Ask HN: Side-project that became your full-time job?
48 comments
I had a side project called https://Apility.io while I was working full time at Microsoft. It started as a side project but soon I realized it got traction and hundreds of user used it on a daily basis. I added a subscription model to the existing community/free service and I got a good bunch of customers.
Last year I had a dilemma: keep on working at Microsoft or leave and dedicate full time to Apility.io. But then Auth0 came up and offered me an acquhire. So now I’m full time (among other things) dedicated to Apility.io inside Auth0. Happy ending.
Congrats! Amazing. Was it any kind of a life-changing amount for a Microsoft engineer?
Not at all. I changed because I wanted to live the experience of an acquisition and also being part of a company that will probably go public. That’s something only a few people working in tech can enjoy.
I was doing a low carb diet. It was tedious to track and search recipes, especially those in my own diet; most of them were for Western diets and had things like flaxseed and olive oil, which were not readily available here.
At the same time I was working on an app to compare grocery prices in stores in the area. So I set up a system to input recipes, generate a shopping list, and compare prices or generate an algorithm which supermarkets to buy at.
The grocery price comparison app was a flop - gov didn't like it and the result was that most stores were about the same prices, because some would sell different prices expensive and cheap, and some things like fruit might seem really cheap but were also low quality. I released the recipe app to Facebook, and it really took off.
It turned into a startup, where we'd monetize by selling ingredients for the recipes. It got lots of users, at about 3 cents per paying user, and after a year, we sold it off as a marketing channel for someone whose main focus was selling weight loss ingredients.
At the same time I was working on an app to compare grocery prices in stores in the area. So I set up a system to input recipes, generate a shopping list, and compare prices or generate an algorithm which supermarkets to buy at.
The grocery price comparison app was a flop - gov didn't like it and the result was that most stores were about the same prices, because some would sell different prices expensive and cheap, and some things like fruit might seem really cheap but were also low quality. I released the recipe app to Facebook, and it really took off.
It turned into a startup, where we'd monetize by selling ingredients for the recipes. It got lots of users, at about 3 cents per paying user, and after a year, we sold it off as a marketing channel for someone whose main focus was selling weight loss ingredients.
> gov didn't like it
I'm very curious about this part. Could you elaborate?
I'm very curious about this part. Could you elaborate?
We talked to someone in the consumer ministry to try and get prices for the app.
Government has to balance both sides - the customers trying to get cheap products and the shopkeepers trying to make money. An app that compares prices of everything, will make it difficult for small businesses to compete. It wasn't exactly illegal, but it could be made illegal, and violated the spirit of the Anti-Profiteering Act, especially as the nature of something being an unfair advantage is being determined by ministry that we talked to.
It was also somewhat illegal to display the prices of another place without the consent of that store. Stores didn't exactly like giving out their prices either, because it's meant to be a competitive advantage for some items to be loss leaders and some others are secretly expensive.
Illegal or not, it would have benefited one side and screwed another, and in the long term this would likely not go well.
Government has to balance both sides - the customers trying to get cheap products and the shopkeepers trying to make money. An app that compares prices of everything, will make it difficult for small businesses to compete. It wasn't exactly illegal, but it could be made illegal, and violated the spirit of the Anti-Profiteering Act, especially as the nature of something being an unfair advantage is being determined by ministry that we talked to.
It was also somewhat illegal to display the prices of another place without the consent of that store. Stores didn't exactly like giving out their prices either, because it's meant to be a competitive advantage for some items to be loss leaders and some others are secretly expensive.
Illegal or not, it would have benefited one side and screwed another, and in the long term this would likely not go well.
It took me one year to write a prototype of Proxyman [0] as well as validate the idea in my spare time. Basically, it's a native Web Proxy Debugging for macOS that facilitate developers to capture HTTP/HTTPS traffic from their iOS or Android devices.
