Ask HN: Solo Founder SaaS or App Success Stories?
I've seen these threads before[1], but I haven't seen anything recent. Things along the lines of patio11 and BCC or AR. Solo founder with profitable SaaS app replacing old income or more.
[1] old thread from ~ 2 years ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3029771
An open Ask HN community consultation from 2013 where @clarky07 convened hundreds of developers and bootstrappers to share real experiences, hard numbers, and tactics.
Hundreds of active indie hackers contributed case studies, pricing heuristics, and pitfalls to avoid when moonlighting on side projects.
Some other discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2567487 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1772199 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1764682
I created Smart Receipts, a receipt tracker and expense report generator for Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wb.receipts.
I make about $600/month between ads on the free version and sales for the paid version; not enough to quit my full-time job but a nice monthly supplement.
I run https://www.improvely.com and https://www.w3counter.com, and they along with some side projects are my only income. I earn significantly more from SaaS subscriptions than I did working as a full-time software engineer. Does that count?
1. This podcast has a few great examples: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-from-nothing-foundation/id659981522
2. unicornfree.com or @amyhoy on twitter and products coming out of her 30x500 class
I'm running a recruiting app (usehuman.com/prospect) myself. Not replacing my income but I hope too grow the company in the future to do that and more.
to start things off, I've made ~150k working on apps over the last couple years - http://www.entrelife.com/2013/06/my-first-100k-on-app-stores.html
I'm hoping to start a SaaS app in the near future, as B2B is far more interesting to me than $1 mobile apps. Having an ARPU above 70 cents and recurring revenue sounds glorious.
That being said, products are the way to go. Last month was actually my best month ever, and I haven't done any work on my apps since January. (some freelance work, some big projects on my property, some traveling)