Simple Analytics hits $4k MRR and shares its numbers(simpleanalytics.com)
simpleanalytics.com
Simple Analytics hits $4k MRR and shares its numbers
https://simpleanalytics.com/open
123 comments
You have to start somewhere. Your own startup has a ton of financial upside that a 9-5 job doesn't have (as well as downside). If you could flip the switch and be at $100k ARR your first month, everyone would be running their own business.
To clarify, I'm not necessarily wondering why OP is pursuing this business. I'm more wondering why it's notable to HN, when the product isn't particularly interesting and is not seeing unusual growth. It appears to have launched in Oct 2018.
The point is the productand therefore the revenue is scalable. Much more than a salary in a 9-5 job.
It's just the start...
The point is the process. The MRR that sustains a full time job doesn't suddenly appear from nowhere, and there aren't a lot of people talking about the "pre-success" data points.
I myself am much more interested in the data behind the people in the process of going from 0 to successful, even if they fail; not the hindsight blog posts about people who are already successful.
I myself am much more interested in the data behind the people in the process of going from 0 to successful, even if they fail; not the hindsight blog posts about people who are already successful.
> I myself am much more interested in the data behind the people in the process of going from 0 to successful, even if they fail
I understand that sentiment and have no argument against it, but there are tons of stories posted to HN with similar attributes (single founder SaaS, $3-5k MRR, blog post likely submitted as a marketing tactic) and none of those blow up the way this has.
I understand that sentiment and have no argument against it, but there are tons of stories posted to HN with similar attributes (single founder SaaS, $3-5k MRR, blog post likely submitted as a marketing tactic) and none of those blow up the way this has.
I mean, that's a fair point, but its also not the question you asked.
To try and answer that question, I think its because this one is fairly easy to read, understand, they're very open with their data, they show their work on how they calculated MRR (which is probably useful for some people), and while yeah this is probably a marketing tactic, they are also not really being pushy about it.
To try and answer that question, I think its because this one is fairly easy to read, understand, they're very open with their data, they show their work on how they calculated MRR (which is probably useful for some people), and while yeah this is probably a marketing tactic, they are also not really being pushy about it.
Early days, no? Honestly, to me running my own thing, incl. the possibility of failure and everything else that comes along with it sounds like a way better proposition than getting a mid level 9 to 5 job. So, congrats to OP.
Fair enough if it doesn't sound appealing to you, I can totally see how that might not seem interesting for all types of personalities, but there are all sorts, right?
Either way, I don't think focussing on that figure and dismissing something like this out of hand, assuming others have the same priorities makes a whole lot of sense. I think the world would be quite a bit more boring if people wouldn't try out things, ignoring the temptations that come alonng with job security and all that jazz.
Fair enough if it doesn't sound appealing to you, I can totally see how that might not seem interesting for all types of personalities, but there are all sorts, right?
Either way, I don't think focussing on that figure and dismissing something like this out of hand, assuming others have the same priorities makes a whole lot of sense. I think the world would be quite a bit more boring if people wouldn't try out things, ignoring the temptations that come alonng with job security and all that jazz.
As I commented elsewhere, I'm not saying that I know enough about OP to suggest that the business has failed and it should shut down. Far from it. If he's happy, he should keep going.
My question is rather about why HN would find this interesting. It was a sincere question. Simple analytics has been beaten to death as a product, and when it's done "well", this community tends to have ethical misgivings about it.
So is it the experiment in transparency? Is it that I'm totally missing something novel or useful about the product?
My question is rather about why HN would find this interesting. It was a sincere question. Simple analytics has been beaten to death as a product, and when it's done "well", this community tends to have ethical misgivings about it.
So is it the experiment in transparency? Is it that I'm totally missing something novel or useful about the product?
We are a community of craftspeople and like to see others make an attempt, especially the trope/plight of the solo developer trying to start a SaaS. Simple as.
Doesn't mean we're all craving to add a tracking pixel to our websites just because we upvoted it, I'd say the tracking aspect is not as interesting, it's more the solo-SaaS-porn. And the hubris + sport of "damn, I could build this" in the back of our heads. It's HN crack.
Doesn't mean we're all craving to add a tracking pixel to our websites just because we upvoted it, I'd say the tracking aspect is not as interesting, it's more the solo-SaaS-porn. And the hubris + sport of "damn, I could build this" in the back of our heads. It's HN crack.
> My question is rather about why HN would find this interesting.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7094402
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8107588
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8246255
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4639271
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5903868
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2358111
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=387789
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7094402
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8107588
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8246255
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4639271
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5903868
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2358111
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=387789
Hacker News is run by Y Combinator, which funds startups, potentially like this one if it can be shown to grow well. Due to such roots, members on HN generally like startup-related posts, whether good or bad.
Many of the people running these "Open Startups" are digital nomads and typically have low overheads.
Additionally, many grow to be relatively large businesses with time due to being built from the ground up to be extremely self-sustaining unlike more traditional startups that grow fast then die fast.
