Who is living off their startup fulltime? • Hacker News Board

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#61

Post by jasonshen » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:22 PM UTC

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #41

zackattack wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how many daily uniques do you receive? and what's your CPM?

I get about 10k and 15k uniques per day. I charge direct advertisers between $0.75 and $2 CPM. I fully realize this is a pretty low number (considering how targeted the audience is) but I've spent some time contacting businesses and the only companies that can afford to pay me can only afford $1 CPM rates. I basically get around a million page views per month, which is the figure I use when I sell ad space.

How are you selling your ads? Do you have your own ad server? You should really check out isocket if you're interested cutting out all the logistical crap. Granted I'm biased as the sales guy, but seriously, you should check it out/email me (jason@isocket.com)

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#62

Post by Silhouette » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:22 PM UTC

zingo wrote: post #38

I think there are differences between an "aspiring startup" i.e. self-employment, small business, cooperative etc. and a startup. To me you are running a startup when you are ready to take funding that will mainly be used for growth. People can of course call their businesses whatever they want, but using a term like "seed stage startup" would be helpful for clarity.

Why does being a startup have anything to do with taking external funding at any particular stage? I would say being a startup is more defined by whether you are at an early development and market research stage or whether you have an established, significantly profit-making product/service. How that early development and market research happens to be funded seems irrelevant.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#63

Post by phishphood » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:41 PM UTC

I make enough with MTH Software (http://www.mthbuilt.com) to not have a full time job. My sales are seasonal in nature, so I either need to scale down living expenses or to supplement with some consulting in the summer.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#64

Post by toast76 » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:45 PM UTC

http://usabilityhub.com (including http://fivesecondtest.com) was originally a free app. We introduced subscriptions in August. It's now getting close to being able to support two of us full-time. At the moment, we're both still doing consultant work to fill the gaps. I would certainly think in the next 6-12 months it'll be covering both of us. We're entirely self-funded from 3 years of contracting/consulting.

If I have a tip for anyone, the consulting/startup pairing works wonderfully well....especially if you're in demand. I can turn paid work on and off as needed depending on what we're working on.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#65

Post by jkaljundi » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:48 PM UTC

kaib wrote: post #22

TinkerCAD ( http://tinkercad.com ). Self funded and in soon-alpha mode, 3 FT founders. Quit Google a few months ago after five great years at the place.

Please have a look at what we do at http://grabcad.com/ - may be there are some ways for future cooperation. We're based in Estonia, saw you guys are Finnish :) You can ping me at jk@kaljundi.com.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#66

Post by SkyMarshal » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 10:50 PM UTC

bearwithclaws wrote: post #11

Hacker Monthly ( http://hackermonthly.com ), self-sustaining so far and doing everything to keep cost really low: - Only 1 fulltime employee (um...me) + 3 remote freelancers. - Works from home. - Based in Penang island (somewhere between Bangkok and Singapore with its living cost much lower than both of them).

How's the Internet connection on Penang Island? I'm curious about how reliable it is in remote or developing places.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#67

Post by patio11 » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 11:00 PM UTC

http://www.bingocardcreator.com/stats/sales-by-month

I quit my job in March, and could survive on my fairly modest revenues indefinitely. (I have done some consulting on the side in the interim, which is nice, because it means I don't have to make any hard choices like "Proceed at maximum speed on the business or go home for Christmas?")

The next product comes out at the end of November or thereabouts. I am cautiously optimistic. I haven't accepted any investment yet.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#68

Post by bearwithclaws » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 11:04 PM UTC

SkyMarshal wrote: post #66

bearwithclaws wrote: post #11

Hacker Monthly ( http://hackermonthly.com ), self-sustaining so far and doing everything to keep cost really low: - Only 1 fulltime employee (um...me) + 3 remote freelancers. - Works from home. - Based in Penang island (somewhere between Bangkok and Singapore with its living cost much lower than both of them).

How's the Internet connection on Penang Island? I'm curious about how reliable it is in remote or developing places.

It's OK, could be better, used to be horrendous (do a search of "Streamyx Sucks" and you will get the idea).

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#69

Post by browsemybooks » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 11:07 PM UTC

bearwithclaws wrote: post #49

libpcap wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you speak the local language? Malay?

Yes (along with Chinese and its dialects: cantonese & hokkien). The national language is Malay (Bahasa Melayu), but most people speaks English here.

Penang, beautiful island. I was there not too long ago. I would make the 12+ hr journey to return, just to taste the BBQ stingray again. Awesome!

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#70

Post by spIrr » Sat, Nov 20, 2010, 11:10 PM UTC

zackattack wrote: post #40

I am living off http://www.AwesomenessReminders.com and http://www.CustomerFind.com . For AwesomenessReminders, you can use the referral code HACKERNEWS to save money.

What percentage of your income is coming from CustomerFind? Just curious, because it seems like a really lean startup.