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Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

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Re: Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

#22

Post by lostcolony »

enraged_camel wrote: post #8
issa wrote: post #2

It sounds like a good time to raise a bit of money. Don't go crazy, but try to get enough of an investment that one or both of you can start working full time on the company. Or, if neither of you are comfortable with sales, try to bring on a third person who is. Congrats and good luck!!

Thank you! Interestingly enough, our first customer also offered to invest in us six months ago. We punted at first, but a few weeks ago they brought it up again unprompted, so I think they are serious. I’m just hesitant because I’m not sure how it would work to have a customer also be a shareholder. What are your thoughts?

More than that, what goal are you achieving by letting them invest? Will you use that money to hire a full time sales person, or another dev to accelerate the product, or...? Because if you don't know what you'd do with that money, you don't want that money (nor the extra voice and trouble it would bring).

You can always keep this thing bootstrapped. If you reach a point you need an extra pair of hands, you can evaluate if it makes sense to hire someone, and if debt or equity financing is necessary. But if you're not at that point, there's no reason to take that on.

A key thing to remember is being invested in is a means to an end. Ultimately it requires giving up a level of control, or taking on a level of debt; it's not simply 'a good thing to do'.

So even without considering the downsides of a customer as a shareholder, you may want to avoid doing it just because you don't know how the money will advance your goals.

Re: Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

#23

Post by lostcolony »

lobotryas wrote: post #15
enraged_camel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for the advice. I will check those out! For me, the challenge isn't really lack of knowledge of B2B sales (I do a fair bit of it in my day job) but rather lack of time. Prospecting and qualifying leads tends to be very time-consuming, and neither of us can dedicate ourselves to it since we both have day jobs. But I think you're right that our focus should be to expand our client base a bit more before looki…

At some point one (ideally both to avoid conflict later) will have to decide to go all in on your idea or otherwise it will always limp along due to the two of you not having enough time to devote to it.

Depends what their goal is. "Limping along" while generating thousands of revenue for each of them, while requiring only minimal attention, may be perfectly acceptable. That's a lifestyle business; they may not want to run a company.

Re: Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

#24

Post by devoutsalsa »

koyote wrote: post #11

As someone who isn't a software developer by trade, how did you decide on the software stack? I hadn't even heard of Phoenix (I am not a web dev by trade, so maybe that's why!), so I am a bit surprised to see something less mainstream as a 'goto'.

As a former business guy who wanted software, I’d recommend that you focus on finding someone you trust over picking a specific tech stack. What you’re looking for is someone who can talk to you about the problem you’re trying to solve, which could be recommending no software, along with the benefits & trade offs of the whatever tools they intend to use. If someone you trust wants to use Elixir & Vue, great. If someone you don’t trust wants to use Elixir & Vue, run far away.

Re: Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

#25

Post by lostcolony »

uh_uh wrote: post #16
enraged_camel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey! So the consulting gig is my day job. I’ve been working with no-code platforms for more than a decade, and this client was for one of the projects assigned to me. I’m grateful because consulting is a really good way to look for new ideas in the marketplace since you’re always interfacing with customers and talking about their issues, sometimes in great detail. PriceTable was born out of one such project.

I see, thanks. So I assume you work for an agency and they let you build this SaaS product on the side. Pretty nice of them as some companies have rather draconic stipulations with regards to intellectual property produced while being employed by them.

The original solution probably does belong to that company. The problem it set out to solve does not. A completely different solution also does not. Ergo...

Re: Show HN: Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)

#26

Post by amanzi »

nickjj wrote: post #20

Hi, If you ever want to talk about how you build and deploy your app along with your tech stack in detail let me know. I've love to have you on the https://runninginproduction.com podcast. There's 14 Phoenix episodes at https://runninginproduction.com/tags/phoenix but the more the merrier since every story is unique. If you wanted to come on the show click the "become a guest" button on the top right to get the ball…

Love the podcast, thanks for doing this.
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