Additionally, many grow to be relatively large businesses with time due to being built from the ground up to be extremely self-sustaining unlike more traditional startups that grow fast then die fast.
No, right?
Because the prospect of financial growth is missing in a mid-level 9-5 job.
Whereas the 4k/month could be 24k/month next year.
Because the prospect of financial growth is missing in a mid-level 9-5 job.
Whereas the 4k/month could be 24k/month next year.
This is nice for side income, though! Are they working on it full time?
The thing about SaaS is once you've found those first ~100 customers to give you money, this is a big indicator that your product solves a real problem, has found a place in the market, and will continue to grow. It's really hard to get those first 100 customers, but once you get them, incredibly easier to get the next 100.
Whereas if you're salaried at $48k/yr, the chance of getting a $48k/yr raise, and then another, and another, and 10x'ing or 100x'ing your compensation is effectively zero.
This is speaking from experience, I run a SaaS company currently making $60k/mo, and not too long ago we were making $4k/mo.
Whereas if you're salaried at $48k/yr, the chance of getting a $48k/yr raise, and then another, and another, and 10x'ing or 100x'ing your compensation is effectively zero.
This is speaking from experience, I run a SaaS company currently making $60k/mo, and not too long ago we were making $4k/mo.
$50k is $250k with a 5x multiple (not uncommon for SaaS businesses), and $500k at 10x multiple.
It's noteworthy that relative to expenses, this business is profitable.
It's also noteworthy in that many businesses never achieve profitability.
It's noteworthy that relative to expenses, this business is profitable.
It's also noteworthy in that many businesses never achieve profitability.
They just got started. For a salary you are exchanging time for money. Don’t show up to work, don’t get paid.
As a startup you are building a product that other people buy. You are exchanging a product for money. Building a product has a big first time cost but selling to 100 customers vs million customers has a much smaller marginal cost (at-least for software)
In 5 years he could be making 100X median salary or 10X while putting 10% of normal work and let it sit on cruise control. Obviously there is a risk to startups.
But I applaud them sharing the Journey. Owning means of production is a very satisfying feeling.
As a startup you are building a product that other people buy. You are exchanging a product for money. Building a product has a big first time cost but selling to 100 customers vs million customers has a much smaller marginal cost (at-least for software)
In 5 years he could be making 100X median salary or 10X while putting 10% of normal work and let it sit on cruise control. Obviously there is a risk to startups.
But I applaud them sharing the Journey. Owning means of production is a very satisfying feeling.
While agree with you, to advocate for the devil:
How much do you think Google analytics is worth today?
How much do you think Google analytics is worth today?
Congratulations! One thing I would like to especially note is the cost of hosting. It is currently at $382. That's fantastic.
There many Show HN here that have domains that don't even resolve anymore. They spend a large chunk of their money on hosting and can't sustain it long enough. They have no choice but to stop paying for it.
You don't have to start with an expensive AWS instance and eat all your budget. Go with cheap yet excellent options like linode or digitalocean. Eventually when you meet those bottlenecks, move to more scalable solutions.
There many Show HN here that have domains that don't even resolve anymore. They spend a large chunk of their money on hosting and can't sustain it long enough. They have no choice but to stop paying for it.
You don't have to start with an expensive AWS instance and eat all your budget. Go with cheap yet excellent options like linode or digitalocean. Eventually when you meet those bottlenecks, move to more scalable solutions.
Thanks! The hosting costs are a little higher than normal. We moved our servers recently and are paying double for some little ones. We are using a bare metal server for our main database and app. That works very well for us an it doesn't hit any limits.
We use a Dell R240 1x Intel Xeon E-2174G with 64 GB RAM and 2x480GB SSD in RAID 1. We didn't want to use Linode or Digitalocean because they are not based in Europe which has the best privacy laws in place.
We use a Dell R240 1x Intel Xeon E-2174G with 64 GB RAM and 2x480GB SSD in RAID 1. We didn't want to use Linode or Digitalocean because they are not based in Europe which has the best privacy laws in place.
That's awesome. Did you just get a dedicated server from a provider (I'm assuming, since you're paying monthly?) or did you buy the server and colocate it?
We are using https://www.leaseweb.com/dedicated-servers#NL which is indeed a monthly contract.
Linode employee here - Linode is compliant with GDPR regulation, EU-US Privacy Shield, and Swiss-US Privacy Shield.
More info here: https://www.linode.com/legal-compliance/
Our Privacy Shield certificate is here: https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TRDi...
More info here: https://www.linode.com/legal-compliance/
Our Privacy Shield certificate is here: https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TRDi...
I pay about $60/mo on digitalocean for a side project that brings in about $65k/mo now. Digitalocean is severely underrated for startups.
project: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/crave-cookie
project: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/crave-cookie
At what point does a $65k/mo side project stoping being a side project? That’s a boat load of cash every month.
