Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 285 posts

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#241

Post by doopy1 »

vmception wrote: post #164
doopy1 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you audit the security of your contracts?

Unit tests like normal software development. I don’t post or advertise audits, third party smart contract audits are expensive and purely a marketing racket. A) users dont care B) Vulnerabilities come from closed source pricing oracles. C) users that do care understand that vulnerabilities are not really coming from the code and more so from pricing oracles D) Users can buy smart contract insurance. E) They can also…

With all due respect, I think you're off on point C. There are a plenty of vulnerabilities as a result of code issues. Look at the great work that Trail Of Bits (no affiliation) has done in this space and you will see some great examples. There are a few folks that do solid audits, thought you are right there's no guarantee and it's expensive.

As to your point that user's don't care, I think that's the real answer, and it's a shame. Do you think the user base is not technical enough to care?

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#242

Post by akudha »

vmception wrote: post #238
akudha wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a developer who has no idea about blockchain, how hard/easy is it to get into DeFi? Also, do you think this can be a long term career?

DeFi is easy and doesn’t really involve blockchain knowledge, but your use of the code becomes blockchain knowledge. The programming is all javascript and solidity, which has syntax very similar to js. The blockchain imposes restrictions on how complex your code can be which means you are writing simpler code. More like building with legos (which is very similar to other programming where you have dependency hell, no…

"just from transaction volume and earning your crypto."

Could you please elaborate? Do you mean taking a cut from the transactions?

Also, if I gave myself 6 months of part time study, will that be enough to get proficiency to start working on real world projects?

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#243

Post by vmception »

akudha wrote: post #242
vmception wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DeFi is easy and doesn’t really involve blockchain knowledge, but your use of the code becomes blockchain knowledge. The programming is all javascript and solidity, which has syntax very similar to js. The blockchain imposes restrictions on how complex your code can be which means you are writing simpler code. More like building with legos (which is very similar to other programming where you have dependency hell, no…

"just from transaction volume and earning your crypto." Could you please elaborate? Do you mean taking a cut from the transactions? Also, if I gave myself 6 months of part time study, will that be enough to get proficiency to start working on real world projects?

> Do you mean taking a cut from the transactions?

Yes.

> Also, if I gave myself 6 months of part time study, will that be enough to get proficiency to start working on real world projects?

Yes.

If you already know how to program it honestly won't take you that long. The bigger issue in DeFi and crypto in general is what to focus on. Here, all of your side projects can make money right out the gate without trying to look more legitimate than the next, but now some make more than others. The space moves extremely fast and other people's better ideas can be tempting to focus on.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#244

Post by lcall »

lcall wrote: post #236
cloogshicer wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Super cool! Thanks for sharing. How does did he initially get customers? How does he keep growing?

Asking him would get a more currently accurate answer, but the parts I do know include that he had the knowledge and so wrote a self-published book (paper and digital) about GameMaker some years back, and he is good at knowing about and being a positive part of his gaming communities, so he has built his name recognition over time, initially while working a full-time job and going to school. And I think toward his cu…

(ps his wife has a blog about their family life: http://justasahmom.blogspot.com/ )

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#245

Post by vmception »

doopy1 wrote: post #241
vmception wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unit tests like normal software development. I don’t post or advertise audits, third party smart contract audits are expensive and purely a marketing racket. A) users dont care B) Vulnerabilities come from closed source pricing oracles. C) users that do care understand that vulnerabilities are not really coming from the code and more so from pricing oracles D) Users can buy smart contract insurance. E) They can also…

With all due respect, I think you're off on point C. There are a plenty of vulnerabilities as a result of code issues. Look at the great work that Trail Of Bits (no affiliation) has done in this space and you will see some great examples. There are a few folks that do solid audits, thought you are right there's no guarantee and it's expensive. As to your point that user's don't care, I think that's the real answer, a…

Sure, so first what I avoided saying is that plenty of code has intentional or unintentional backdoors and nobody can ever tell the difference of intent if those backdoors get used. It is a sad and risky part of the space for the users, but doesn't undermine any point I made about how the developer makes money. It does undermine how comfortable a publicly facing developer would want to be. Even if the developer does get vilified publicly and professionally or actually incurs some legal liability, they can still just change aliases or release more autonomous code under a new pseudonym. Either way it really amplifies their - or some other developer's - earning potential. And users can also buy third party insurance (which is its own sector and has its own growth challenges).

Secondly, another thing I was alluding to is that you can just copy working code. You can deploy the exact same service as someone else and compete directly. Too many developers think they need uniqueness, which may have been true in the "I can only get recognition from VCs to make real money" world. DeFi development is analogous to launching a grocery store offering slightly different brands. The code you copied from having already been audited.

Third, everything I wrote before was assuming no malicious intent. So if we are copying code for the most part, it moves the vulnerabilities to the closed source oracles and the behavior of the oracle's sources of data.

I'm always open to having this conversation, in general top level hackernews has not been ready for that conversation and they want to debate largely irrelevant things about their feelings over blockchain, as opposed to the state of various sectors in the space that they aren't aware of. So leading with nuanced discussion would hurt the visibility of what I actually have to contribute.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#246

Post by doopy1 »

vmception wrote: post #245
doopy1 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, I think you're off on point C. There are a plenty of vulnerabilities as a result of code issues. Look at the great work that Trail Of Bits (no affiliation) has done in this space and you will see some great examples. There are a few folks that do solid audits, thought you are right there's no guarantee and it's expensive. As to your point that user's don't care, I think that's the real answer, a…

Sure, so first what I avoided saying is that plenty of code has intentional or unintentional backdoors and nobody can ever tell the difference of intent if those backdoors get used. It is a sad and risky part of the space for the users, but doesn't undermine any point I made about how the developer makes money. It does undermine how comfortable a publicly facing developer would want to be. Even if the developer does…

Cool, I hear ya and I agree, I wish there was more nuanced discussion on these topics rather than just "hodl, numbers go up."

It seems to me like you've found an interesting way to play in an adversarial space by selling shovels during a gold rush.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#247

Post by ninja_nate92 »

soheilpro wrote: post #155

I'm running two businesses: 1: https://postsheet.com for sending personalized emails and text messages using Google Sheets and Airtable 2: https://pikaso.me for taking beautiful clutter-free Twitter screenshots for sharing on Instagram

What kind of revenue do you make between these two?

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#250

Post by [deleted] »

doopy1 wrote: post #246
vmception wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, so first what I avoided saying is that plenty of code has intentional or unintentional backdoors and nobody can ever tell the difference of intent if those backdoors get used. It is a sad and risky part of the space for the users, but doesn't undermine any point I made about how the developer makes money. It does undermine how comfortable a publicly facing developer would want to be. Even if the developer does…

Cool, I hear ya and I agree, I wish there was more nuanced discussion on these topics rather than just "hodl, numbers go up." It seems to me like you've found an interesting way to play in an adversarial space by selling shovels during a gold rush.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN