Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#61

Post by bmelton » Sun, Mar 02, 2014, 10:12 PM UTC

jpd750 wrote: post #46

xSwag wrote: post #15

I built a security scanner that scans WordPress installations for threats (plugin vulns, outdated installs, theme vulns, xss, sqli etc) without any installation or code knowledge required. I posted it on Reddit and got a few sign ups, after that I just got bored and I'm not sure what to do next. I'm thinking about partnering with WordPress tutorial websites and give them a recurring revenue cut or something. I really…

Let's talk, working on similiar thing except for platform, language-agnostic . email me (remove dots) j.p.d.75.0@gmail.com

Offtopic from anything, but you should be aware that whether or not the dots are removed, you would get an email sent to that address.

If you're doing it to obfuscate for spammers, then hyphens is the better bet.

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#62

Post by cezarfloroiu » Sun, Mar 02, 2014, 10:34 PM UTC

No: we don't have any revenue

Revenue is not my goal. I built Poemia http://poemia.com with the goal to be the best publishing platform for poets. I launched it 2 weeks ago. If there will be any revenue along the way it will make me very happy :)

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#63

Post by bks » Sun, Mar 02, 2014, 11:43 PM UTC

Yes, we are top ramen profitable and just hired out first full time sales person at the beginning of Febuary. The two owners are not taking any money right now, and we are dedicating it all to sales.

We help companies respond quickly to their inbound leads by routing using text to speech to route their text inquiries to phone calls. We have some national accounts that are using our products, that give us great feedback and call volume.

http://www.leadactivate.com

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#64

Post by loceng » Sun, Mar 02, 2014, 11:52 PM UTC

novum wrote: post #50

loceng wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first learned to program when I was 11 or 12 years old because I was playing MUDs and wanted one of my own so I could implement features and ideas I had. Best of luck. :)

I think I can also attribute my initial interest in programming to MUDs. Funny how, all these years later, they still give me satisfaction albeit through a much different tech stack. :) > recite ritual of reminiscing

Ahhhhh the nostalgia..

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#65

Post by magic003 » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 2:25 AM UTC

I'm a solo creator on www.searchpocket.info, which provides full-text search for articles saved in Pocket. It is not profitable, and it was created for my personal use. The investment is about $10 each month for the VM.

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#66

Post by case » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 2:40 AM UTC

Two friends and I run http://domai.nr/ on the side. We launched it 5+ years ago (here on HN, I think), and it's generated revenue ever since.

Our first goal for it was, "can it cover the cost of its own domain?" Which is an absurd $500/year because that's what the .nr registry chooses to charge for registrations at their top level.

After reaching that goal, our next milestone was the .nr plus California's silly $800/year LLC tax, which we also eventually hit. From there we've set more milestones, such as "occasional nice meal-profitable" to "monthly rent-profitable" and beyond.

It's also inexpensive to operate, because it's stateless.

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#67

Post by georgespencer » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 9:51 AM UTC

ezl wrote: post #22

iamwithnail wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really like that, cool idea. Come launch it in London? We paid £135 (EACH) for that service the last time I rented a flat here.

Thanks iamwithnail! :) There's a company on the other side of the pond that seems to be making waves -- check out rentify.com. I've never used them myself but their growth stats seem promising and they are vc backed. The founder, George S, is nice and we have spoken several times.

Thanks Eric!

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#68

Post by georgespencer » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 9:52 AM UTC

iamwithnail wrote: post #18

ezl wrote: post #8

I'm a solo founder on www.rocketlease.com, which gives landlords an online rental application for screening prospective tenants. It's profitable but my total investment still probably hasn't been recovered. I'm probably just over ramen profitable at this point. It's been about 2 years since I started focusing seriously on it around jan 2012), it got to around cash flow breakeven in q3 2013. I haven't received any out…

Really like that, cool idea. Come launch it in London? We paid £135 (EACH) for that service the last time I rented a flat here.

Hey iamwithnail! Let me know if you're looking for a gig: Rentify is always hiring bright people who dislike the industry.

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#69

Post by thecodemonkey » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 1:11 PM UTC

z92 wrote: post #26

thecodemonkey wrote: post #2

Our latest side project was specifically built to have as little operating costs as possible (while still delivering a kick-ass service). We were lucky enough to break even about 14 days after launch.

Subscription based or ad based?

We charge based on usage of our API

Re: Poll: Is your startup or side project profitable?

#70

Post by thecodemonkey » Mon, Mar 03, 2014, 1:12 PM UTC

brickcap wrote: post #3

thecodemonkey wrote: post #2

Our latest side project was specifically built to have as little operating costs as possible (while still delivering a kick-ass service). We were lucky enough to break even about 14 days after launch.

Nice. Would you mind sharing a link of your project?

It's http://geocod.io