That depends on what the margins are like. He's delivering cookies via the post so the COGS will be significant.
Wow that’s amazing. I always said pay as much to the customer spending $5/mo as tens of thousands because who knows what they can build.
Congrats on the success and hopefully more to come.
Never under estimate a good cookie!
Congrats on the success and hopefully more to come.
Never under estimate a good cookie!
We always have been open about our metrics as we are building a company based on trust. This time we went a step further and did break down our revenue and costs. We did go through all our transaction to build the chart you see with the last 4 months. We divided the costs up by banking (Stripe), hosting, services and freelancers.
If there are any numbers missing, please let us know. We would love to add more data points that interest you.
The open page has a Twitter thread combined with more details: https://twitter.com/AdriaanvRossum/status/122552812562013388...
If there are any numbers missing, please let us know. We would love to add more data points that interest you.
The open page has a Twitter thread combined with more details: https://twitter.com/AdriaanvRossum/status/122552812562013388...
A discussion about freelances v labor would be interesting.
Congrats on 4k MRR.
Congrats on 4k MRR.
Good point. I also didn't include my own fee. I guess profit is kind of what I get at the moment. We are planning on sharing our profit with our freelancer when it hits a certain level.
Adriaan, I wanted to ask this last time you posted but forgot to ask. How did you sort out the business side? Did you start straight out as an LLC (BV), or are you working in a freelance structure?
I have a side project but I'm hesitant to release it because I'm not in a BV. Doing a BV means losing some really nice tax benefits that I'd rather not lose.
I have a side project but I'm hesitant to release it because I'm not in a BV. Doing a BV means losing some really nice tax benefits that I'd rather not lose.
Labour in NL is extremely high risk. You can be on the line for paying a salary for two years if someone is ill. No matter the cause of the illness or the length of service (yes, one day of service is enough).
Freelancers cost more up front however they don't have that risk. Also, the actual freelancers in general come from the top 10% of developers, so they're usually better.
Freelancers cost more up front however they don't have that risk. Also, the actual freelancers in general come from the top 10% of developers, so they're usually better.
How do you earn so much money? I didn't think that starting a startup brought you so much money. Of course, getting clients is not an easy task, but at the same time, I see that they are the businesses that attract more customers.
[deleted]
Get to the front page of HN I guess?
He only has 322 customers. Tech generally has good profit margins. The cost of hosting a server is cheap, and can usually accommodate up to millions of requests a second.
One of the risks of starting a start up is there is no demand for your service (among a million other factors for success).
One of the risks of starting a start up is there is no demand for your service (among a million other factors for success).
You may have misstated this as commodity hardware is very capable these days but "millions of requests a second" is never cheap.
Hardware purchase is very expensive, but web hosting does not usually reach very high prices.
Since when is $4k MRR a lot of money? They are off to a great start, but that is far from making it.
Agreed, and given available data from Baremetrics, that's actually quite a bit above average:
https://baremetrics.com/blog/how-fast-saas-companies-hit-arr...
On average it takes a company a year(ish) to hit $4kMRR.
EDIT: I mistakenly thought they launched on Oct 2019, but a comment further down puts launch at Dec 2018. Which means they're doing well but not spectacularly...which means they maybe should raise prices.
https://baremetrics.com/blog/how-fast-saas-companies-hit-arr...
On average it takes a company a year(ish) to hit $4kMRR.
EDIT: I mistakenly thought they launched on Oct 2019, but a comment further down puts launch at Dec 2018. Which means they're doing well but not spectacularly...which means they maybe should raise prices.
Or lower prices and expand the base??
From my view, their pricing is still mostly in the "sticky" area between free and the hassle of pulling out your wallet (or getting accounting) to pay for the service.
They are charging on average $12/mo - to a business with hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, that's sophisticated enough to consider tracking implications, etc. that's indistinguishable from a monetary point of view from $50/mo.
They are charging on average $12/mo - to a business with hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, that's sophisticated enough to consider tracking implications, etc. that's indistinguishable from a monetary point of view from $50/mo.
Not a lot of money for where Simple Analysis is based (Netherlands). A reasonably talented developer with a few years experience makes more than that, especially if you consider social security, pension etc being included in a typical job.
But a company has to start somewhere, if they keep up the growth it could get to significant revenue within this year.
But a company has to start somewhere, if they keep up the growth it could get to significant revenue within this year.
Oh sorry, I am a developer but I forgot to take into account the cost of living too, in my country the minimum salary for a junior developer is 400 dollars, taking into account the cost of living, only the rent and basic services cover almost 3 / 4 of the salary. I don't know how the cost of living in the Netherlands will be, but in my country it is very expensive.
This is the big factor between locations. Rent for a two bedroom apartment in Amsterdam is 1500 euro/month. And income tax in the Netherlands is 40-52%. So a 4000 gross per month isn't much.
Check out https://indiehackers.com, there are a lot more startups making big money than you think. Specifically, this page: https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenu...
