How did you make your first dollar online?
I'll go first! My story: I was 13 years old and someone in the mIRC chatroom #graphicdesign said they were looking for a logo. I messaged him and he agreed, I designed the logo and he sent me a check for $150 and my parents opened a bank account for me and deposited it.
What's yours?
@laksmanv's retrospective from 2024 captures the critical transition from initial concept to the first dollar of customer revenue.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Early traction rarely comes from passive launches; it requires direct manual outreach, personal network activation, and high-touch customer support.
Narrowing down the target audience to a specific niche allows solo founders to out-position generic horizontal competitors.
Underpricing out of fear of rejection is common; founders who set premium pricing often discover higher customer satisfaction and lower churn.
Community Debate Themes:
Discussions analyzed Show HN launch mechanics, cold DM outreach conversion rates, and the psychology of validating customer demand before writing code.
CATEGORY Zero to One →
HISTORICAL ERA Post-ZIRP & AI (2023–2026)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 18 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 30 comments
I'm quite young so this happened very recently. Me and my friend created an Android app for students that could let you view our school's online workbook (so grades, lessons, news etc) in the app without opening and logging in the website. Some time passed and the workbook gained popularity among other schools (mostly because it was open source) and so did our app. Then a school asked us to change the ui a bit and paid us 80€. I think I used my 40€ in pc parts and other stuff :) Soon after we stopped working on it and graduated.
There are still like 200~ users using the app even after 2 years since we stopped updating (and it crashes a lot).
I made an app called Random Facts for PalmOS. I was 16 or 17 and got 50 USD mailed to me. That was before app stores mind you.
Recently, I found the app again - source code included - on a website. Apparently I had given it away on a forum years ago, and someone kept a copy.
The code was adorably simple. It was not clever or clean, just the digital equivalent of a kid's drawing you put on the fridge. Software made for pleasure, using whatever works.
https://nicolasbouliane.com/projects/random-facts
Back when the internet began to appear in households I had a friend who started a dial up ISP. I had a personal website hosted there. I found an adult clip and made a web page with a banner ad with a "click here to support". Honestly, I have no idea how people even found the web page. I'd get mailed $20 to $50 dollar checks every so often. I'd have to monitor the bandwidth used so my buddy wouldn't notice. I'm pretty sure I went over but I was never charged extra. The mid to late 90s were an interesting time.
I saw a scheme where you make domains and pages like "london best plumber .co.uk" or top london plumber. Then pick a guy to put on it. Put his phone there. Call in a few days and show him the page. He will say thank you and that you have already doubled his business. He will begin to pay you 100 a month to stay as your top pick. He will also pay for a redesign of his existing company website. You will also host the new site you just redesigned and generate recurring passive hosting revenue. You are welcome. My pleasure.
I don’t remember exactly how much it was the first time, but I used to sell WordPress themes (design and coding with full reselling rights) on SitePoint.
I even found the page listing one of the themes I sold with Wayback Machine - "Winning bid: $125". Some people were buying these themes, change the "Theme by" link in the footer and give them away for free. Probably for SEO reasons.