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What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

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What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#1

Post by AgathaTheWitch »

I've been working on a library for a while and I've come up with a way to monetize it by making a web frontend for it. With a bit of marketing I think it could make some money (not a lot, maybe ~$10,000 a year given my sense of the rather niche market) I want to know what are the practical steps you take with this sort of business.

Do I have to form a company? Should I be patenting and trademarking logos and stuff? If I just make a website and start taking payments, what are the tax and legal implications? My library is Apache v2 licensed but I imagine the frontend / service would be proprietary. I heard I should consider switching the library to MIT.

I am planning to move abroad in a few months so I don't really want to start a company in the United States. I've just never created a paid service before so I'm really naive about how to go about it. If anyone has experience here or a good link, I'd appreciate it.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#2

Post by greywood »

You're worrying about all the wrong things.

Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns.

My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service".

If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe merchant account (and whatever is necessary for that), and start selling. If you can't get past this, everything else is a waste of time.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#3

Post by deweller »

greywood wrote: post #2

You're worrying about all the wrong things. Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns. My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service". If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe m…

Yes. This.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#5

Post by AgathaTheWitch »

greywood wrote: post #2

You're worrying about all the wrong things. Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns. My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service". If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe m…

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off on actually making a service and consider doing something like Kickstarter. I want to see if I can get some funds to put together a better product and get a sense of the market / interest level.

Are there any protective steps I should take before doing that? I mean stuff like licenses / patents / trademarks / company formation etc.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#6

Post by ascendantlogic »

AgathaTheWitch wrote: post #5
greywood wrote: post #2

You're worrying about all the wrong things. Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns. My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service". If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe m…

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off on actually making a service and consider doing something like Kickstarter. I want to see if I can get some funds to put together a better product and get a sense of the market / interest level. Are there any protective steps I should take before doing that? I mean stuff like licenses / patents / trademarks / company formation etc.

Even before a kickstarter, you could set up a landing page detailing the features of a future product using the library and offer a beta signup. Nice way to gauge interest before even involving other people's money.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#7

Post by deweller »

AgathaTheWitch wrote: post #5
greywood wrote: post #2

You're worrying about all the wrong things. Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns. My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service". If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe m…

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off on actually making a service and consider doing something like Kickstarter. I want to see if I can get some funds to put together a better product and get a sense of the market / interest level. Are there any protective steps I should take before doing that? I mean stuff like licenses / patents / trademarks / company formation etc.

If you can find the time, I highly recommend reading this:

http://theleanstartup.com/book

This book changed my perspective on these things significantly for the better.

Re: What are the practical steps for monetizing a web service?

#8

Post by jt2190 »

AgathaTheWitch wrote: post #5
greywood wrote: post #2

You're worrying about all the wrong things. Chances are that this idea will go absolutely nowhere (as most ideas do), and as you're new to this you're prone to vastly overestimating the probability of success and estimated returns. My advice is to relax, and focus on learning what you're doing instead of focusing on "monetizing a web service". If you want immediate practical direction, set yourself up with a Stripe m…

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off on actually making a service and consider doing something like Kickstarter. I want to see if I can get some funds to put together a better product and get a sense of the market / interest level. Are there any protective steps I should take before doing that? I mean stuff like licenses / patents / trademarks / company formation etc.

One reason you incorporate or patent or trademark is to protect your capital (money) from taxes and lawsuits. If I understand you correctly, you currently have very little capital to protect. Once you've accumulated enough capital that it'd be painful to loose it, it's time to start thinking of protecting it with patents, trademarks, incorporation, etc. For now, just have fun.
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