I would say that it's really difficult. For the first year, it made less than 1k/month, which was not sustainable, so I had to stick with my remote fulltime job at Toggl.com. Spend 4 hours per day at night and entire weekend days to implement the app. And now, after 2 years, I quit my job and dedicate myself to Proxyman. Aiming to ship iOS build and move to Window. It's still a long journey I guess.
[0] https://proxyman.io
I would say that it's really difficult. For the first year, it made less than 1k/month, which was not sustainable, so I had to stick with my remote fulltime job at Toggl.com. Spend 4 hours per day at night and entire weekend days to implement the app. And now, after 2 years, I quit my job and dedicate myself to Proxyman. Aiming to ship iOS build and move to Window. It's still a long journey I guess.
[0] https://proxyman.io
That's amazing. It also took me a year to build a product... But still no revenue!
I built an on-demand remote browser and safe link opener[1], and I made it open source[2] but paid license and no one paid.
I know people are using it because of the binary, npm CLI downloads, and use of the demos, and I had some inbound interest but mainly people who seemed to want to not pay, or were just prospecting tools for future possible features.
I think an issue is that these products are mostly for enterprise and big orgs, who mostly want to buy from established brands or connected people. I tried posting on gum-road and using my linked in premium trial to message possible customers, as well as cold email, but I guess this "product" is not meant to be.
That's OK since I was only releasing it to fund me as a layer of a larger product I'm building.
[1]: https://isolation.site
[2]: https://github.com/cris691/OuterShell.git
I know this is supposed to be about generating revenue but some others posted without revenue so I thought it's OK to share :)
I built an on-demand remote browser and safe link opener[1], and I made it open source[2] but paid license and no one paid.
I know people are using it because of the binary, npm CLI downloads, and use of the demos, and I had some inbound interest but mainly people who seemed to want to not pay, or were just prospecting tools for future possible features.
I think an issue is that these products are mostly for enterprise and big orgs, who mostly want to buy from established brands or connected people. I tried posting on gum-road and using my linked in premium trial to message possible customers, as well as cold email, but I guess this "product" is not meant to be.
That's OK since I was only releasing it to fund me as a layer of a larger product I'm building.
[1]: https://isolation.site
[2]: https://github.com/cris691/OuterShell.git
I know this is supposed to be about generating revenue but some others posted without revenue so I thought it's OK to share :)
I'm a big fan and license owner. Keep up the great work!
I got an error when submitting my comment and I don't see it so I'm trying again. I built a new blogging platform called DynaBlogger (https://www.dynablogger.com) as a simpler alternative to WordPress and Ghost. I launched a few weeks ago and I am now working on it full time. I'm at an early stage so my MRR is still pretty small - I'm trying to figure out how to best spread the message since marketing etc are new to me. If anyone would like to try it there's a free plan so it's easy. Thank you in advance for any feedback
That looks interesting. I've recently move my blog[1] from Hugo to hashnode[2] and I really like it. It has tons of features and nice design, and apparently will always be free for personal use.
How does your platform compare with it? Do you consider than a competitor or the focus is different?
Edit: formatting
[1] https://miguendes.me
[2] https://hashnode.com
How does your platform compare with it? Do you consider than a competitor or the focus is different?
Edit: formatting
[1] https://miguendes.me
[2] https://hashnode.com
Hi! Not too familiar with Hashnode, but generally speaking perhaps the most direct competitor for me is Ghost, since it's quite similar as a product (DynaBlogger is a lot more affordable though and has a free plan). One thing that I like of HashNode that I hope to have once I have more users is the community side of things, which would help promote content.
This looks promising, I've been looking for a hosted blog solution (just bit the bullet on Ghost). Any chance of previewing what a finished blog actually looks like?
I came from a non-tech background. With help of my friends and family, took my idea and made a mobile word game Word Hookup
iOS - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/word-hookup/id1467012830 Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wordhookup...
It didn't amount to anything for some time. Luckily it got featured by Apple as Game of the Day. That changed everything, and it continues to provide residual income a year hence. The money is not yet enough or close to a full time job, but I am now working full time churning out and about to launch more games!
iOS - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/word-hookup/id1467012830 Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wordhookup...
