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Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

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Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#181

Post by rampatra »

I made a mac app called Presentify (https://presentify.compzets.com) just at the right time when covid started and when most were working remotely.

I had this idea well before covid because when I was explaining something to others over a call (via screen share) I wished I had something to draw on the screen and highlight a few things to articulate my thoughts better. However, I never invested time to develop an app for this until Covid. This remote work saved me travel time which I decided to utilise to make the app.

So, in short, I got the idea from the problem I faced personally. Luckily, I received overwhelming response from Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22938604) and Reddit community and this has encouraged me to invest more time to the app and make it better.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#182

Post by tj0ckis »

nathanbarry wrote: post #110

I started ConvertKit (email marketing for creators) as a side hustle in 2013. In 2011 I had started blogging about my process for building iOS apps. In 2012 that turned into an email list on MailChimp and then a self-published book called The App Design Handbook (launched right here on HN). I thought that social networks like Twitter and Facebook would drive most of the sales, but it was actually the 800 person email…

wowsie thanks for sharing.

your post makes me want to make the switch from the platforms i am using for myself and clients to yours :)

i'll definitely try it out very soon

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#183

Post by coreymaass »

During the pandemic I created an online, multiplayer version of the domino-based game, Mexican Train (https://mexicantrain.online). Ads didn't do much, so I switched to donations. It got quite popular during lockdowns. It's leveled off a bit now, but still generates more than beer money through donations every month. People are very generous.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#184

Post by optbuild »

coreymaass wrote: post #183

During the pandemic I created an online, multiplayer version of the domino-based game, Mexican Train ( https://mexicantrain.online ). Ads didn't do much, so I switched to donations. It got quite popular during lockdowns. It's leveled off a bit now, but still generates more than beer money through donations every month. People are very generous.

How much does it cost to host? Where do you host it?

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#185

Post by ry8806 »

holgersindbaek wrote: post #106

I've created an online solitaire platform ( https://online-solitaire.com/ ) that's earning me $10k/m now. It started as a side-project 5 years ago, but I've recently gone full time on it. It actually started as a Mac app 10 years ago and I choose to create a solitaire game because I had made a string of side-project that I didn't earn any money on, so I wanted to see if I could find a project that would actually gene…

pretty sure it's broken, I've been playing for over an hour and haven't won a single deck! :P

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#187

Post by pie6k »

xwowsersx wrote: post #152
pie6k wrote: post #131

I created https://screen.studio and it made 30k in first month after releasing it. It allows you to create beautiful screen recordings in minutes. Idea: my own pain both individually and when working with team. When you create any kind of app you often need some video of it, either for promo, landing, social media posts, tutorials, etc. It was always taking way too long and was quickly getting outdated as app UI chan…

This looks great. I'm currently working on some screencasts on technical topics. Is this suited for something like that? These are videos of 30-60 minutes length, a lot of time spent in terminal, editor, web pages. Or is this really meant more for product glamour shot type videos?

Currently it might not be great for that just because of performance issues it could have when auto generating 30 minutes long animation. Tho it is on my radar as it is relatively common use case

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#188

Post by pie6k »

makeee wrote: post #138
pie6k wrote: post #131

I created https://screen.studio and it made 30k in first month after releasing it. It allows you to create beautiful screen recordings in minutes. Idea: my own pain both individually and when working with team. When you create any kind of app you often need some video of it, either for promo, landing, social media posts, tutorials, etc. It was always taking way too long and was quickly getting outdated as app UI chan…

Brilliant! I spent so long looking for a screen recording app that could simply follow the mouse and zoom automatically. Thought of building this myself. Good job executing on it so well. Will probably be a customer soon :)

Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#189

Post by drakonka »

I've been self-publishing science fiction romance on the side. I started doing it when switching jobs in the middle of the pandemic a couple of years ago, and being really stressed about going from a stable position where I spent almost eight years to a probation period. I figured doing something totally creatively different that made a tiny bit of income might distract me and help me manage the anxiety levels. And it worked! The job turned out great, but so did the fiction writing.

Re: Ask HN: Those with money-making side projects,how did you come up with the idea?

#190

Post by xwowsersx »

pie6k wrote: post #187
xwowsersx wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks great. I'm currently working on some screencasts on technical topics. Is this suited for something like that? These are videos of 30-60 minutes length, a lot of time spent in terminal, editor, web pages. Or is this really meant more for product glamour shot type videos?

Currently it might not be great for that just because of performance issues it could have when auto generating 30 minutes long animation. Tho it is on my radar as it is relatively common use case

Got it, thanks for the reply
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