6 ms·

Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable?

• gamebak 12y ago
  I started http://skyul.com http://skyul.com and it's been profitable since it's first month when I released this service. The main reason why is because I'm keeping costs low and I re-invested most of the cash into advertising and more product development :)
• mercwear 12y ago
  My wife left corporate law firm life to start her own law practice in March of this year. By not taking on unnecessary expenses she has been profitable every single month.
• zrail 12y ago
  I wrote and self-published a book in 2013 that definitely fits some definitions of success[1]. Sales to date total a little over $30,000, plus some consulting gigs. [1]: https://www.petekeen.net/mastering-modern-payments https://www.petekeen.net/mastering-modern-payments
  • qhoc 12y ago
    I'm also trying to get into the book writing business. Can you tell me what tool you use to write the book? I was using Gitbook.io but it was buggy and not formatting well.
    • zrail 12y ago
      I wrote all of my own tools. The book itself is written in Markdown, and I use the Redcarpet gem to turn it into HTML. From that, I convert it into PDF and the ebook formats using Docverter. http://www.docverter.com http://www.docverter.com
• abhimir 12y ago
  Our mobile games startup started in Dec 2013 is profitable. Our monthly revenues are 3-4X our monthly expenses (which includes market salary for Co-Founders.) In fact in the last 2-3 months, we have been able to save up almost 18 months worth of runway for our team of 8. Bear in mind that the team is based in India, so our salary and other expenses cannot be compared to Silicon Valley, but in India we pay market rates.
  • ashishk 12y ago
    pretty awesome accomplishment. are your users in india as well? how are you monetizing?
    • abhimir 12y ago
      Most of our users are in US, UK and Europe. We monetize via In App Purchases (IAPs) and Ads. On average we monetize close to industry standards, 2% of people pay for hints, powerups and other IAPs, while ads give a decent $2 eCPM ($2 for 1000 impressions)
      • umenline 12y ago
        what is the most profitable platform ? iOS?
        • deleted 12y ago
          [deleted]
        • abhimir 12y ago
          We have had similar success on all 3 platforms, as it is easier to stand out on Amazon, Google play drives a lot of downloads, and Apple monetizes very well. For us, it is almost 34-33-33 in terms of revenue breakup.
      • GFischer 12y ago
        Thanks for sharing ! I'm getting started on Android app development, and those are very encouraging numbers (and thanks for sharing your app link to have an idea of what you're building). I think I'll try my hand at some games targeted for the local audience first (I live in Uruguay, South America, I have some ideas which can be tested for the larger Argentinean and Brazilian markets) and see how it goes :) . My goal is to make U$ 400/month in recurring revenue by year's end.
• ivan_ah 12y ago
  I launched product1 of my publishing startup on Jan 1st 2013 on HN[1] and now I'm officially living, frugally, from the sales. It was a side-project, but the interest was so great that I've spent the last 1.5 years building the company. So far so good. More titles and more authors coming soon. Bootstrap funding all the way! The self-publishing route for authors is a very interesting development. I believe it is going to be one of the more interesting strategies for monetizing content on the web. Take the best of modern web technology (version control, bug reports, quick iterations) and apply it to producing books---meaningful information products that can be sold at 60%--95% margins. What's not to like? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4994367 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4994367
• Shrugs 12y ago
  I made FiveStar [0], which was covered on TechCrunch [1] and it made ~$600 last month. Doesn't cost any money to run, so it just sits there. Not a fabulous success story, and traffic is decreasing, but $10 a day as passive income isn't awful. [0] http://fivestar.io http://fivestar.io [1] http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/03/fivestar-finds-the-best-products-on-amazon-from-any-category-on-any-budget/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/03/fivestar-finds-the-best-pro...
  • denizozger 12y ago
    So how do you make money off your site?
    • JoshuaRedmond 12y ago
      I'd guess through Amazon affiliate links, which will pay out for every purchase that originated on the site. Very nice idea, and brilliant use of an affiliate scheme.
    • Squallco 12y ago
      Should be affiliate links.
