyone in the marketing dept could receive a report each week.

That is actually possible.

The case here shows what happens when you offer too much features/resouces in the free plan.

The toughest part now is deciding if it makes sense to invest more time into it. But I guess that is a general problem for startups that haven't yet found product/market fit. You can't really know if you are miles or just an inch away from that fit.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#85

Post by prawn »

herrherr wrote: post #67

getmetricmail.com creates simple Google Analytics reports and sends them to you as a PDF. Currently 3000 free users. A handfull pays, so it makes about $100 per month. A good example of Freemium gone wrong.

I've signed up to check it out. As Alex said, it's a good idea, nice design, etc.

Maybe the feature exists and I didn't spot it, but if you white labelled it so that web designers could send out branded messages to their clients as a value-add, I think you could see paid accounts pick up a bit.

Edit: OK, first email is in. Seems that I have to click a link or get an attachment - this is why I already avoid the Analytics mailed reports. Any chance you can just send the data in the email or does the API not permit it for some reason? I probably wouldn't use this going forward if I had to click through to something or open a PDF, I know that's sulky but just how it is.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#88

Post by jqueryin »

redslazer wrote: post #64
Osiris wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're referring to BatteryBar, then, yes, I do. I'd love any way you could help get the word out. If anyone has thoughts on how to get it reviewed by tech blogs, I'd appreciate it.

I think your major problem is that most people land on your website and leave again. It isn't tailored for the sale of an app that costs less than $10. Get a separate domain for Battery Bar and have a well designed product page along the lines of: http://www.delibarapp.com/ http://www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/ http://culturedcode.com/things/ http://sophiestication.com/coversutra/ If a new website isn't possible o…

On the topic of A/B Testing your pricing... please don't offer exactly the same product or benefits at each price point, that's a definite no-no and a way to lose people if they catch on. To keep the price changes legit, you might offer varying levels of support, i.e. response time.

Re: Ask HN: What has been your most profitable side/weekend project to date?

#89

Post by haydenchambers »

sahillavingia wrote: post #10

Gumroad - http://gumroad.com/ - right now I'm trying to turn it from a million dollar business (current valuation) to a billion dollar one. :)

off topic but please make your link to the cabin font https on the payment page
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