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Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#151

Post by zerr »

jetti wrote: post #136
zerr wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd 100% make an electron app Don't do that... there are quite a lot of cross-platform but native ways to develop fast & slick desktop apps.

What are other options that are truly native? Also, speed isn't always a factor and Electron can get you up and running quick, especially if you already know Nodejs and HTML

The only electron app I can more or less bare is VS Code, yet I don't use it regularly. For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it. The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#152

Post by palidanx »

jasonswett wrote: post #24

I'll add something I wish I had realized several years ago: build a SaaS is not the only path to a product business, and for a solo founder, it's (in my opinion) probably not a very good path. I spent 5 years trying to get a micro ISV off the ground which made scheduling software for hair salons. It was a terrible idea for a large number of reasons (described in detail here: https://www.jasonswett.net/im-shutting-dow…

Hey Jason thanks for the thoughts on your blog post. Just curious, how long did it take you to write the angular on rails book? And I'm assuming it is a PDF?

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#153

Post by jetti »

zerr wrote: post #151
jetti wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are other options that are truly native? Also, speed isn't always a factor and Electron can get you up and running quick, especially if you already know Nodejs and HTML

The only electron app I can more or less bare is VS Code, yet I don't use it regularly. For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it. The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.

You didn't answer what other cross-platform are out there.

> For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it

The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it.

> The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.

I disagree. It allows people to get up and running with a cross platform app relatively quick. You could then port most of that to a mobile app since a lot of the platforms (if not all of the major ones) allow one to create an app using HTML and javascript. I'm a desktop developer (the only web stuff I've done is working on a Wordpress page) but I still see value in Electron and plan to use it for a project. You get cross platform plus all of the libraries that nodejs has, which is a ton.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#154

Post by zerr »

jetti wrote: post #153
zerr wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only electron app I can more or less bare is VS Code, yet I don't use it regularly. For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it. The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.

You didn't answer what other cross-platform are out there. > For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. > The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job. I disagree. It allows people to get up and running with a cross platform app relatively quick. You could then port mo…

> what other cross-platform are out there

Qt, wxWidgets, Gtk,...

> The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it.

I have to use it for the job. And yes, I think it is bloatware, memory hog with a non-intuitive UI.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#155

Post by jrumbut »

tajen wrote: post #75
codazoda wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to try something like Pivotal Tracker if you aren't already. Estimating each "task" and then prioritizing them seems to help me see how long it will actually be before I will get to a specific feature. Pivotal is pretty good at estimating your future tasks based on your past tasks.

It's not about estimates, it's that my output isn't enough to be ahead of my customers' requests, so that they wouldn't have to ask for them, or I wouldn't have to provide a workaround until I develop the specific feature.

I used to have the same problem and have since become an expert in saying "No sorry we can't do that" or "we can but it costs this much".

Your clients will eventually thank you because you'll sustain the service longer if it's worthwhile for you.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#156

Post by desktopapp »

zerr wrote: post #154
jetti wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't answer what other cross-platform are out there. > For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. > The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job. I disagree. It allows people to get up and running with a cross platform app relatively quick. You could then port mo…

> what other cross-platform are out there Qt, wxWidgets, Gtk,... > The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. I have to use it for the job. And yes, I think it is bloatware, memory hog with a non-intuitive UI.

99.9% of users have no idea they are inside a web frame. And so what if a good app uses 100-200M of ram these days? That's like one tab in Chrome. Electron has very low idle CPU usage, which I think impacts more users than does the memory. Each of those cross-platform widget toolkits look like shit.

The bigger issue is obviously lazy developers not polishing their electron app, but you can do basically anything with it.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#157

Post by cookiecaper »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #144
cookiecaper wrote: post #48

I had such a project that was making about $15k/mo at its peak -- it was me and my wife, barring a couple of spot contributions from contractors. It depended on data from a sole data source, a Fortune 100 company, which eventually cut us off by sending a C&D threatening to sue under the CFAA, Copyright Act, and various other statutes. They claimed we breached the contract entered automatically by using their site, as…

Would you be willing to sell the site/code to somebody who is willing to take the risk? A Fortune 100 in the US can't touch a Lithuanian Corporation. :)

I've been varying degrees of open to this over the months. At the moment I don't think I have the time resources to arrange something, but if you want to shoot me an email at my_username @gmail.com, we can keep the communication channel open that way and I'll ping you when/if it changes.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#158

Post by jason_slack »

jetti wrote: post #101
jason_slack wrote: post #81

I think it is doable. I write a few desktop apps (text editor) for OS X, Windows, Linux, iPad and I have a few games in the app store with more coming. Some days I pull my hair out from the stress but overall I am happy writing the products.

Are you making money on any of those products?

The text editor I pulled from being sold a long while back. Now I maintain it and have a new version I am contemplating putting out for sale again.

The games are way better :-)

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#159

Post by hacheka »

jetti wrote: post #29
jasonswett wrote: post #24

I'll add something I wish I had realized several years ago: build a SaaS is not the only path to a product business, and for a solo founder, it's (in my opinion) probably not a very good path. I spent 5 years trying to get a micro ISV off the ground which made scheduling software for hair salons. It was a terrible idea for a large number of reasons (described in detail here: https://www.jasonswett.net/im-shutting-dow…

Info products can be a good source of relatively passive income. How are you marketing your info product? For myself, I'm writing desktop software for developers which is a market I know and something that really interests me. On top of that, there is no need for continuous uptime

How do you address the piracy / license problems? I'm starting also a desktop version but piracy is main concern.

Re: Ask HN: Is the concept of a one-person software shop still viable?

#160

Post by thepredestrian »

20years wrote: post #150
thepredestrian wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unrelated point, but I would do anything (even put school on hold) just to be able to work with a mentor like you. Being a solo founder for niche Saas products is exactly what I aspire to be, and learning from someone who's been there and done that would be a terrific experience

I will reach out to you at the beginning of the new year. Honestly though if you are interested, I would put you mostly on advertising related stuff. Coding is the easy part, advertising and acquiring users is the hard part. Learning how to advertise a product and acquire users for less than what you are spend is one of the most important pieces of running a SaaS.

Oh wow, that'd be super amazing, and I look forward to that.

I wholeheartedly agree that advertising and acquiring users are the most important pieces, and also one of the hardest. Finding a niche and the market to go after (who do I approach? what do I say? what sort of problems can I solve that hasnt already been done? etc) has been a stumbling block, not to mention the fact that I'm far from technically fluent to spin up a basic prototype to demo.

As such I kinda put that aspiration on hold and decided to hone my craft in CS / programming in general, so that at least I have a solid, technical base to built off on.

Anyhow, I really appreciate your response and am excited to hearing back from you.

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