You definitely make a lot more money, some companies also surprised me with how quickly they make money after the first year.
when did you launch ?
December 19, 2018
Relevant thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18024277
Relevant thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18024277
nice, congrats!
What are the top 3 reasons people buy this? You push the privacy angle pretty hard, but that doesn't seem like enough for people to whip out their card (even at the reasonable price).
My guess is a lot of people are just overwhelmed when they look at Google Analytics and end up going with you for simplicity.
Also, where is server side analytics on your roadmap?
My guess is a lot of people are just overwhelmed when they look at Google Analytics and end up going with you for simplicity.
Also, where is server side analytics on your roadmap?
- Simplicity
- Privacy friendliness
- Features (like bypassing ad-blockers [1], see which tweets got traffic [2], events, ...)
We have customers like banks and governments who really care about the privacy part. Most of our customers use our tool because it has a very simple interface. One thing that also plays a big role is the likability of the brand. People seem to like it and are willing to pay money for its mission. We even had customers that didn't use our tool but where actively keeping the subscription active.
PS: Server side tracking is already possible [3].
[1] https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/bypass-ad-blockers
[2] https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com/referrers/tw...
[3] https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/server-side-tracking
- Privacy friendliness
- Features (like bypassing ad-blockers [1], see which tweets got traffic [2], events, ...)
We have customers like banks and governments who really care about the privacy part. Most of our customers use our tool because it has a very simple interface. One thing that also plays a big role is the likability of the brand. People seem to like it and are willing to pay money for its mission. We even had customers that didn't use our tool but where actively keeping the subscription active.
PS: Server side tracking is already possible [3].
[1] https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/bypass-ad-blockers
[2] https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com/referrers/tw...
[3] https://docs.simpleanalytics.com/server-side-tracking
Google Analytics doesn't report visits for users that have ad-blockers on, right?
I own a website with about 50k pageviews a month. This could mean that actual viewership could be -much- higher?
It's insane that GA doesn't offer a server-side solution like SimpleAnalytics does.
I own a website with about 50k pageviews a month. This could mean that actual viewership could be -much- higher?
It's insane that GA doesn't offer a server-side solution like SimpleAnalytics does.
They don't have a CNAME style option; but it's possible to interact with their API: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection...
>Google Analytics doesn't report visits for users that have ad-blockers on, right?
It's not really on GA but rather the ad blocking plugin you use (Or even if you are using some browsers that try and block trackers).
As an example, if you use UBlock Origin, I think by default it uses the "Pete Lowe" list to block, which by the looks of it Simple Analytics is also blocked on : https://github.com/simpleanalytics/roadmap/issues/200
Typically UBlock is just a "block all" type thing. Adblock is a little different in that they started allowing through "Acceptable Ads" (Not sure if that extends to trackers), which people went absolute ape about because now "Ad Block" doesn't block "all" ads, just ones that it deems not acceptable.
But anyway. TL;DR; Any tracker, ad, CDN, hell even HTML Fingerprint can be blocked in ad blocking plugins, just depends on the will of the people maintaining the block lists to add it.
It's not really on GA but rather the ad blocking plugin you use (Or even if you are using some browsers that try and block trackers).
As an example, if you use UBlock Origin, I think by default it uses the "Pete Lowe" list to block, which by the looks of it Simple Analytics is also blocked on : https://github.com/simpleanalytics/roadmap/issues/200
Typically UBlock is just a "block all" type thing. Adblock is a little different in that they started allowing through "Acceptable Ads" (Not sure if that extends to trackers), which people went absolute ape about because now "Ad Block" doesn't block "all" ads, just ones that it deems not acceptable.
But anyway. TL;DR; Any tracker, ad, CDN, hell even HTML Fingerprint can be blocked in ad blocking plugins, just depends on the will of the people maintaining the block lists to add it.
Most adblockers can be tricked just by changing request URLs, but uBlock goes one step more and overwrites Google Analytics functions with `null`, so it doesn't work at all. See https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/blob/master/src/web_access...
smart move on the "bypass ad-blockers", good luck!
You have banks as customers but only $4k MRR?! Something is going wrong here. Where's patio11 to tell you to raise prices.
I agree! I would have expected the banks to pay on the order of $4k/month each.
Maybe the enterprise plan isn't aggressively enough priced, or aggressively enough differentiated..?
Maybe the enterprise plan isn't aggressively enough priced, or aggressively enough differentiated..?
I think by "banks" he meant "bank".
And by "bank" I mean "credit union".
That or the Enterprise customers have some sort of extended free trial thing going on.
And by "bank" I mean "credit union".
That or the Enterprise customers have some sort of extended free trial thing going on.
And by "creidt union" he means one from North Dakota.
And by "one from North Dakota" he means "only in departament of immigration" of them.
And by "one from North Dakota" he means "only in departament of immigration" of them.
