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Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

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Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#51

Post by AznHisoka »

whirlycott1 wrote: post #48
AznHisoka wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

around how much was Stylefeeder acquired for? I always thought fashion search/bookmarking was a commodity...

http://www.quora.com/How-much-was-StyleFeeder-acquired-for Sure, fashion search/bookmarking is a commodity - that's why those sites don't succeed. I think discovery services are more nuanced than this and it's easier to understand the value they bring both to users and retailers, so we positioned ourselves as a "personal shopping engine." The goal was to shift users away from the Google search box towards a service g…

Very true... it depends on how you look at it...

Also, it seems you sold StyleFeeder at the right time: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/stylefeeder.com/ Looks like Time Inc isn't doing a great job with maintaining and increasing users.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#52

Post by landonhowell »

I built an online news service in 2002/2003 with zero coding knowledge, $100, and a bootleg version of Adobe Illustrator.

I put every spare moment I had into it, skipping lunches and dinners and sleep (though I never skipped church) all for the sake of keeping it lean before keeping it lean was cool.

5 years later I sold it for a paltry sum, mainly because I didn't add enough people fast enough.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#55

Post by clistctrl »

bradleyland wrote: post #34

I found it incredibly difficult to provide the value I'd expect out of an employee at a "day job" while building my business on the side. Ultimately, I took a different route. Note that this plan works best for young, single folks. This is also not a "get rich quick" scheme. Positioning myself took about three years on its own, much less getting going on a start-up. Keep in mind that this was my plan. It is not the o…

I've been thinking about going on a similar path. I've already built up the buffer, but I'm not quite sure the best way to find consulting relationships. What did you do?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#57

Post by clistctrl »

TY wrote: post #53
jv22222 wrote: post #41

I have built Pluggio.com that has $3500/month profit on the side. It's been built in approx. 2 hours a day during the past two years.

Justin, you probably meant revenue and not profit :-)

I don't know, at the cost of his plans its not unreasonable to see that kind of incoming cash flow.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#58

Post by acangiano »

forcer wrote: post #21

I started doing affiliate marketing and building websites on the side for about two years before handing my notice. I could have quit after few months where my revenues from the side job exceeded what I had in my day job as a software developer. Nevertheless it took about 2 years because I was scared, I should have quit much sooner. Now 4 years later we are doing 7-figures a year. I think its the best way to start a…

What's the per-site median monthly income?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you built a profitable startup while having a day job?

#59

Post by a5seo »

I built review site ten years ago and sold it.

It was profitable within 6 months off organic traffic and lead gen. Approximate revenue by year: $10k, 40k, 70k, 100k, 150k, 250k, 500k, 750k, 1.5M, 2.5M.

Built entirely while working for another startup (unrelated), first 3 years I was in graduate school, year 4 I was a product manager for another startup. Year 5 I finally took the leap to run it full-time.

I was the sole owner, never had more than 7 employees, and I sold it for a bit over $10M (ttm revenue was around $700k at the time).

Leading up to launch, I typically worked 10-7 at my day job, then wrote my code from 8p-1a M-F (20 hrs) and all day on the weekends (20 hrs), so 40 hrs per week. During school, my wife handled the sales part-time (16 hrs/wk), and I probably spent 8 hrs a week on it fixing bugs, implementing ad deals etc. In Year 4, I spent ~16 hrs a week on it outside of my day job (misc. tech upkeep, link building, PR, etc.).

It's definitely doable, but your SO needs to be on-board because you'll be taking the time away from them. Or do it before you have a SO to worry about.

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