Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I made $100K from a dick joke

imgur.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 270 posts

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#21

Post by probably_wrong »

I don't have a great opinion of marketing in general and therefore I'm often unconvinced with arguments like "marketing is about fulfilling a customer's needs" or "adding efficiency to the market".

Therefore I feel vindicated when a moderately-upvoted post says the quiet part out loud, namely, "Yeah, we made a fake post and just lied to everyone on the internet. I'm not sorry, because not only was it popular - it became the top post of the day."

Remember, kids: lying is only wrong when it's unprofitable.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#22

Post by oaththrowaway »

probably_wrong wrote: post #21

I don't have a great opinion of marketing in general and therefore I'm often unconvinced with arguments like "marketing is about fulfilling a customer's needs" or "adding efficiency to the market". Therefore I feel vindicated when a moderately-upvoted post says the quiet part out loud, namely, "Yeah, we made a fake post and just lied to everyone on the internet. I'm not sorry, because not only was it popular - it bec…

Just makes me more cynical about everything I see posted. Marketers ruin everything eventually

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#23

Post by tiffanyh »

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

Not everyone shares your rigor to not buying from strangers.

Pieter Levels is a one-person show that has started multiple businesses with just a single page & a Stripe Checkout earning millions per year and I don’t believe he’s incorporated.

https://x.com/levelsio

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#24

Post by mauvehaus »

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

> For example, I’m not giving my credit card details to any random website to buy silly stuff unless they are properly identified

You might be putting more thought into this than the average person looking to anonymously send someone a bag of penis candy.

More seriously though, setting up an LLC cost me well under $1000 each in two different states. No, I don't have some elaborate tax dodge going; I moved.

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#25

Post by loloquwowndueo »

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

It’s not a random website, it’s backed by Shopify!

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#27

Post by nickjj »

That reminds me of the toilet paper calculator during peak covid.

He put up a site in about half an hour and it ended up getting coverage on TV which led to ~10 million visitors and it making $5,000 a day in ads for a while. The core logic of the app is 6 lines of JavaScript to take a few inputs and do basic math on them.

I ended up chatting with the creator on how he built and hosted it back in 2020: https://runninginproduction.com/podcast/35-determine-what-yo...

Re: I made $100K from a dick joke

#28

Post by purple_turtle »

dakiol wrote: post #12

Perhaps I missed it, but at what point the author sets an LLC or something similar? For me, that’s the main blocker: in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale. Also, for selling online you kinda have to show in your website your “business id” (or tax id or similar)… otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m no…

> in Europe it costs money to start a business, some paperwork and taxes is involved, even if you don’t make a single sale

not everywhere - in Poland it is fine to run a tiny-scale business without registration

https://www.biznes.gov.pl/pl/portal/00115 - among requirements, scale must be less than 75% of a minimum wage. Enough to test it.

> otherwise how do people know you are a legit business? For example, I’m not giving my credit card details to any random website to buy silly stuff unless they are properly identified

I do not care so much, as long of amounts are tiny - in case of fraud it is bank's problem

Post reply on HN