It didn't amount to anything for some time. Luckily it got featured by Apple as Game of the Day. That changed everything, and it continues to provide residual income a year hence. The money is not yet enough or close to a full time job, but I am now working full time churning out and about to launch more games!
I wish I can turn my side-project into full time.
Even though I tried but unfortunately non of my side-project have ever made any money. That is also why I think I always abandon my side-project too quickly.
Now I'm just focusing on building my side project[1] for fun without paying too much attention on how it will generate revenue. Hopefully this will make the project last longer since I won't get demotivated if I don't generate any revenue.
[1] https://www.inoffice.chat
Now I'm just focusing on building my side project[1] for fun without paying too much attention on how it will generate revenue. Hopefully this will make the project last longer since I won't get demotivated if I don't generate any revenue.
[1] https://www.inoffice.chat
I like the idea :-). Hopefully the commitment to one idea will pay off
Lots of inspiring stories here!
I am working on https://mockoon.com for 3 years now. It's an open-source API mocking application. It got a decent amount of users, including some big companies. While it doesn't bring any revenue yet, I believe I am at a turning point, and I should double down on this project by working full time on it. But it's a tough decision!
amazing product! I'll definitely try it out.
Thanks :)
I worked a lot on this and tried to craft a good product. More cool things are coming, mainly a CLI (in the coming months)
While I worked in Formula 1, one of my side projects was the Perl compiler. One other side project was phpwiki which became the official knowledge engine of the automotive company.
Interestingly one US company relied on the compiler, needed an updated stable version and could pay much more than in automotive. So for a while my side project became my main job. But I stopped doing that a while ago, and I'm back to normal.
Interestingly one US company relied on the compiler, needed an updated stable version and could pay much more than in automotive. So for a while my side project became my main job. But I stopped doing that a while ago, and I'm back to normal.
Wow very cool, I think it's super rare to get to work on a compiler for money, kudos! Can you tell us who the company was ?
And was this a Perl to x86/x64 compiler ?
And was this a Perl to x86/x64 compiler ?
The Perl to C compiler, for all platforms and versions. The binaries are huge (like 80mb), but need much less memory and initialization time. But the company got sold, Perl is dead (even Raku now) and the rest of the story is told on Quora in a 10x programmer thread.
Automotive having huge Corona, Dieselgate and Tesla troubles currently.
Automotive having huge Corona, Dieselgate and Tesla troubles currently.
I've built PyJobs - a Python job listing website where Brazilian people share Python jobs from their companies.
Last year I gave up my internship to dedicate full time to PyJobs, and the company that I maitain: RecrutaDev.
I've lived for a year with its money, and now I'm trying to expand its coverage with more customers.
Last year I gave up my internship to dedicate full time to PyJobs, and the company that I maitain: RecrutaDev.
I've lived for a year with its money, and now I'm trying to expand its coverage with more customers.
PyJobs is a blessing for the Brazilian Python community. I know a handful of people who got jobs thanks to PyJobs.
If you don't mind my feedback I think it has a lot of potential for growth. You should invest more on it. Trying marketing it more on events, and online groups. Your product creates value, so don't be ashamed of spreading the word.
If you don't mind my feedback I think it has a lot of potential for growth. You should invest more on it. Trying marketing it more on events, and online groups. Your product creates value, so don't be ashamed of spreading the word.
Do you charge for job placements or is it via ads?
Office Snapshots was my side project while I was a history teacher and has been my full-time job for maybe 8 years now.
https://officesnapshots.com
https://officesnapshots.com
wow. looks neat!
Launched my SaaS product [0] about two years ago and was able to quit my job last December to focus on it full time.
