Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#1

Post by Im_a_throw_away » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

Do you know any one man SaaS app that are profitable?

I'm asking this because I'm considering starting a SaaS app as a side project, and I'm looking for some inspiration.

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#2

Post by davismwfl » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 9:46 PM UTC

I believe https://www.appointmentreminder.org/ is a good example, correct me if I am wrong. I have no affiliation as it is patio11's.

Maybe others have some more good examples. I am sure there are a lot of examples, but that is one that sticks out immediately.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#3

Post by Im_a_throw_away » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 9:49 PM UTC

A few that I have in mind:

- http://www.improvely.com

- http://www.appointmentreminder.org

- http://www.briefmetrics.com

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#4

Post by kasey_junk » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 10:14 PM UTC

https://pinboard.in/

Bonus. Has the best twitter there is.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#5

Post by anthony_franco » Mon, Oct 06, 2014, 10:55 PM UTC

http://hittail.com - Rob Walling http://getdrip.com - also Rob Walling http://bidsketch.com - Ruben Gamez http://getmysky.com - Josh Isaak http://snapinspect.com - Sam Ovens

All of them have interviews online for you to learn about their process.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#6

Post by jasonkester » Tue, Oct 07, 2014, 7:38 AM UTC

Both of mine (https://www.s3stat.com/ and http://www.twiddla.com/) are turning nice profits. There are dozens of other people here running successful single player businesses.

The nice thing about having a single person is that you get to define Profitable as "income minus server expenses" rather than "income minus server expenses and everybody else's fixed salary". You also, if you prefer, may choose to define your own salary as "income minus server expenses", which gets to be a very nice thing after a while.

There are lots of other nice things about running a business by one's self. Dig around for old threads here on the topic for more examples.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#7

Post by zura » Tue, Oct 07, 2014, 9:37 AM UTC

jasonkester wrote: post #6

Both of mine ( https://www.s3stat.com/ and http://www.twiddla.com/ ) are turning nice profits. There are dozens of other people here running successful single player businesses. The nice thing about having a single person is that you get to define Profitable as "income minus server expenses" rather than "income minus server expenses and everybody else's fixed salary". You also, if you prefer, may choose to define you…

How do you market your projects?

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#8

Post by NameNickHN » Tue, Oct 07, 2014, 10:25 AM UTC

http://www.appointmind.com/

Very little support requests and almost all of the development is being paid for by various customers.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#9

Post by frading » Tue, Oct 07, 2014, 10:28 AM UTC

I run https://www.printmosaic.com and https://www.everytimehq.com. Both are profitable.

Re: Ask HN: One man SaaS apps that are profitable?

#10

Post by Im_a_throw_away » Tue, Oct 07, 2014, 10:47 AM UTC

NameNickHN wrote: post #8

http://www.appointmind.com/ Very little support requests and almost all of the development is being paid for by various customers.

This looks great! Do you mind answering a few questions?

When this product was created? How many customers do you have? How do you market your product?

Thanks!