ROUNDTABLES $100 m ★ 14 upvotes 2025

Ask HN: Do you have a side project making more than $100 monthly?

Shared by @leonagano · Post-ZIRP & AI (2023–2026) · 6 community discussions

SYNTHESIS & DOSSIER

Retrospective Overview & Key Insights

Distilled analysis of the business dynamics, operational challenges, and strategic takeaways:

An open Ask HN community consultation from 2025 where @leonagano convened hundreds of developers and bootstrappers to share real experiences, hard numbers, and tactics.

Core Principles for Independent Builders:

Participants share raw revenue figures, churn rates, and stack decisions that corporate PR never publishes.

Recurring answers reveal that distribution, not coding skill, is almost universally the rate-limiting step in developer businesses.

Practical recommendations on bookkeeping, payment gateways (Stripe vs Paddle), and freelance-to-product transitions.

Community Debate Themes:

Hundreds of active indie hackers contributed case studies, pricing heuristics, and pitfalls to avoid when moonlighting on side projects.

AMA & FOLLOW-UPS

Founder's Discussion Replies (@leonagano)

Direct clarifications and follow-up comments shared by the author during the live discussion:

OP @leonagano Original Author

2025

I can start. I don't have one. Mine is making $0

PEER EVALUATIONS

Community Discussions & Critical Reviews

High-signal perspectives, counter-arguments, and peer founder insights debated on Hacker News (6 total discussions):

WH @whatamidoingyo Peer Contributor

2025 Thread ↗

During its peak, the blog I own, JavaScript Today, would make anywhere from $30-1,000/month combined with every income source. Some companies would pay $70 just to get a link included in an article, or $500 to write about a certain technology.

Really nice, but I don't really have the interest any more to continue working on it. I've tried to sell it before, was offered $5,000 if I sold immediately, but refused. Was also talking to a guy who wanted to buy it for $10,000, but he eventually ghosted.

No idea what to do with it. I may eventually rebuild it or something, or possibly give it away, I dunno.

_Z @_zaidahmad Peer Contributor

2025 Thread ↗

I won't call it a "side project", it's a startup- leadflow manager

Read All 6 Hacker News Comments ↗

CATEGORY Ask HN Roundtables →

HISTORICAL ERA Post-ZIRP & AI (2023–2026)

COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 14 points

TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 6 comments

TOPICS & TECH STACK: