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The simplest app that makes money

billprin.com

21–30 of 104 posts

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#21
> Secondly, there were a lot of complaints about the $20 price point.

Is there a free trial functionality? I hate subscriptions for mobile (and even moreso for watches!), so I wouldn't recommend that, even though it might be the revenue-maximizing solution.

But it seems like it would be very useful for a one-time IAP to give people a free trial that's either time-limited or up to X uses.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#22
post #7

I have a bookmark to a personal Google Doc called “SaaS Business Ideas”, for whenever I think of a project that I think I can monetize. The Google Doc is actually view-only and says “Stop ideating about projects to make money! You probably don’t need the money. Just work on projects that you find fun.”

Even if I don't need the money, I would still very much enjoy making some.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#23
Interesting:

>For example, I’ve been rejected multiple times because they didn’t find IAP content on the iOS, rather than the reviewer taking the time to understand it’s a watchOS app with an iOS control interface. >edit:hooray! Apple gave me a phone call and told me they would try to work with me more effectively on app reviews, and left a phone contact number to call. Thanks Apple!

Apple seems to be in full damage control mode nowadays. It's somehow after all those years of pestering developers and making their lives more difficult while asking for their pound of flesh - they realize that even the high and mighty can face consequences for their bad behavior in form of regulatory scrutiny.

Being nice to the people who drive their revenue is a better business strategy I hope, but in reality only to those who can go viral on social media I guess

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#24
post #15

Now, everyone, think about how much worse the world would be if this was a lauded or primary way to think about "how to make software." While I appreciate the self-motivation idea generally - this article does nothing for me except make me grateful for free and open source types of folks. People should mostly just not do this.

This article made me pretty sad to be honest. This little app made more money in hours than many free software and open source projects do in years.

Well that's not quite fair, it was expressly sold and they weren't.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#25
The weird subtext of this article is that it's an example of a certain kind of person, the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, and it's only by accident that it's about doing something useful. Here's a person who reads entrepreneurship books and takes notes on good ways to find business opportunities, makes an app to help people basically cheat because that's where the money is, naturally explains how it's not cheating when asked, and dismisses the obvious reaction as 'negativity'... I mean, it's cool to make something, I guess, but it's possible that your life's work is to help slowly ruin the world despite doing your "job" / following all the obvious rules of society at every step... and I kinda think this is what that mindset looks like "on the inside"?

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#26
post #25

The weird subtext of this article is that it's an example of a certain kind of person, the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, and it's only by accident that it's about doing something useful. Here's a person who reads entrepreneurship books and takes notes on good ways to find business opportunities, makes an app to help people basically cheat because that's where the money is, naturall…

> the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, not do something useful.

the fact that somebody is paying for said app implies that it is useful. Noone parts with money for an exchange that they don't find useful.

The idea that just because _you_ don't see it as being useful doesn't make it not useful.

If you suppose that the exchange ruins the world somehow, because there's some externality that causes harm to you, then it's a case of making such an exchange illegal through some democratic process, and have enforcement. Absent of that, i think it is totally legitimate, and that the person doing the entrepreneurial endeavor is just trying to improve their own situation. One does not have to have the purpose of "improving the world" - that naturally would happen as people exchange to make their own situations better.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#27
post #26
post #25

The weird subtext of this article is that it's an example of a certain kind of person, the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, and it's only by accident that it's about doing something useful. Here's a person who reads entrepreneurship books and takes notes on good ways to find business opportunities, makes an app to help people basically cheat because that's where the money is, naturall…

> the type for whom the entire point of making things is to make money, not do something useful. the fact that somebody is paying for said app implies that it is useful. Noone parts with money for an exchange that they don't find useful. The idea that just because _you_ don't see it as being useful doesn't make it not useful. If you suppose that the exchange ruins the world somehow, because there's some externality t…

> Noone parts with money for an exchange that they don't find useful.

I think this is true at face value, but when we consider addiction and self-destructive behaviors it is clear that while the definition of useful my still apply, the result is a negative impact on society.

The easiest most inflammatory example is drugs, but a more nuanced example might be slot machines. I won't wax lyrical about the examples, but I think they show that a transaction of money doesn't imply a positive impact on society.

Another example is rent seeking and fees, sometimes the transaction of money is non-negotiable, and one side is exploiting the other, or a middleman has inserted themselves (sometimes through policy lobbying) and extracts rent that no one benefits from but them.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#28
I dug deeper and read the author's article about navigoals. I reckon the biggest lesson he could take from building this over the financial aspect, is to release early and regularly.

From what I gathered from the navigoals post it has a huge feature set from the beginning and that means it risks taking forever to finish.

But he's shown you can get to market very quickly in less than a month and then iterate on it.

That's almost always the better choice.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#29

Looks like a great app! Congrats on getting two paying customers. One tip for the author: In setting prices, remember the price elasticity of demand, which is how much people respond in terms of the quantity they buy depending on the price. The demand curve might be such that as demonstrated two people want the app for $20 (the price charged). But perhaps ten people would buy it it for $9, maybe fifty people want it…

> Starting at $20 and going down from there seems reasonable.

slowly reducing the price doesn't work because the consumer would see that the price is being reduced, and wait for the reduction to stop, even if the current price would've been worth it for the consumer to purchase (aka, they would've gotten excess value at a higher price, but still wait for the reduction to finish). After all, buying the app isn't urgent.

So therefore, a different way to discern the price sensitivity is needed. Often you will have to have a discount deal that is time limited, and may be targeted geographically.

Re: The simplest app that makes money

#30
post #7

I have a bookmark to a personal Google Doc called “SaaS Business Ideas”, for whenever I think of a project that I think I can monetize. The Google Doc is actually view-only and says “Stop ideating about projects to make money! You probably don’t need the money. Just work on projects that you find fun.”

> Just work on projects that you find fun.

Slightly off-topic: What's that fun? There is hedonistic, roller coaster riding fun, there is joy of accomplishment, there is fun in tinkering, etc.

What does having fun mean? Is it a specific feeling or is it more the general idea to do something that is individually appealing?

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