$80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything • Hacker News Board

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#61

Post by mattmanser » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 12:54 AM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #57

mattmanser wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What food for thought? Choose to throw your life away on meaningless shit so you can say you made some money, or do something you care about? Most of us here could easily make a $200k consulting a year. Does it make you happy? No. Would making shite apps and essentially scamming people make most of the people here happy? No. You gotta remember that the kind of person who does this kind of shit is basically a bit of a…

I think making massive money on crap that enables you to spend time on things you actually do value - be they other apps, a family, hobby or passion to save the world - is a perfectly valid way to live life. Your post sounds like nothing more than sour grapes.

Well, have fun doing your human exploitation startups. It's not for me, I can't do it.

It's just not in me. It's not sour grapes, it's just utter incomprehension on why anyone would spend their life exploiting others. I just don't understand the motivation behind it.

I actually do not think it's a perfectly valid way of life, I think it's evil and sociopathic. But that's my opinion and you have yours.

Happiness is different for everybody.

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#62

Post by budu3 » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:07 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #54

stevenp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great point. Looking at these apps, they're certainly not anything like ConvertBot or Instagram. As an app developer myself, I think I could have easily made most of these apps in my spare time without a ton of design skill, yet they're really successful. Definitely food for though.

What food for thought? Choose to throw your life away on meaningless shit so you can say you made some money, or do something you care about? Most of us here could easily make a $200k consulting a year. Does it make you happy? No. Would making shite apps and essentially scamming people make most of the people here happy? No. You gotta remember that the kind of person who does this kind of shit is basically a bit of a…

How are they scamming people? I got the impressing that many people find their apps useful.

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#63

Post by robryan » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:10 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #54

stevenp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great point. Looking at these apps, they're certainly not anything like ConvertBot or Instagram. As an app developer myself, I think I could have easily made most of these apps in my spare time without a ton of design skill, yet they're really successful. Definitely food for though.

What food for thought? Choose to throw your life away on meaningless shit so you can say you made some money, or do something you care about? Most of us here could easily make a $200k consulting a year. Does it make you happy? No. Would making shite apps and essentially scamming people make most of the people here happy? No. You gotta remember that the kind of person who does this kind of shit is basically a bit of a…

I think they are more likely to be scamming advertisers than people. I get what you mean, many many people around here could make these kind of apps if they were so motivated to.

It's the same with online ads, should I just fill my site with mobile phone charging ads because they give me the best CPM or should I put ads there that actually may benefit a user?

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#64

Post by AndrewWarner » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:26 AM UTC

Sindrome wrote: post #19

Andrew I love you. I sent you an email a few months ago asking if you could get more videos about the mobile space and you have totally come through. I've seen a hearty amount of mobile interviews this month. Thanks.

Thanks.

If you come across anyone I should interview, email me.

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#65

Post by kiba » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:33 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #61

run4yourlives wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think making massive money on crap that enables you to spend time on things you actually do value - be they other apps, a family, hobby or passion to save the world - is a perfectly valid way to live life. Your post sounds like nothing more than sour grapes.

Well, have fun doing your human exploitation startups. It's not for me, I can't do it. It's just not in me. It's not sour grapes, it's just utter incomprehension on why anyone would spend their life exploiting others. I just don't understand the motivation behind it. I actually do not think it's a perfectly valid way of life, I think it's evil and sociopathic. But that's my opinion and you have yours. Happiness is di…

Well, have fun doing your human exploitation startups. It's not for me, I can't do it.

Exploiting what exactly?

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#66

Post by revorad » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:45 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #54

stevenp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great point. Looking at these apps, they're certainly not anything like ConvertBot or Instagram. As an app developer myself, I think I could have easily made most of these apps in my spare time without a ton of design skill, yet they're really successful. Definitely food for though.

