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Ideas to make money as solo dev

news.ycombinator.com

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Ideas to make money as solo dev

#1

Post by rafbgarcia »

Hey ya! What struggles do y'all face that could be solved by a product that could be maintained by a solo dev?

Not trying to make huge amounts of money, just want to build something that actually helps people, and could eventually give some money in return.

I've been thinking about a unified API for file uploads for companies to easily integrate with S3, Azure blob, etc. using a single API. They could use multiple providers, migrate from one cloud to another, resumable uploads, maybe get insights about savings if they migrate to other providers, etc.

I felt the need for something like that while developing a serverless product since functions have memory limitations and can't upload big files.

What do y'all think, could that be useful?

I appreciate any other insights or ideas. Thank you!

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#2

Post by proc0 »

It's hard to say whether that would work without knowing the landscape of market in that area, like if there's a need and if there are competitors. It sounds like what you're suggestion could be a full blown app with accounts that link to AWS? Or would it be a tool lib you pay to download?

I'm trying to look for ideas that won't require marketing or anything other than just making the software. It seems something like a donation based business model or a small fee perpetual license, and it would be for end users, but so far it seems those are extremely rare.

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#3

Post by rafbgarcia »

proc0 wrote: post #2

It's hard to say whether that would work without knowing the landscape of market in that area, like if there's a need and if there are competitors. It sounds like what you're suggestion could be a full blown app with accounts that link to AWS? Or would it be a tool lib you pay to download? I'm trying to look for ideas that won't require marketing or anything other than just making the software. It seems something lik…

There are some services out there like https://uploadcare.com/ and https://www.filestack.com/ but they offer lots of stuff and are not cheap.

My idea is to have an APIaaS and offer simpler ways to integrate with one or multiple providers. Files could be saved to the customers' accounts.

Features could include transformations, compression, conversion, spend management and insights, etc.

Not sure if that sounds appealing to others but I would have used such a service on my previous serverless project if there was such a service with reasonable pricing.

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#4

Post by purple-leafy »

I think more solo developers should build chrome extensions.

Why? Because as a full-time developer wanting to do a side-project, you need to build what you can in a short time frame, with minimal maintenance, and without worrying about hosting costs.

And you actually want users and minimal marketing.

These are the smallest true solo dev projects you can build I think.

I’ve built 10 in the last year (mostly for fun) monetised one, and have a flagship extension I’ve just released that I expect to do well [0]

Ask me anything about chrome extension development!

Though that being said, API-only is also a good gig.

[0] - https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/design-copilot/hgal...

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#5

Post by rafbgarcia »

purple-leafy wrote: post #4

I think more solo developers should build chrome extensions. Why? Because as a full-time developer wanting to do a side-project, you need to build what you can in a short time frame, with minimal maintenance, and without worrying about hosting costs. And you actually want users and minimal marketing. These are the smallest true solo dev projects you can build I think. I’ve built 10 in the last year (mostly for fun) m…

Thanks for sharing!

Speaking about chrome extensions reminded me of this nice project I saw recently, in case you find useful!

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#6

Post by purple-leafy »

rafbgarcia wrote: post #5
purple-leafy wrote: post #4

I think more solo developers should build chrome extensions. Why? Because as a full-time developer wanting to do a side-project, you need to build what you can in a short time frame, with minimal maintenance, and without worrying about hosting costs. And you actually want users and minimal marketing. These are the smallest true solo dev projects you can build I think. I’ve built 10 in the last year (mostly for fun) m…

Thanks for sharing! Speaking about chrome extensions reminded me of this nice project I saw recently, in case you find useful!

Can you link it here?

Re: Ideas to make money as solo dev

#9

Post by mettamage »

purple-leafy wrote: post #4

I think more solo developers should build chrome extensions. Why? Because as a full-time developer wanting to do a side-project, you need to build what you can in a short time frame, with minimal maintenance, and without worrying about hosting costs. And you actually want users and minimal marketing. These are the smallest true solo dev projects you can build I think. I’ve built 10 in the last year (mostly for fun) m…

Wanna grab a virtual coffee? I have built some chrome extensions as well since recently. It’s fun! It would be fun to spar about extensions.

My email is in my profile.

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