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Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

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Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#11

Post by mark242 »

vessenes wrote: post #8

I both understand the demand for this and dislike it. But, assuming ethical questions stand aside, I do have some pricing reactions: This should be a monthly service, full stop. You mention users use it once, and then not for a while. That is the best possible scenario for a recurring revenue business. You should stop offering one-off purchases immediately if you want to see revenue grow. I can think off the top of m…

"This would also let you charge spammers a lot" should be rewritten to "This would also let you charge unwitting victims of credit card theft a lot, and get a ton of chargebacks".

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#12

Post by ceejayoz »

downandout wrote: post #10

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity in these comments. LeadGenius is nothing more than a well-financed spam enabler that charges more, and yet they are celebrated in the Valley and have been handed $18 million in funding. The only difference is that they aren't as up-front about how the data they sell is derived.

LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN?

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#13

Post by CodeWriter23 »

vessenes wrote: post #8

I both understand the demand for this and dislike it. But, assuming ethical questions stand aside, I do have some pricing reactions: This should be a monthly service, full stop. You mention users use it once, and then not for a while. That is the best possible scenario for a recurring revenue business. You should stop offering one-off purchases immediately if you want to see revenue grow. I can think off the top of m…

As a user of external services to build my own SaaS, I am actually forced to prefer the per-use billing model. So much so that I have signed up for only 1 service that bills monthly (and because they are priced way below the competition's monthly charge), and 4 that have a usage-based billing model.

What the usage-based pricing model does, it helps you capture startup customers early on when they are pre-revenue, then you get to keep them as they grow.

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#14

Post by CodeWriter23 »

mark242 wrote: post #3

Please don't continue to run this. What you are doing is effectively recreating the VRFY command that nearly every major mail hosting service has removed for privacy and abuse reasons. You are opening yourself up to a huge liability, since spammers will quickly use stolen credit cards to crosscheck their lists against your API. This will cause you to have processing issues from Stripe. This will cause you to have a h…

And yet, somehow, NeverBounce is a viable business.

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#15

Post by downandout »

ceejayoz wrote: post #12
downandout wrote: post #10

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity in these comments. LeadGenius is nothing more than a well-financed spam enabler that charges more, and yet they are celebrated in the Valley and have been handed $18 million in funding. The only difference is that they aren't as up-front about how the data they sell is derived.

LeadGenius looks gross too. Has it been praised on HN?

They are a YC company.

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#16

Post by aantix »

downandout wrote: post #10

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity in these comments. LeadGenius is nothing more than a well-financed spam enabler that charges more, and yet they are celebrated in the Valley and have been handed $18 million in funding. The only difference is that they aren't as up-front about how the data they sell is derived.

While I agree that it probably does enable a certain portion of spammers, cold outreach is a necessary component to growing a company. There is nothing more effective than a well directed email stating that 1) you can solve one of their problems and 2) are you willing to purchase it today?

Skip your blog posts. Skip your viral marketing videos. Skip your media blitz. Find your customers. Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them.

What would be the alternative?

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#18

Post by toomuchtodo »

mark242 wrote: post #3

Please don't continue to run this. What you are doing is effectively recreating the VRFY command that nearly every major mail hosting service has removed for privacy and abuse reasons. You are opening yourself up to a huge liability, since spammers will quickly use stolen credit cards to crosscheck their lists against your API. This will cause you to have processing issues from Stripe. This will cause you to have a h…

"To avoid gaining a bad IP reputation, we make requests from a large number of servers, any of which will be turned off it our system detects its IP is temporarily graylisted by some larger email server.

In the unlikely event that all our servers are graylisted at the same time, the API might be down. Within a few minutes, our automated system will create new servers elsewhere."

I just threw up a bit in my mouth. I guess the weekend project is to spin up an automated abuse reporting service for requests made from Anymail's virtual machine farm. I'm sure AWS would be pleased to hear they're running command and control for a botnet.

Do not abuse the commons for profit.

Re: Using an API to build a $1,500/month side business in 4 months

#19

Post by Alupis »

If you need to verify an email address, it's very likely you did not obtain it via an opt-in... a la Spammers... or people purchasing bulk mailing lists. Both are illegal.

It's difficult to imagine how anyone using this service is not violating the CAN-SPAM Act[1].

    Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. 
    It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic 
    mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement 
    or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that 
    promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for 
    business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message 
    to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law.
In short, any unsolicited email sent with the intention to promote commercial interests is a violation of CAN-SPAM, and can carry heft fines.

Effectively, this service is a facilitating violation of the law.

Penalties can be up to $16,000 USD per unsolicited email sent.

Just ask Papa John's how much unsolicited messages can cost you[2].

[1] https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can...

[2] https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news...

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