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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

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Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#191

Post by laurentiurad »

pplonski86 wrote: post #180
laurentiurad wrote: post #135

I built and run several SaaS platforms: - https://dave-bot.com -> a full-stack AI platform where you can generate videos, images, music, code, 3d objects with frontier Gen AI models. - https://headsnap.io -> a platform that you can generate images of yourself based on 4 selfies. - https://quantiq.live -> a service providing financial and historical data for stocks, as well as government trades. - https://aivestor.tec…

Wow! how do you make marketing for so many projects?

It's the most difficult part. In my experience paid ads do not work very well so I am not relying too much on those. I usually use social media with UGC videos created either by me or by content creators. I also reach out on Instagram, even dating apps, to users and pay them to use/promote a product.

Recently I started to use n8n automation to post on Twitter/LinkedIn, however I tend to keep those posts short since they are created with LLM's and do not seem authentic.

As for the SEO part, I usually upload search console extracts into Perplexity deep research and ask for actions on how to improve ranking for different keywords.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#192

Post by bwb »

I'm building a book recommendation app that tries to make it fun to explore books through what other people loved to read -> https://shepherd.com/

Some examples of pages we've built over the years using all the interviews we do with authors: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 https://shepherd.com/bookshelf/authoritarianism https://shepherd.com/best-books/if-you-want-to-be-a-mathemat...

And in the process of bringing on a co-founder and building a full desktop/mobile app so you can track what you are reading, what you loved, and we can use that data to deeply personalize your recommendations (as I am frustrated with Goodreads as I don't think they even try to do this well).

https://building.shepherd.com/roadmap/ *early beta coming in late January

Fun to work on :)

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#193

Post by 946789987649 »

mlitwiniuk wrote: post #169
946789987649 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the USP over something like Vanta/Drata (aside the cost being much lower currently)?

The big difference is context-awareness. Vanta/Drata give you templates and checklists. Humadroid starts by understanding your company - what you actually do, how you operate, your tech stack. From there, the AI generates policies that are yours, not generic docs with [COMPANY NAME] placeholders. Same with control descriptions - they're specific and actionable for your setup, not "implement access control" with no co…

Gotcha. And then how does that translate into the audit process? Because Vanta/Drata have auditors they work with regularly, there's a bit of an incentive on both sides to use these templates because then it speeds up that part tremendously. I can't imagine the auditors being happy about really diving into hyper bespoke documents for every audit.

Your product seems great for actually doing the spirit of these frameworks (reducing risk, improving controls and processes etc.). However from what I've seen the reality of these audits is it's a box ticking exercise for everyone involved, and so improving the efficiency there tends to be the goal. How do you position yourself in that?

Also hope this doesn't come off too critical, it's just something I've been through recently and love seeing new things! I'd definitely add a vanta/drata comparison to your website though as that is inevitable.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#194

Post by davenci »

laurentiurad wrote: post #135

I built and run several SaaS platforms: - https://dave-bot.com -> a full-stack AI platform where you can generate videos, images, music, code, 3d objects with frontier Gen AI models. - https://headsnap.io -> a platform that you can generate images of yourself based on 4 selfies. - https://quantiq.live -> a service providing financial and historical data for stocks, as well as government trades. - https://aivestor.tec…

Do you think it will become more difficult to make money on such services due to AI getting better and better at coding? Like, wouldn’t that make it easier for people to create competing services?

Or do you think this effect is counteracted with AI also opening up for new opportunities for creating services that would not otherwise be feasible pre AI?

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#195

Post by laurentiurad »

Sammi wrote: post #187
laurentiurad wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ah now I see you generated your pics 8 minutes ago. You can now see them on your account page. I have a clear disclaimer that says it can take up to 30 mins to generate the photos and that you will get an email once the photos are ready.

You probably need to add some visual indicator that the generation is ongoing. A progress bar is ideal, but those can be hard to feed with real data.

Thanks! I wanted to implement something like that, but it's difficult to predict the progress since it's depending on how many requests are being handled in that exact moment, but it never got past 25 minutes, not even during peak hours. I am thinking of adding a modal saying that you can close the page and you will get notified over email when the photo generation is ready (the email part is already there).

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#196

Post by tikotus »

DuncanCoffee wrote: post #176
tikotus wrote: post #120

https://cluesbysam.com I started making a daily logic puzzle called Clues by Sam in May and it's been stadily growing since. The number one thing people were asking for was more puzzles, so I started selling puzzle packs instead of monetizing with ads. The reception has been great, and the revenue has been enough for me to decline some consulting gigs and instead focus on improving the game.

Love it, I discovered it last week and bought a supporter pack after two days! Everytime I get stuck I'm 100% sure you made a mistake... Until I find my own mistake

Thank you so much! Indeed, it's quite tempting to blame the game, but the algorithm that ensures all valid deductions are enabled hasn't been wrong a single time since it was finished in June. Often I don't believe it myself, but it always turns out to be smarter than me!

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#197

Post by nefrix »

thefolks wrote: post #115
agotterer wrote: post #78

A friend and I host a monthly dinner club for people interested in ethnic cuisine. We work with a single restaurant each month to create an 8-12 course all inclusive price fixe menu. The food is served family style and is authentic to the region we are hosting. We typically host the dinners on a Tues or Wed when the restaurants in our region aren’t too busy and could use the extra business. Since 2023 we’ve been to 4…

Love the communal aspect. Curious about the economics of this, how do you typically split revenue with the restaurant, and what’s the average ticket price per guest?

I am also curious on that

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 – Show and tell

#200

Post by nefrix »

crobertsbmw wrote: post #19

I’m still selling Computer Engineering for Babies. And I just launched a new book called Simple Machines Made Simple on Kickstarter a month or two ago. Both books are basically just simple interactive demos for kids and adults. https://hackylabs.com

I am commenting on this so i will fi d it easy when i will need to buy a present for one of my friends’ babies. :)
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