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Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#91

Post by tylerdavis »

https://www.soundviz.com

Two and a half years ago I started working on the idea. It took me about a year to get the initial offering done and launched. The first calendar year in business was technically profitable. We ended up reinvesting the profits into new computers as well as paying all of the operational expenses upfront for the following year.

This year, it's tracking at roughly 5x of last year's revenue and we've also improved our margins by about 2x.

All said and done, we both put about an hour a day into it, five days a week, and one full weekend day a month.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#92

Post by nojvek »

niftylettuce wrote: post #2

Here's a brief list! * Wakeup.io - Simple Phone Wake-up Calls @ https://wakeup.io and it is fully automated and runs itself with actually really good profits. It was built in 2-3 days. * GetProve, Simple Phone Verification @ https://getprove.com and it is fully automated and runs itself with again, really good profits. It was built in a week or so. * Teelaunch, Kickstarter/Indiegogo Fulfillment Service (exited/sold)…

Would love to have a chat and build some stuff on the side.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#93

Post by flashman »

simple1 wrote: post #32

I wrote an online multiplayer game called Aberoth: http://aberoth.com . I released the first version to the world in January 2010, but the game did not have many features initially, and there was no way to buy anything. Toward the end of 2012 I felt good enough about the product to start selling memberships. I continued to work on the game on the side over the years, and I released the game on Steam in July 2015: htt…

Huh, this looks cool. Good job.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#94

Post by lasfter »

mhowland wrote: post #81

3 Months. I made https://www.myothernumber.com (online temporary sms/mms/voice numbers) about a 1.5 years ago, was making ramen money within 3 months. Now tracking in the 5-figure/year range. It's a very, very crowded market so primary cost is user acquisition, but then again that's exactly why I built it, to better learn (consumer facing UA) and have a platform to experiment with. About to officially launch http://a…

Just wanted to let you know that there is a typo on the first page of artistic.af: "...a lot of historic genuius..."

Site looks great!

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#95

Post by altitudinous »

I have several apps on the iOS app store. I make between $4000AUD - $9000AUD per month.

I quit my job 3 years ago to do it, so I guess it isn't really a side project any more. That said, it is a lonely way to make money and I am over it. My career was computers, and I'm pleased I've done the apps, I can achieve anything technical so it isn't a challenge any more and am looking at something more physical, hands on.

When I quit my job I was making approx $3 a day from apps, I learned a lot.

The great thing is that I can quit and the apps keep making money. It is trivial to keep them updated to the latest iOS version, design standard, or advertising API - I've just put Firebase Analytics and the latest Admob API in them all. Pleased with the iOS10 announcement today, it will not add burden to my apps, nor are they sherlocked like my first app was. My most recent app took me 10 days to make, it is fairly professional, I have one more I want to make it will take a similar amount of time. Every time I get asked a support question I answer it and also post the answer on a support website, this has cut down support enquiries to one every week or two.

On to the next thing!

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#96

Post by someotheridiot »

https://rebrickable.com - A LEGO database that shows you which sets you can build from your existing collection, also includes thousands of fan-submitted designs. I built the original site in a few months, but have been steadily expanding it for 5 years now.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#97

Post by imron »

hugs wrote: post #22

5 years. (2011-2016) While working on my first startup (Sauce Labs), I made a robot that plays Angry Birds as a side/art project in the autumn of 2011. The serious part of the project is that you can use the robot for testing mobile apps and devices. I started to sell the robots (still as a side project) on Tindie when that first launched in the summer of 2012. I made a couple of thousand dollars the first few years,…

Your website needs a video of the robot in action.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#98

Post by radicalachraf »

I recently started doing some competitive programming and going trough advanced algorithms...not really a side project but i'm looking forward to make a Network Monitoring service something that runs in your computer and acts passively to monitor system changes... to protect against malware mostly . -My current side project isn't even 10% complete but it's on my scope I'm working on a micro virtual file system for important documents...due to the rise of Ransomware and people being lazy I think that making a secure,encrypted virtual filesystem could be a great idea . Those are my thoughts only

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#99

Post by mhowland »

lasfter wrote: post #94
mhowland wrote: post #81

3 Months. I made https://www.myothernumber.com (online temporary sms/mms/voice numbers) about a 1.5 years ago, was making ramen money within 3 months. Now tracking in the 5-figure/year range. It's a very, very crowded market so primary cost is user acquisition, but then again that's exactly why I built it, to better learn (consumer facing UA) and have a platform to experiment with. About to officially launch http://a…

Just wanted to let you know that there is a typo on the first page of artistic.af: "...a lot of historic genuius..." Site looks great!

Awesome, much appreciated!!

Re: Ask HN: Do you have a profitable side project? How long did it take to achieve?

#100

Post by andyjdavis »

altitudinous wrote: post #95

I have several apps on the iOS app store. I make between $4000AUD - $9000AUD per month. I quit my job 3 years ago to do it, so I guess it isn't really a side project any more. That said, it is a lonely way to make money and I am over it. My career was computers, and I'm pleased I've done the apps, I can achieve anything technical so it isn't a challenge any more and am looking at something more physical, hands on. Wh…

Nice work :) No matter what you do next that is certainly a very handy chunk of change to have coming in each month.
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