The privacy friendliness was the killer for me
I'm trying to parse this - are you saying it was the killer feature that convinced you to be a customer, or the lack of more detailed information of the user that "killed" your interest in the product?
The former
Would be great to see distribution by price tier. Does it skew more towards lower tier or mid?
Would be interesting to see something that breaks out COGS vs. R&D as it might be better representative of the trajectory of the business.
For example, revenue is up but profits are down, apparently due to freelancers costs. Are those freelancers just doing some one-off work (e.g. the marketing site)? Or are they essential to running the business? As traffic scales are freelancer costs going to scale?
Another useful metric would be recurring gross margin (recurring revenue minus the ongoing costs to support that revenue). Otherwise if you spend $4k on a marketing site it looks like your business is suddenly doing terribly. If you don't want to throw out R&D costs completely then at least amortize the R&D costs.
For example, revenue is up but profits are down, apparently due to freelancers costs. Are those freelancers just doing some one-off work (e.g. the marketing site)? Or are they essential to running the business? As traffic scales are freelancer costs going to scale?
Another useful metric would be recurring gross margin (recurring revenue minus the ongoing costs to support that revenue). Otherwise if you spend $4k on a marketing site it looks like your business is suddenly doing terribly. If you don't want to throw out R&D costs completely then at least amortize the R&D costs.
Good questions, thanks for those.
When working alone on the project I feel like the momentum gets lost sometimes. Sometimes I'm busy building a feature that takes a lot of time and don't have time for other features or bugs. Or when working on marketing there is no time to build new stuff. There might be a future when I'm not coding at all and only responsible for the other aspects of the business. That's why I'm already hiring a freelancer.
Normally the freelancer would work 1 day a week which is about half the time he worked in January. Not sure if I would consider it as essential though, because I can always take over and do it all myself. But I'm not planning to do it all myself.
Freelancer costs will not scale as much as traffic would scale. As the work of the freelancer is related to new features. Most of our systems can handle a lot of traffic and if we can't anymore we need to add more hardware (which will be recurring) or write some software (which is not recurring).
As for recurring gross margin. Would a list/graph of recurring costs be sufficient? Combined with the monthly recurring revenue of course.
When working alone on the project I feel like the momentum gets lost sometimes. Sometimes I'm busy building a feature that takes a lot of time and don't have time for other features or bugs. Or when working on marketing there is no time to build new stuff. There might be a future when I'm not coding at all and only responsible for the other aspects of the business. That's why I'm already hiring a freelancer.
Normally the freelancer would work 1 day a week which is about half the time he worked in January. Not sure if I would consider it as essential though, because I can always take over and do it all myself. But I'm not planning to do it all myself.
Freelancer costs will not scale as much as traffic would scale. As the work of the freelancer is related to new features. Most of our systems can handle a lot of traffic and if we can't anymore we need to add more hardware (which will be recurring) or write some software (which is not recurring).
As for recurring gross margin. Would a list/graph of recurring costs be sufficient? Combined with the monthly recurring revenue of course.
It’s not too late to find a cofounder. I would consider it if I were you. You can vest their equity (and even consider vesting a portion of your own to show continued commitment).
One reason: vacations are nice.
One reason: vacations are nice.
Ha, this is my brother. He's a digital nomad large part of the year. Plenty of "vacations"...
He's a hard worker though. Props to you, brother! :-)
He's a hard worker though. Props to you, brother! :-)
> Not sure if I would consider it as essential though, because I can always take over and do it all myself. But I'm not planning to do it all myself.
Well, for starters, you should be putting a value on your time if you're doing work. At least the work to support the product should be tracked and valued. And for all the work that you and the freelancer are doing, you should be splitting it into COGS vs. R&D.
The problem comes if you're doing a bunch of support work that you're not accounting for. Then you go to sell the business and it turns out that it takes a whole FTE to support the product. You're talking about $300k/year in unaccounted costs that you'd need to account for if you were to ever stop doing all the support (either because you become full-time CEO or you sell the business).
It's also easy to fool yourself into thinking you have a real business if you don't account for your own time. It's easy to just create a job for yourself and not actually create a business.
> Would a list/graph of recurring costs be sufficient?
Yeah, I think you need to take all your costs and all your revenue and bucket them as one-time vs. recurring (or COGS vs. R&D, whatever you want to call it). This is the kind of thing anyone is going to want when they're valuing a SaaS business.
Well, for starters, you should be putting a value on your time if you're doing work. At least the work to support the product should be tracked and valued. And for all the work that you and the freelancer are doing, you should be splitting it into COGS vs. R&D.
The problem comes if you're doing a bunch of support work that you're not accounting for. Then you go to sell the business and it turns out that it takes a whole FTE to support the product. You're talking about $300k/year in unaccounted costs that you'd need to account for if you were to ever stop doing all the support (either because you become full-time CEO or you sell the business).
It's also easy to fool yourself into thinking you have a real business if you don't account for your own time. It's easy to just create a job for yourself and not actually create a business.
