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Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

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71–80 of 174 posts

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#71

I must voice concerns regarding this product. Just took a look at the Notepad++ plugin ( https://github.com/wakatime/notepadpp-wakatime ), because this is something I know a lot about. To begin with, it sends filenames to the mother ship instead of just the programming language. I would consider filenames to be sensitive information giving a very good idea of the project you are working on... Also problematic is the…

Why do you think the second part specifically is "a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen"?

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#72

I must voice concerns regarding this product. Just took a look at the Notepad++ plugin ( https://github.com/wakatime/notepadpp-wakatime ), because this is something I know a lot about. To begin with, it sends filenames to the mother ship instead of just the programming language. I would consider filenames to be sensitive information giving a very good idea of the project you are working on... Also problematic is the…

Disagree. As a user, I want file-level or directory-level analytics. I want to know how much time I'm coding in the backend services vs the front-end react client.

If you have concerns about this, do you also have problems with Github literally having access to all of your code? Or Google having access to your search history?

I'd be more concerned if it wasn't using SSL. That would make sense, but it seems secure on that front.

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#73
post #72

I must voice concerns regarding this product. Just took a look at the Notepad++ plugin ( https://github.com/wakatime/notepadpp-wakatime ), because this is something I know a lot about. To begin with, it sends filenames to the mother ship instead of just the programming language. I would consider filenames to be sensitive information giving a very good idea of the project you are working on... Also problematic is the…

Disagree. As a user, I want file-level or directory-level analytics. I want to know how much time I'm coding in the backend services vs the front-end react client. If you have concerns about this, do you also have problems with Github literally having access to all of your code? Or Google having access to your search history? I'd be more concerned if it wasn't using SSL. That would make sense, but it seems secure on…

> I'd be more concerned if it wasn't using SSL. That would make sense, but it seems secure on that front.

Yes, I agree with you, using SSL is definitely better than without.

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#74
post #71

I must voice concerns regarding this product. Just took a look at the Notepad++ plugin ( https://github.com/wakatime/notepadpp-wakatime ), because this is something I know a lot about. To begin with, it sends filenames to the mother ship instead of just the programming language. I would consider filenames to be sensitive information giving a very good idea of the project you are working on... Also problematic is the…

Why do you think the second part specifically is "a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen"?

Well, because it's a mechanism the user is not controlling and is potentially problematic if someone makes the plugin download an update package from another source. I'm a bit paranoid, but I would prefer all functionality to be within the plugin itself. There's a plugin manager for Notepad++ which notifies the user of plugin updates.

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#75
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh Ycombinator, such a bastion of encouragement you can be. Check out the top comment dropbox received when it debut on Ycombinator. "...you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

It's nothing new, that's how we get cute quotes, such as: * the one misattributed to Bill Gates, about 640k of RAM being enough for everyone * the one by Thomas Watson about the worldwide computer market needing only 5 computers * or more recently, the Commander Taco quote about the iPod: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." Hindsight is funny :) Edit: Oh, and I have to tell BrandonM, if he's still around: i…

> Hindsight is funny :)

So is survivorship bias. There's countless other times where the naysayers were spot on and their comments are long forgotten because the predicted failure happened. It's more a commentary on the wisdom of being a detractor. Unless it's going to be a truly spectacular failure, you're better off not saying anything since you'll either be right or remembered but not both.

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#76
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh Ycombinator, such a bastion of encouragement you can be. Check out the top comment dropbox received when it debut on Ycombinator. "...you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

It's nothing new, that's how we get cute quotes, such as: * the one misattributed to Bill Gates, about 640k of RAM being enough for everyone * the one by Thomas Watson about the worldwide computer market needing only 5 computers * or more recently, the Commander Taco quote about the iPod: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." Hindsight is funny :) Edit: Oh, and I have to tell BrandonM, if he's still around: i…

This should be pondered by the number of quotes of people believing their product is definitely the future. Well, if we ever find them, because nobody remember failed start up owners (until they become successful that is).

We should however easily find quotes from demo of failed products, such as the Zune being the greatest thing ever...

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#77
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the number of users who are paying. He mentions that he has over 100K total users. That raises an issue with this sort of model that I've never really understood: if only ~1% of users are paying, it seems like very small changes in conversion rate could make or break the business. Suppose the conversion rate goes down by just 0.3%. That would be a 30% reduction in revenue while you still have to run the infras…

That's not a real risk. That's an outcome. A risk is something that LED to that drop in conversion. It could be a competitor coming in with the same feature set, or something else. But a drop in conversion is not a risk, it's an outcome.

The risk part is the small margin that means you can't survive small bumps that lead to a drop in conversion.

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#78
post #36

Is it me or is it nuts to be paying $1,600 a month on servers when you have just over 1000 users? Seems like something that could be run on a $50-$100 VPS.

We are paying $5000 per month to GCP and $1000 per month to Amazon, we've 300 users paying $300 a month each. Stack : Ruby, Go, PHP (for some integration), JavaScript (Stuck on Angular v1)

While, as others have pointed out, that with 100k non-paying users the $1,600 figure makes more sense. Your example still makes no sense to me, what are you _actually_ doing with all that server power?

Re: Reaching $10k monthly revenue with WakaTime, my SaaS side project

#79
post #3

Congrats on this, loved the quote. >> The best startup book is one you never open because you're too busy marketing and building your product

Double True, execution and hustle is the key. Don't get caught up in all the entre-porn (Amy Hoy). Learn what you need from books, podcasts and mentors. Then go for it.

You'll know you're ready because when you read a book or listen to a podcast it will all be things you've heard before.

Granted every book/podcast usually has a unique gem but after a while, you're ready.

Plus, "It's NOT rocket surgery." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY (DHH Startup School, still my favorite talk)

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