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Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

blog.newsblur.com

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Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#21

Post by conesus »

codexon wrote: post #17
conesus wrote: post #8

And I just want to remind the technical crowd here that NewsBlur is 100% open-source: http://github.com/samuelclay I've been asked quite a few times why I open-source the code. The answer is simple. Let me use an example from Joel Spolsky. (From http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000052.html ) The dominant spreadsheet, with 100% market share, is Lotus 123. You're the product manager for Microsoft Excel. As…

This analogy seems to be describing a different principle. Microsoft was trying to break the network effect that Lotus had.

I agree it's not a 1-to-1 analogy, but the idea is the same. Knowing you're free to come back to Lotus by using Excel frees you from the chicken-and-egg constraint of waiting until your entire office is on Excel. With NewsBlur you know that you can host your own instance if your dependency on the newsblur.com hosted instance breaks.

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#22

Post by conesus »

jpwagner wrote: post #19

So far I am not a user of ANY reader. Between googlenews, twitter, and HN I get my daily digest. I would like to try Newsblur but it seems that to get immediate value I have to have been some reader user: I can migrate my googlereader account or upload an OPML file. What I would like to see are different versions of OOTB "skins". I can sign up as an "HN-lover" and it seeds my account with 50 blogs I should follow. Th…

As I mentioned on Twitter, if you want a free account but can't get around the paywall, just know that the paywall is extremely leaky on porpoise...

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#23

Post by georgeoliver »

conesus wrote: post #20
mynegation wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to install NewsBlur, but instructions were not very helpful. I tried to get as far as I can, editing fabfile and installing gajillions of new python modules, but still failed. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful and very commendable of you to open source NewsBlur! Nor do I feel entitled to the source code or free ride (I will probably end up paying for the hosted solution). Just providing some feedback, given…

This is something I'll be working on soon enough. There are many, many dependencies (not only for the web app, but there are three DBs that you have to have installed as prerequisites - mongo, postgres/mysql, and redis). The real problem with setting up your own instance of NewsBlur is that you'll have to do your own feed fetching. This is effectively what you're paying for when you pay for NewsBlur. Let me break it…

Does NB fetch feeds that have no new articles?

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#24

Post by MatthewPhillips »

recuter wrote: post #3

I'd just like to point out that '$24/yr * high four-figures of paying costumers' with only one employee ensures NewsBlur will be around for a long time. :) This is the kind of single founder "life style" startup that VC's would paw-paw that is Doing It Right that many of us aspire to. The other ones I can think of are Pinboard and Instapaper. I'd rather go this route, personally, here's to more like these. Cheers.

Indeed. If one were wise, you could stalk Google/Yahoo/BigCo properties that are being neglected, launch a paid competitor and reap the reward when they shut down.

Pinboard and now Newsblur.

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#25

Post by klox »

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"

Congratulations.

This is why I love SaaS. 6 figures revenue in a couple of days, and I can only imagine how much more will be made in the next 3 months... and beyond.

But it's not a once-off payday. This is recurring. 7 figure annual income is yours, Sam. People slave away for decades trying to reach a tiny fraction of this amount. Put it to good use, brother.

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#26

Post by jpwagner »

jpwagner wrote: post #19

So far I am not a user of ANY reader. Between googlenews, twitter, and HN I get my daily digest. I would like to try Newsblur but it seems that to get immediate value I have to have been some reader user: I can migrate my googlereader account or upload an OPML file. What I would like to see are different versions of OOTB "skins". I can sign up as an "HN-lover" and it seeds my account with 50 blogs I should follow. Th…

In other words: does anyone with a reader setup they love want to share their OPML file so I can try out Newsblur?

Thanks!

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#27

Post by amix »

recuter wrote: post #3

I'd just like to point out that '$24/yr * high four-figures of paying costumers' with only one employee ensures NewsBlur will be around for a long time. :) This is the kind of single founder "life style" startup that VC's would paw-paw that is Doing It Right that many of us aspire to. The other ones I can think of are Pinboard and Instapaper. I'd rather go this route, personally, here's to more like these. Cheers.

With currently only 3400 paying users it's only 80K pr. year of revenues (and the profits are probably much lower). It's still far from a good business and this kind of money does not have any kind of guarantees.

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#28

Post by klox »

amix wrote: post #27
recuter wrote: post #3

I'd just like to point out that '$24/yr * high four-figures of paying costumers' with only one employee ensures NewsBlur will be around for a long time. :) This is the kind of single founder "life style" startup that VC's would paw-paw that is Doing It Right that many of us aspire to. The other ones I can think of are Pinboard and Instapaper. I'd rather go this route, personally, here's to more like these. Cheers.

With currently only 3400 paying users it's only 80K pr. year of revenues (and the profits are probably much lower). It's still far from a good business and this kind of money does not have any kind of guarantees.

3400 is only the number of new paying users in the last 24 hours.

The amount of annual income from this product will now end with "million".

Re: Three Months to Scale NewsBlur

#30

Post by recuter »

amix wrote: post #27
recuter wrote: post #3

I'd just like to point out that '$24/yr * high four-figures of paying costumers' with only one employee ensures NewsBlur will be around for a long time. :) This is the kind of single founder "life style" startup that VC's would paw-paw that is Doing It Right that many of us aspire to. The other ones I can think of are Pinboard and Instapaper. I'd rather go this route, personally, here's to more like these. Cheers.

With currently only 3400 paying users it's only 80K pr. year of revenues (and the profits are probably much lower). It's still far from a good business and this kind of money does not have any kind of guarantees.

> "Since the announcement, NewsBlur has welcomed 5,000 new premium subscribers and 60,000 new users (from 50,000 users originally)".

That's at least $200,000/yr with high margins.

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