    • Shrugs 12y ago
      Yup, affiliate links. I get ~6% from every purchase via FiveStar, increasing with volume per month.
  • sova 12y ago
    cool site! well done =) i did a search for sennheiser and got an excellent breakdown of headphones. also i don't mind that a price range can have two different options if they're far enough apart. that's a nice touch.
  • jaredtking 12y ago
    FiveStar is incredible, nice work. I just bought some stuff with it and had a quick but enjoyable experience.
• ca98am79 12y ago
  I launched http://park.io http://park.io last week and it is already profitable (around +$500).
  • Aqueous 12y ago
    That's a really good idea. Well done, sir.
    • ca98am79 12y ago
      thank you
  • Shrugs 12y ago
    Love the idea, good luck!
    • ca98am79 12y ago
      thanks!
  • tekknolagi 12y ago
    Brilliant. Love it. So park.io registers the domain for you?
    • ca98am79 12y ago
      Thanks! Yes, we register it for you - email me if you have any questions (see my hn profile for my email)
• FigBug 12y ago
  I started a contracting company in 2014, http://www.motusdesign.ca http://www.motusdesign.ca We are already profitable, but that's not saying much since we have almost no expenses.
  • UK-AL 12y ago
    Contacting companies are almost instantly profitable by their nature.
  • hmphhhhhhhhh 12y ago
    Shady, this seems to be riding the coattails of Motus Global... http://www.motusglobal.com/ http://www.motusglobal.com/
• deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
• dully 12y ago
  I launched my first app in March 2013 and it's basically paying off my school tuition. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spinme-alarm-clock-guaranteed/id607979227?mt=8&uo=4&at=10ld6x https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spinme-alarm-clock-guarantee...
  • binarysolo 12y ago
    This is clever! Bought -- and good luck with school!
    • dully 12y ago
      Thank you! :)
  • mtufekyapan 12y ago
    How you make money? Ads in app?
• hayksaakian 12y ago
  I started a recruiting company in the real estate niche. We're profitable technically, but I would only say "gross profitable" not "net profitable". (Couldn't afford to pay minimum wage for someone to do this) On the up side, its a B2B so there are opportunities to cross sell a better product if we come up with one
• jaredtking 12y ago
  I launched Invoiced [1] as a private beta in June of 2013 while in college. In November I took it out of private beta and have since been fortunate enough to be able to focus on it full time. Invoiced provides simple invoicing for the small business/freelance crowd. It is bootstrapped, profitable, and currently producing 4-figures of MRR. I learn something new every day and get to work with awesome people (customers). [1] http://invoiced.com http://invoiced.com
  • cpher 12y ago
    Cool, good job. I had two issues: 1. The fixed header is an issue when scrolling. Also, the pricing table has the <li> bullet points still showing. (edit: on Chrome current version) 2. Looking at the pricing page, it took me a minute to distinguish between the names of your packages. Maybe have something less "mathy". Otherwise, great job.
    • jaredtking 12y ago
      Thank you. I fixed the pricing table. I plan to do a refresh of the landing page in the near future and might remove the fixed header at that time. Also, great tip on the packages. I let my passion for math slip through into the pricing.
  • odonnellryan 12y ago
    Cool! This is something all businesses need, and seems to be something they never get right.
  • lifeformed 12y ago
    Cool, this is something I had thought about trying to make, but decided on another project instead. It's just big enough of a project to be a primary endeavor, but small enough for a single person (or two) to handle. It also doesn't seem like it would require tons of maintenance once you get everything worked out. There's not many competitors, it's something in high demand, and it's easy to charge for. Good job!
  • cannikin 12y ago
• vipinsahu 12y ago
  well we have started little early but we speed things up at 2013-2014 and cleared the mile store of 1MN$ revenue we are now largest self created open source plugin marketplace https://store.webkul.com/ https://store.webkul.com/ .
• noname123 12y ago
  I started a 401(k) account and put it on S&P500 index fund, it's gone up about 65% in two years. The best part of the business is that I work less than Timothy Ferris, "0-hour work week"; I let the money do the work for me, not the other way around.
  • humannature 12y ago
    *until it doesn't.