> Would a list/graph of recurring costs be sufficient?
Yeah, I think you need to take all your costs and all your revenue and bucket them as one-time vs. recurring (or COGS vs. R&D, whatever you want to call it). This is the kind of thing anyone is going to want when they're valuing a SaaS business.
Congradulations!!!!!
You are a force of light in the world!!!
Your success is a success not just for indie maker community but for the privacy of everyone online!
Thank you!
You are a force of light in the world!!!
Your success is a success not just for indie maker community but for the privacy of everyone online!
Thank you!
Love the idea. Keep growing!
I noticed the TM used in the title: "Open Startup™". I wasn't sure if TM was used in jest here or whether there was actually an organization behind it holding the exclusive right to use the term.
Anyone know? Is there an "authoritative" source for open startups -- a list, practices, etc etc?
The closest I could find was:
- a TM, "100 OPEN STARTUPS", held by a Brazilian company [https://trademark.trademarkia.com/100-open-startups-87085663...] edit: they have active US and EU trademarks on the term
- Baremetrics' list of open startups, did they pioneer this approach? [https://baremetrics.com/open-startups] edit: openstartups.com redirects here
- A seemingly independent list [https://open-startups.xyz/]
It'd be ironic for the term "open startup" to be locked up behind a TM and a "governing body", so I'm inclined to think it's not. However, the use of the TM here got me wondering.
Anyone know? Is there an "authoritative" source for open startups -- a list, practices, etc etc?
The closest I could find was:
- a TM, "100 OPEN STARTUPS", held by a Brazilian company [https://trademark.trademarkia.com/100-open-startups-87085663...] edit: they have active US and EU trademarks on the term
- Baremetrics' list of open startups, did they pioneer this approach? [https://baremetrics.com/open-startups] edit: openstartups.com redirects here
- A seemingly independent list [https://open-startups.xyz/]
It'd be ironic for the term "open startup" to be locked up behind a TM and a "governing body", so I'm inclined to think it's not. However, the use of the TM here got me wondering.
We use it because we want it to be a common term for startups. We copied it from @levelsio who tweeted about it [1].
According to wikipedia the use of the trademark symbol indicates an assertion that a word, image, or other sign is a trademark; it does not indicate registration. It's not super relevant for our page though.
[1] https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/968219339588493312
According to wikipedia the use of the trademark symbol indicates an assertion that a word, image, or other sign is a trademark; it does not indicate registration. It's not super relevant for our page though.
[1] https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/968219339588493312
If you want it to be a common term for businesses of different sources, isn't that the exact opposite of the purpose of a trademark?
It's Tradesnark™
https://tvtropes.org/Main/Tradesnark
https://tvtropes.org/Main/Tradesnark
I've never heard the term Tradesnark, thanks for sharing.
OP is a close friend of Pieter Levels (of Nomad List) and if you go to nomadlist.com/open you'll see "Open Startup™" as well, linking to open-startup.com which redirects to this tweet:
https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/968219339588493312
https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/968219339588493312
Is your market the set of businesses who don’t want google analytics on their pages? Won’t that be narrow? I imagine most small businesses don’t care and big ones won’t trust you over google? Genuinely curious.
Given they’ve reached $50k run rate in under a year I would suggest the answer is: it’s big enough.
VCs obsess over TAM but it’s not the most important thing if you’re not playing that game.
VCs obsess over TAM but it’s not the most important thing if you’re not playing that game.
What’s TAM?
Total addressable market - how many total possible customers can you sell to.
I am also working on a analytics product, and I can confirm that there is a market for software that comes from "indie" developers and not from big companies.
In my case it's a self-hosted analytics platform and the idea of having the your analytics data only for yourself and being certain that it's not used for other purposes (competitors, advertising, etc.) is pretty well received by individuals and businesses of all sizes.
In my case it's a self-hosted analytics platform and the idea of having the your analytics data only for yourself and being certain that it's not used for other purposes (competitors, advertising, etc.) is pretty well received by individuals and businesses of all sizes.
We're interested in moving away from GA completely - a self-hosted solution is what we've been looking for.
Could I know what your product is? If you'd prefer not to post it here, please feel free to inbox me (contact details in my profile). Thanks!
Could I know what your product is? If you'd prefer not to post it here, please feel free to inbox me (contact details in my profile). Thanks!
Currently my product is more of a Hotjar alternative than a GA alternative (focused more on session recordings and heatmaps), but I'm working on the next version which will have more quantitative analytics features on top of the existing qualitative ones. It's called userTrack, you can subscribe to this newsletter to receive an e-mail when the new version will be out if you're interested: https://mailchi.mp/2637d1b989aa/usertrack
I use a Simple Analytics competitor – not going to name them here out of respect for OP, who is doing great work with his product – but yes, this space seems to be growing. Personally speaking, there are a few reasons I've switched from Google Analytics:
1. The simpler UI is much easier to explain to clients. No training needed.
2. The simpler UI also helps me keep track of my _own_ metrics faster – I can do a 1 minute check at the end of the week instead of clicking through layers of dashboards and setting up custom reports.
