Actual is going open-source • Hacker News Board

Re: Actual is going open-source

#61

Post by cyral » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 5:50 PM UTC

jlongster wrote: post #20

sirtimbly wrote: post #17

Sad that this app didn't achieve the scale of subscriptions it deserved. A good reminder that awesome tech isn't usually enough. Do you regret not taking capital to fund marketing and support full time? Or put another way, any other ideas of where you could have spent someone else's money to give you a boost into higher subscription numbers?

Yes I totally regret it. There are ethical VCs that would be willing to invest a small amount and I should have done that. Bootstrapping isn't all it's cracked up to be; there are a lot better and smarter ways to kickstart a project.

This open source finance product recently raised 8.5M: https://openbb.co/ I believe it from some organization that focuses on OSS

Re: Actual is going open-source

#62

Post by whoopdeepoo » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

bern4444 wrote: post #60

There are a lot of tools like Actual (YNAB, Monarch, Mint, Aspire google sheet etc). All are focused on budgets and mostly managing cash accounts. I've always wanted an equivalent but for investments. I know you can sync investment accounts to some of these, but that only reports the balance generally. I'd love to have the equivalent for investment accounts that answer these questions: What is my sector exposure? How…

Personal capital? Sigfig?

Re: Actual is going open-source

#63

Post by bern4444 » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 5:56 PM UTC

whoopdeepoo wrote: post #62

bern4444 wrote: post #60

There are a lot of tools like Actual (YNAB, Monarch, Mint, Aspire google sheet etc). All are focused on budgets and mostly managing cash accounts. I've always wanted an equivalent but for investments. I know you can sync investment accounts to some of these, but that only reports the balance generally. I'd love to have the equivalent for investment accounts that answer these questions: What is my sector exposure? How…

Personal capital? Sigfig?

I've heard of personal capital - though I've read lots of reviews that say they always try and upsell you to their paid management platforms.

Will take a look at sigfig!

Re: Actual is going open-source

#64

Post by jonas21 » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 5:57 PM UTC

ICodeSometimes wrote: post #40

Interesting. I wonder why James didn't attempt to sell it at the very least? 36K ARR means you could have rather quickly found a buyer for 60k+ and gotten rid of the thing for a small but not in-significant payday. Also i wonder if the users are truly happy with being told they have to migrate to their own server as i'd assume they're the type who'd rather pay $4 a month instead of having to deal with the hassle. In…

You have no control over what the buyer would do with it. They might decide to slurp up all of the user financial data flowing through the server, for example. Or they might leak the data due to incompetence. Even in the best of circumstances, the buyer would probably have a plan for increasing revenue, which might mean raising prices, introducing ads, or any number of things that James might not like.

Finally, it sounds like he wants to continue working on the product, just at his own pace, and without the stress of running a business. This would not be an option if he sold.

Re: Actual is going open-source

#65

Post by 650 » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 5:58 PM UTC

An excel spreadsheet to track reoccuring expenses and income with additions made for upcoming expenses, etc. hyperpersonalized for you has been the best for me, have tried a few budget apps. Micromanaging food expenses should be something that you decide on the spot rather than seeing 600$ on food this month oh-no.

Caveat: Software Engineer salary with large discretionary income

Re: Actual is going open-source

#66

Post by aloknnikhil » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 6:05 PM UTC

bern4444 wrote: post #60

There are a lot of tools like Actual (YNAB, Monarch, Mint, Aspire google sheet etc). All are focused on budgets and mostly managing cash accounts. I've always wanted an equivalent but for investments. I know you can sync investment accounts to some of these, but that only reports the balance generally. I'd love to have the equivalent for investment accounts that answer these questions: What is my sector exposure? How…

Try https://ghostfol.io/portfolio (there's an option to self-host too)

Re: Actual is going open-source

#67

Post by brushfoot » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 6:06 PM UTC

encoderer wrote: post #18

I did the SaaS-side-business thing for about 6 years. Early on I decided the SaaS was going to be my next career move and I would stay at my employer until I could quit employment altogether. A new job means you have to earn your place on a new team and how could I do that successfully with one eye on my SaaS at all times? When James joined stripe I was surprised both that stripe was agreeable to side projects and th…

As someone else with a SaaS side business of around the same age, it gets painful around then: You have to make tough decisions and the early fun is gone. Plus keeping up with new and existing customers can make it feel like you're not really steering the ship anymore but being tossed around by the storm.

I understand James's desire to step back, though MIT is an interesting choice since now anyone can do anything with it, including selling it.

What did you end up doing with your SaaS business?

Re: Actual is going open-source

#68

Post by bolapara » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 6:08 PM UTC

bern4444 wrote: post #60

There are a lot of tools like Actual (YNAB, Monarch, Mint, Aspire google sheet etc). All are focused on budgets and mostly managing cash accounts. I've always wanted an equivalent but for investments. I know you can sync investment accounts to some of these, but that only reports the balance generally. I'd love to have the equivalent for investment accounts that answer these questions: What is my sector exposure? How…

Check out Laksmhi:

https://github.com/sarvjeets/lakshmi

Re: Actual is going open-source

#69

Post by conductr » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

daenz wrote: post #49

mellosouls wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can have a cushy tech job making 200K relatively easy Some of these claims seem to come from people living on a different planet to me. Yes you can make that, but only if you are in a tiny (and normally very privileged) set. The way it's breezily posted on this forum at times shows perhaps just a leeetle disconnect with the mainstream tech world

My read on that is that it is total comp, so it includes bonuses/RSUs/options. If you're not negotiating for those things, what are you doing. Though $200k base salary is not a crazy salary for a staff/principle/high-level engineer. I don't think people realize how corrosive to mental health a $200k engineering job can be though. I was making very close to that as a base salary, and the amount of responsibilities I h…

This is pretty universal to all industries. You just don’t get paid well for the work you do in X hours. You get paid well became you’re expected to put in a high amount of effort that isn’t measured in time or stress, except by you.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

Re: Actual is going open-source

#70

Post by encoderer » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 6:13 PM UTC

brushfoot wrote: post #67

encoderer wrote: post #18

I did the SaaS-side-business thing for about 6 years. Early on I decided the SaaS was going to be my next career move and I would stay at my employer until I could quit employment altogether. A new job means you have to earn your place on a new team and how could I do that successfully with one eye on my SaaS at all times? When James joined stripe I was surprised both that stripe was agreeable to side projects and th…

As someone else with a SaaS side business of around the same age, it gets painful around then: You have to make tough decisions and the early fun is gone. Plus keeping up with new and existing customers can make it feel like you're not really steering the ship anymore but being tossed around by the storm. I understand James's desire to step back, though MIT is an interesting choice since now anyone can do anything wi…

Went full time in 2020! Immediately took an 80% pay cut, but I spend 0 hours in bullshit meetings and no longer have to play the corporate employment game.