What food for thought? Choose to throw your life away on meaningless shit so you can say you made some money, or do something you care about? Most of us here could easily make a $200k consulting a year. Does it make you happy? No. Would making shite apps and essentially scamming people make most of the people here happy? No. You gotta remember that the kind of person who does this kind of shit is basically a bit of a…

Have you tried the apps? Clearly, a lot of people found them useful. So, on what basis are you calling it crap? Just because they outsourced the development and a made a lot of money?

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#67

Post by solutionyogi » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 1:57 AM UTC

Psyonic wrote: post #48

coffee wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, what? They do $80k in monthly revenue yet "one of the founders still works a full time job" That makes no sense...

Maybe he likes his job?

Doesn't matter if I like my job or not, if I am making 80k/month from my side business, I am definitely going to quit my day job and concentrate on my full business.

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#68

Post by patio11 » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 2:28 AM UTC

ajg1977 wrote: post #30

I don't know what to think about stories such as these to be honest. My inner entrepreneur says "Wow, great job guys! I wish you every success". My inner software developer winces, and fears, both professionally and personally, that the ever-growing number of such low-quality apps will eventually make it pointless for developers to invest in creating a ConvertBot or Instagram. (FWIW I currently make $15k a month from…

Has the ever-growing number of free, low-quality web pages made it pointless to sell stuff on the Internet?

I love free competitors. They make excellent places to place ads. ("Want to try a solution for this that doesn't suck?")

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#69

Post by phamilton » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 2:31 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #54

stevenp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great point. Looking at these apps, they're certainly not anything like ConvertBot or Instagram. As an app developer myself, I think I could have easily made most of these apps in my spare time without a ton of design skill, yet they're really successful. Definitely food for though.

What food for thought? Choose to throw your life away on meaningless shit so you can say you made some money, or do something you care about? Most of us here could easily make a $200k consulting a year. Does it make you happy? No. Would making shite apps and essentially scamming people make most of the people here happy? No. You gotta remember that the kind of person who does this kind of shit is basically a bit of a…

As a college student juggling far too many small contracting jobs, a 15 hour/ week part time job, and a relatively intense courseload, I find myself saying similar things. I could drop out, quit my part time job, and probably make significant money consulting/contracting. Yet something inside me says that would be meaningless.

Re: $80,000 a Month in App Sales by Outsourcing Everything

#70

Post by ajg1977 » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 2:43 AM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #50

ajg1977 wrote: post #30

I don't know what to think about stories such as these to be honest. My inner entrepreneur says "Wow, great job guys! I wish you every success". My inner software developer winces, and fears, both professionally and personally, that the ever-growing number of such low-quality apps will eventually make it pointless for developers to invest in creating a ConvertBot or Instagram. (FWIW I currently make $15k a month from…

It definitely creates a lot of noise and worries me as someone who is just about to enter the mobile app market. I just finished some iOS training and am working on my first paid app. What would you say is the key to getting where you are? Apps with true utility–or something else?

I would recommend you do two things:

1) Create one app to throw-away - something that's simple, useful to you, and which you are confident you can create. Don't worry about there being hundreds of similar apps. This is your Learner app. Get it together in a few weeks and put it on the app store for $1-$2. Make sure you have some "please leave a review / send email" link that makes it a no-brainer for people to give you feedback. Read them all, but learn to distinguish between genuinely useful suggestions, and comments from people who feel your app really needs their pet feature.

2) Find a need that you think people would pay $3-$5 for, preferably a need that you yourself have, and work on that app using everything you learnt in #1. Get something basic but polished out, then iterate.

General tips:

- Polish is more important than features. - Ensure you get 6 friends to buy & rate your app (5-6 is the minimum you need for a visible rating). - Launch at $1 for a week, and cut the price to $1 for a week for every update. It does make a difference IME. - Read the descriptions of top apps and see how they sell themselves. - Read the reviews of apps similar to yours and see what people are missing. - Make it easy for people to send in-app email for support questions. Be the best support person they've encountered. Happy users recommend your app and leave very nice reviews (particularly if you ask for the latter after helping them).