3. Now I don't need to show an annoying cookie popup across all of my sites; I also like that it respects my users' privacy.
4. My sites load a bit faster (GA had a larger filesize). This is supposed to help with conversion.
5. Having support, if I need it, is nice. Going with a smaller company is almost an _easier_ sell to my clients because they know they have the option to get help when they need it.
Also, it doesn't matter to everyone, but I like to support indie businesses when I can. Analytics are important, but they're not mission-critical (like payment processing or something), so I'm fine with working with a smaller company in this area.
Congrats OP!
1. The simpler UI is much easier to explain to clients. No training needed.
2. The simpler UI also helps me keep track of my _own_ metrics faster – I can do a 1 minute check at the end of the week instead of clicking through layers of dashboards and setting up custom reports.
3. Now I don't need to show an annoying cookie popup across all of my sites; I also like that it respects my users' privacy.
4. My sites load a bit faster (GA had a larger filesize). This is supposed to help with conversion.
5. Having support, if I need it, is nice. Going with a smaller company is almost an _easier_ sell to my clients because they know they have the option to get help when they need it.
Also, it doesn't matter to everyone, but I like to support indie businesses when I can. Analytics are important, but they're not mission-critical (like payment processing or something), so I'm fine with working with a smaller company in this area.
Congrats OP!
Curios about the targeted market, as well. Is the focus simplicity or privacy. The site says it is for developers ... why?
Focusing on privacy will likely require simplicity. Narrowing the focus may actually be a better marketing option.
Focusing on privacy will likely require simplicity. Narrowing the focus may actually be a better marketing option.
loading the website from referral data in a frame might not be too smart... I could poison those referral headers with some exploit loolkit and boom, you expose your users to a lot of BS...
Example: https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com/referrers/fa...
Example: https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com/referrers/fa...
What do you mean? That's a screenshot of the site, not an iframe. Could you further explain how this could be exploited?
We did build a screenshot app for this: https://github.com/simpleanalytics/screenshot-grabber
My bad, I did not catch that (should have probably checked before posting that.
At least that's a lot less dangerous; now people at least have to click on it.
Sorry for jumping to that first conclusion.
At least that's a lot less dangerous; now people at least have to click on it.
Sorry for jumping to that first conclusion.
No worries!
For those who want to see the effect of landing on HN's front page:
This link has the actual number of visitors as of noon today (California time? Eastern time). It went from 1.6k to 3.3k visitors.
I can't tell if this was right around the time it landed on HN.
This link has the actual number of visitors as of noon today (California time? Eastern time). It went from 1.6k to 3.3k visitors.
I can't tell if this was right around the time it landed on HN.
If you want to see the details: https://simpleanalytics.com/simpleanalytics.com/referrers/ne... (Amsterdam time zone)
This is excellent - it would be good if the charts were in the browser timezone (should be easy) and they seem to draw points into the future, I'm sure this could be disabled?
Thanks for sharing! Really curious about the freelancer side. What kind of work are they doing? Where do you find them? Are you happy with their output?
When working alone on the project I feel like the momentum gets lost sometimes. Sometimes I'm busy building a feature that takes a lot of time and don't have time for other features or bugs. Or when working on marketing there is no time to build new stuff. There might be a future when I'm not coding at all and only responsible for the other aspects of the business. That's why I'm already hiring a freelancer.
The hiring process did go like this:
- We posted a tweet along the lines of "We are looking for a Node.js programmer to fight for privacy. 8 hours per week for $1000 per month" [1]
- We got ~150 responses via Twitter DM
- We write them all back with a form they needed to fill in
- ~80 of those did fill in the form
- From those we selected 5 applicants to do a paid assignment
- From those we selected 2 for a video call
- Then Dave [2] was selected
To us it's very important to treat your applicants in a very nice way. Take time to respond their questions, let them know why they were not selected and pay for their assignments. We got a lot of great feedback for applicants who didn't got selected because of this.
Although we are still in the starting phase (he started in January) I'm very happy with the output our developer Dave produces.
[1] https://twitter.com/SimpleAnalytic/status/119134189603728998...
[2] https://twitter.com/hellodeibu
The hiring process did go like this:
- We posted a tweet along the lines of "We are looking for a Node.js programmer to fight for privacy. 8 hours per week for $1000 per month" [1]
- We got ~150 responses via Twitter DM
- We write them all back with a form they needed to fill in
- ~80 of those did fill in the form
- From those we selected 5 applicants to do a paid assignment
- From those we selected 2 for a video call
- Then Dave [2] was selected
To us it's very important to treat your applicants in a very nice way. Take time to respond their questions, let them know why they were not selected and pay for their assignments. We got a lot of great feedback for applicants who didn't got selected because of this.
Although we are still in the starting phase (he started in January) I'm very happy with the output our developer Dave produces.