Threads like this were very motivating to me when I was getting started, and I encourage anyone looking for inspiration to read through HN's previous "side project" discussions! [1]
[0] https://omnieq.com
[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=side+project
Threads like this were very motivating to me when I was getting started, and I encourage anyone looking for inspiration to read through HN's previous "side project" discussions! [1]
[0] https://omnieq.com
[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=side+project
While not fully self-sustaining yet, our project [1] has been gaining traction steadily with our unique set of tools and fast turnaround on new learning material for Japanese. It's not easy lifting a business from the ground but high quality information is valuable and if it is packaged in a clever or intelligent way thanks to your years of experience it can make a huge difference in peoples' actual lives. It seems very difficult to find a "Right Livelihood" these days so it is all the more thrilling when it's helpful to others and can help you make it through this realm. If you are interested in supporting an amazing start-up and interested in learning (and mastering) Japanese, please check us out.
[1] https://japanesecomplete.com
[1] https://japanesecomplete.com
I am almost to the point where https://pagewatch.dev covers its expenses, but getting any traction if you do not already have an audience is super hard.
It is fun working on something that is your own though.
Interesting side-project! Was considering doing something similar myself. The eyes in the logo following the cursor is a nice touch. How did you market it/get it off the ground?
Glad someone noticed :) Almost felt too silly but then I just decided to add it anyway.
I would not really consider it off the ground yet, I launched on ProductHunt (#5 product of the day) which gave some initial users, and from then on mostly been cold emailing people. (Every site has some issues, so I can just point people to a free first report and its already useful)
Actually I find marketing/getting traction harder than building it in the first place.
First off, congrats for launching. I have a question about the business side of this endeavour. Although there is a market for such services, I wonder if there's a ceiling on this business.
If you are Google scale, then you can get away with something like YouTube and digital rights, because you have the money and the lawyers to disrupt the market and push your solution through the legal battles ahead rather easily.
Now, an API such as this should either would use APIs or scrape online news sites for content, which is illegal. Sure, many businesses do scrape illegally, there's a cat and mouse game going on. But isn't the possible ROI questionable for such businesses?
If you are Google scale, then you can get away with something like YouTube and digital rights, because you have the money and the lawyers to disrupt the market and push your solution through the legal battles ahead rather easily.
Now, an API such as this should either would use APIs or scrape online news sites for content, which is illegal. Sure, many businesses do scrape illegally, there's a cat and mouse game going on. But isn't the possible ROI questionable for such businesses?
My full time job is still traditional, but I’ve been wondering if my could turn my side project[0] making high end wordclocks into a full time gig. If I did that, I’d probably diversify my products to other tech-meets-art designs.
[0] www.fineworclocks.com
[0] www.fineworclocks.com
I think there's a typo in your URL, friend
Oops! Thanks. Should be http://www.finewordclocks.com
Not sure if it counts as a 'project' as such but I did moonlight tutorial writing while working as head of tech at a startup. Now launching Ritza[0] and perusing writing full time.
In month 4 and already more profitable than old dayjob but obviously anything could happen still.
[0] https://ritza.co
In month 4 and already more profitable than old dayjob but obviously anything could happen still.
[0] https://ritza.co
So, I've been doing a lot more writing lately. I've been thinking a lot about the process and how I can reliably get good results out of myself. I can definitely just pump out lots of words and disparate ideas, but the hard work is in editing. Taking all of those ideas, streamlining them, making them interesting to read, etc.
Do you have anything you could share on your writing process?
Do you have anything you could share on your writing process?
I'm a university student with a flashcard startup / project called memordo [1]. I have only ever had 2 customers subscribed for 1 month each. Right now I'm the only paying customer! but at least I'm a happy customer :-)
[1] https://memordo.com
[1] https://memordo.com
I built a new blogging platform called DynaBlogger (https://www.dynablogger.com) as a simpler, fully managed alternative to WordPress and Ghost. I launched it a few weeks ago and I am now working on it full time. Any feedback would be much appreciated
I started selling hand crafted woodwork to friends and family, and now I co-run a little shop
[deleted]
My side project [1] became my full-time job. I decided to quit my well-paid full-time job which got me bored (comparing to my own project). I am nowhere near making as much money. Though, we have early traction with a decent growth rate (2x month over month).
Just curious how many of you made it to generating revenue for your side-project.
[1] https://newscatcherapi.com/