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

5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

kwcodes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 206 posts

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#171

Post by pm »

tpetry wrote: post #151
pm wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm working on social software at the moment, and when I explain it to potential users, they seem to love the concept (which gives me confidence), but truthfully I don't know if will live up to expectations. I've found it best to downplay any potential success in my own mind so that I'm not disappointed if it doesn't take off. I hope your launch goes well; your comments are always insightful and glad to have someone…

You should read the „Mom Test“. Very often people say they like the idea, but still won‘t buy it.

Indeed, it's on my list of things to read, and it's why I'm not considering these signals to be definitive.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#172

Post by yCloser »

1. he tried to monetize a game that should have been free/ads

2. the time tracker could have worked! Not "I'm gonna be rich" worked but still could have been something.

3,4. he didn't do them

5. tried to compete against linkedin/facebook?!

IMHO we are always too oriented to "make money, NOW"... Doing free stuff is ok. It's not that "if it's free then scrape the whole project, what's the point anyway"!

The opensource/free stuff you make ends up in your CV, and could be a game changer

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#173

Post by tasogare »

herval wrote: post #15

All these have a thing in common: he gave up because they weren’t immediate successes. Some even had traction: 5 users in 3 months isn’t the incredible outlier story you hear time and time again, but it’s 5 people you can talk to, listen to what they want (and why they signed up anyway), then you gear up from there. We’re too conditioned to believe in the stories of immediate success and MVPs making tens of thousands…

Also contrary to what is often professed here, a landing page is not a product. If you lure me to your website and there is no download and only a textbox to extract a personal information from me to spam me in the future, you just lost my present and future respect. Don't waste people's time like this please.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#174

Post by einpoklum »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #95
einpoklum wrote: post #48

> How I failed 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0 Not earning money is not a failure. Wasting time on non-free software the purpose of which is making money - now that's unfortunate. My advice to that guy would be: * Write software you need personally. You will at least have one happy user - and if you write something you like, other people will probably want to use it too. * Think of the software needs of people…

> the purpose of which is making money Most software that's capable of improving lives is capable of making money, isn't it? > non-free software I really doubt that throwing it up as open source would fix anything. And if you remove those two factors then all that's left is "that's unfortunate".

> I really doubt that throwing it up as open source would fix anything.

You're probably right. What I'm saying is that the cause for embarking on a software project should be different. If you write software to address needs and desires, then you're more likely to succeed in doing that. And maybe you'll make money off it somehow, or maybe not.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#176

Post by petargyurov »

kburman wrote: post #175

Only purpose of side projects was suppose to be fun or learn something at the end of it. I don't understand why is there an increasing trend to do a side project with a goal of becoming rich.

I fully agree with you but here's my take on why this is a phenomenon:

1. People like making money when they shouldn't be; we live under the pretense that the only way to earn money is via your day job. A side-hustle makes things exciting. It's like finding treasure.

2. Pair the above with the rise of social media and the lifestyles people portray on there: success, money, etc.

3. Perhaps there is an actual movement away from "normal" jobs, leading to a mentality shift in which people simply want to be financially independent.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#177

Post by pvaldes »

zeroc8 wrote: post #71
prox wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Guy Kawasaki once said in Art of the Start : “You want to be high and on the right.” You make something everyone wants and is of great value, and only you can make it. The worst place is making something that 50 others do and is of no value to the customer.

The only problem is that pretty much anything I can do has been done a zillion times by others.

Find a specialized niche then

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#179

Post by dsign »

I often wonder how do people find those ideas that earn money with a year of man work or less. I'm seven years into my own company with a stable team of four developers, two business ops and an extremely competent board of directors. We solve a critical high-tech problem to our 170 business customers in an area with "gorilla" competitors. We even have "growth". Getting here took blood and tears by the wagons. And we are not even profitable yet.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#180

Post by Gigachad »

kahon65 wrote: post #170
Gigachad wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems true of small scale things but companies like google have been able to release good software on the first try. I don't remember it vividly but I used google docs and drive on the first year and I don't remember having a single issue with them and I can't even think of anything it does now almost 10 years later that I would have wanted back then.

Wtf your pseudo dude, "Gigachad"?

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gigachad
Post reply on HN