[1] https://twitter.com/SimpleAnalytic/status/119134189603728998...
[2] https://twitter.com/hellodeibu
Congrats to getting to this point!
How did you get an initial set of customers? How did you get the word out besides on HN?
How did you get an initial set of customers? How did you get the word out besides on HN?
Yes! Would love to know this - highly beneficial information sharing.
Great job!!! You are an inspiration.
Loving the openness you are showing by sharing these numbers. Is there a list anywhere of similar Open Startups (TM)? :)
What's the point of an open startup? Open source is actually beneficial to the user because they can look at the code, modify it and install the software themselves. It empowers the user.
Open Startups seem like a hipster thing to do in silicon valley with literally no benefit to the user, I don't care how much a company makes. I care about the product and their services. It feels more about marketing themselves as Open Startups than actually providing value of any kind. But yea, let me put some graphs (smoothed lines ofcourse) and put up a big banner that screams "OPEN STARTUP".
I am curious what counterpoints are? What do you guys like Open Startups? For centuries, companies have been closed (in terms of finances) and it has been working fine.
Open Startups seem like a hipster thing to do in silicon valley with literally no benefit to the user, I don't care how much a company makes. I care about the product and their services. It feels more about marketing themselves as Open Startups than actually providing value of any kind. But yea, let me put some graphs (smoothed lines ofcourse) and put up a big banner that screams "OPEN STARTUP".
I am curious what counterpoints are? What do you guys like Open Startups? For centuries, companies have been closed (in terms of finances) and it has been working fine.
1: I don't think it's a thing done in Silicon Valley at all. It didn't even originate from Silicon Valley. OP is based in Europe.
2: Free information is always of value, so how is this making it less valuable to the user? If it works as marketing for the host, so what? Doesn't make it less valuable. I know more now about company X than I would if it wasn't open. It's that simple.
3: Many countries around the world have a very open system where you can go to a government or private website (the information is usually provided by the government) and look up financial information about every company in that country. For example, here is Volvo in Sweden: https://www.allabolag.se/5560125790/aktiebolaget-volvo
2: Free information is always of value, so how is this making it less valuable to the user? If it works as marketing for the host, so what? Doesn't make it less valuable. I know more now about company X than I would if it wasn't open. It's that simple.
3: Many countries around the world have a very open system where you can go to a government or private website (the information is usually provided by the government) and look up financial information about every company in that country. For example, here is Volvo in Sweden: https://www.allabolag.se/5560125790/aktiebolaget-volvo
I'm curious how MRR is $3.4K in december but actual 'revenue' is $2.2K?
based on the details shown on hover, looks like MRR is gross revenue, and "revenue" might be net revenue (gross revenue minus direct costs).
I did a blog post[0] recently comparing a few options for getting off Google Analytics. I've been very happy with GoatCounter[1] (open source and has a free tier), but Simple Analytics likely would have been my second choice.
[0] https://anderspitman.net/20/#get-off-google-analytics
[1] https://www.goatcounter.com/
[0] https://anderspitman.net/20/#get-off-google-analytics
[1] https://www.goatcounter.com/
What are the freelancers doing? Thats quite a big expense.
Is there any possibility of seeing the search terms that people used on search engines to find your site? I know this is made very difficult these days, but it is really an awesome feature.
Either way, great work. I'm currently debating between Simple Analytics and using GoAccess. In your opinion, what's the difference between the two?
Either way, great work. I'm currently debating between Simple Analytics and using GoAccess. In your opinion, what's the difference between the two?
I think sharing numbers at this granularity is fun for readers, and I, like others enjoy digging into details, but to frankly, it may not be so good for the companies in question.
It provides too much data and insight to competitors. I wonder what the rationale is. Perhaps attracting visitors makes up for the risks.
Just my opinion.
It provides too much data and insight to competitors. I wonder what the rationale is. Perhaps attracting visitors makes up for the risks.
Just my opinion.
> It provides too much data and insight to competitors.
I think being confident enough to publicize your cost structure might actually deter competitors. They'll look at it, realize they can't compete on cost and decide to pursue a different avenue.
The challenge is maintaining that cost-effectiveness as you grow.
I think being confident enough to publicize your cost structure might actually deter competitors. They'll look at it, realize they can't compete on cost and decide to pursue a different avenue.
The challenge is maintaining that cost-effectiveness as you grow.
Always great to see a fellow Dutch entrepreneur break the $4k barrier! Congrats!
Fyi, your CDN hostname (cdn.simpleanalytics.io), as in your JS code, is blocked by uBlock Origin.
I really love reading things like this, on the other hand I also feel very demotivated seeing how difficult it is to earn money through a side project.
< $48k/yr with someone working even 20 hrs/wk is a worse proposition than getting a mid-level 9-5 job in the US.
I definitely don't believe a business needs to have the growth/revenue VCs demand, but it should at least pay one person a decent salary...