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New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#81

Post by newchimedes »

kumph wrote: post #79
ericlavigne wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Revenue of $100K is a lot less interesting if most of it is going towards iTunes gift certificates to convince people to continue using the application. Is this business at least profitable?

I found that user retention only went up marginally when the rewards were added. The main advantages are that is provides a good hook and a near-term business model. And to answer your question: Yes, very much so. And growing.

Just curious to see, just how profitable are you? Are you saying you launched the app without rewards at first and were making money from day 1? If so that's impressive.

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#82

Post by jtheory »

myearwood wrote: post #56

HN changed the title of the post. That's not cool.

It depends on the situation. The old title went against the site terms, but also it was just a distraction. What's the point of thumbing your nose at YC for the initial rejection when at the time it had many strikes against it?

Single founder, yes -- that makes it harder to succeed (certainly not impossible, but investment is about risk assessment). But more importantly, notice the step that comes after the YC rejection:

"The rejection email came on November 2nd, and I got the app into the store a week later.

"At that point, it was pretty clear the app wasn't ready for prime time, so I worked on it and racked my brain for a viable near-term business model and marketing strategy."

Once he'd finally hit on the successful approach, it was too late for the YC cycle. If he'd gotten through the brain-wracking phase earlier in the year, maybe YC would have selected him in spite of the single-founder risk.

"My idea development process didn't align with the YC application cycle but now I'm racking in 100K/month in revenue" is more accurate, but doesn't have much of a ring to it. So why not just focus on the success story? It's a good one.

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#83

Post by zacharycohn »

emmett wrote: post #64
rokhayakebe wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not downvote you, but if you read the post you would know it is related to YC.

I did read the post. The guideline is specifically about situations like this one. You should not describe your company in relation to YC unless you are actually affiliated with YC. Being rejected is not an affiliation. Neither is being an applicant. That said, I think there's nothing wrong with this post, but that guideline is there for a reason.

It doesn't say you can't mention YC. It seems like this post only goes so far as to say "I applied but was rejected."

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#84

Post by ginger19 »

kumph wrote: post #75
richcollins wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right this seems like a zero sum game across the agents involved: - users - advertisers - "killer apps" company It's obvious from the reviews that the users only care about the gift cards. So if they get more gift cards than the other parties get back in app sales commission, the users win. However the terms state you're limited to 3 cards per year and that you lose your points after 60 days of inactivity, so I'm gue…

I'm just about to go on a hike, but let me respond quickly. I do appreciate tough criticism, but I think there are some rash judgments and misconceptions here. 1) just because the recommendations aren't suited to you doesn't mean they're bad in general. Hacker news is very special, sophisticated demographic. The recs are currently optimized for a more main stream audience. We get lots of feedback from users attesting…

Out of curiousity, what does it mean for the recs to be optimized for a mainstream audience instead of a sophisticated one? Different audiences will like different types of apps, sure, but why wouldn't the same basic recommendation algorithm work for everyone? Unless of course the assumption is simply that "mainstream" users are less discriminating, and the recommendations don't have to be as individually targeted.

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#85

Post by jpug98 »

great post. i have a YC2011 application ready to go, and, as a single founder, have been wondering if I should apply. Yes, I know, it’s next week. I too expect to be rejected but think it is worth the shot. And, to follow up on the end of the post, personally, YC isn’t about the money or the mentorship. It’s all about who you know. All I know is that I have the next big idea, execution is 100% of being a business and I think YC offers a lot of those resources that you can’t find in a lot of other places.

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#86

Post by davidklemke »

jpug98 wrote: post #85

great post. i have a YC2011 application ready to go, and, as a single founder, have been wondering if I should apply. Yes, I know, it’s next week. I too expect to be rejected but think it is worth the shot. And, to follow up on the end of the post, personally, YC isn’t about the money or the mentorship. It’s all about who you know. All I know is that I have the next big idea, execution is 100% of being a business and…

I found the application process itself to be quite enlightening since they asked many questions I just hadn't asked myself since I was too busy focusing on building something. Like you I know my chances are diminished as a single founder but I'd rather know if I can make the cut or not instead of always wondering what could have been.

Re: New Startup Now Pulling In Over $100k in Monthly Revenues

#87

Post by jpug98 »

davidklemke wrote: post #86
jpug98 wrote: post #85

great post. i have a YC2011 application ready to go, and, as a single founder, have been wondering if I should apply. Yes, I know, it’s next week. I too expect to be rejected but think it is worth the shot. And, to follow up on the end of the post, personally, YC isn’t about the money or the mentorship. It’s all about who you know. All I know is that I have the next big idea, execution is 100% of being a business and…

I found the application process itself to be quite enlightening since they asked many questions I just hadn't asked myself since I was too busy focusing on building something. Like you I know my chances are diminished as a single founder but I'd rather know if I can make the cut or not instead of always wondering what could have been.

appreciate it brother. i submitted it so we'll see. I'm learning how to code so either way, i'm building it! The World Is Mine!
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