  • joshdance 12y ago
    Interest to put this under starting something profitable, but the tone seems a little snarky.
    • noname123 12y ago
      Np, I didn't mean to be snarky. I wanted to make a point both the opportunity cost of starting something creative and the pride that entrepreneurs have for their "initiative and originality" yet are beholden and exploited by the investors who invest in them and who'll ultimately reap in their success. Also that trading can be an creative act (expressing your belief about yourself, in risk-taking in buying a leveraged option call or a conservative index fund with stop loss; your personal conflict resolution and problem solving when the market moves against you) and a simple decision to invest in an index fund is not trivial but can be just as nuanced in making any complex decisions. But in the West, we put so much credence in "hustlin'" that we become penny-wise and pound-foolish.
      • chaqke 12y ago
        unless creating for the sense of ownership or pure joy, it's certainly valid to compare the time spent against the opportunity cost of a full-time job or contracting. it was a thread about _profit_, after all.
• thehodge 12y ago
  We launched the LinkRisk suite in April last year http://www.linkrisk.com http://www.linkrisk.com and we are profitable (and hiring!)
• mafellows 12y ago
  Launched iOS Leads [0] in May. Spent a few months testing the product before launch. Only a handful of monthly software expenses (Mailchimp and Memberful). Currently at 4 digit MRR, and almost full. The program is capped at 40 customers. Also went indie dev in 2013, but selling product is way harder than selling service. [0] http://iosleads.com http://iosleads.com
• jamesgagan 12y ago
  I very recently launched an ecommerce site[1] selling shoe shine kits of all things. We just launched a few weeks ago but are already making money. It was a nice feeling to be able to pay myself yesterday, even if it was only $500! [1] http://shinekits.com http://shinekits.com
  • derptacos 12y ago
    Off-topic, but you should contact massdrop.com these are the kinds of products that may really interest massdrop's customers!
    • jamesgagan 12y ago
      thanks - i will check it out.
    • prakster 12y ago
      What is Massdrop? Website doesn't say much.
      • prakster 12y ago
        Oh, I see. Aggregates consumer demand for a given product and negotiates a discount for it.
  • svmegatron 12y ago
    Nice! I see you're on Shopify - I started a fraud prevention app that's great for Shopify stores. Would you be willing to try the free trial? I'd love to hear what a fellow HNer thinks of it. Link is https://www.merchantprotector.net https://www.merchantprotector.net
    • jamesgagan 12y ago
      cool - i'll take a look at it.
  • grakic 12y ago
• tachion 12y ago
  My partner finally decided to give it a try to her idea for her own fashion brand[1] (instead of regular career in journaling), designing and hand crafting clothes in small quantities made of self designed and produced specially for us materials and we're just starting being profitable, even tho we're at the moment not very active when it comes to advertising via any channels. The profit varies heavily so far, having very good months and a bit worse ones, but overall, we're positive. [1] http://facebook.com/kropeczki http://facebook.com/kropeczki
• 23andwalnut 12y ago
  I launched Duet (http://duetapp.com http://duetapp.com) in May 2013 and it's been profitable since day 1. I'm going to start focusing on it more so it can hopefully grow into something I can live off of. *edit: I'm very curious to know, what about this comment is worthy of downvotes.
  • m3mnoch 12y ago
    i would guess it's the difference between "making revenue since day 1" and "profitable since day 1". it's hard to imagine that you recouped all of your time/money/expenses not to mention that going forward, you can work on it full time -- all as of day one.
    • 23andwalnut 12y ago
      Very good point. And very true.
  • mtufekyapan 12y ago
    Great work. I wonder how many people work for this project to develop? How you reach your user?
    • 23andwalnut 12y ago
      It's just me - one person. I'm still figuring out marketing. It's difficult. I wrote about some of the marketing challenges I've had on the blog http://duetapp.com/blog http://duetapp.com/blog
  • anthonylukach 12y ago
    Beautiful app! I love the UI. Is this a single-person project? How long did you develop before release? Is the front-end just jQuery and Foundation (no larger JS framework)?
    • 23andwalnut 12y ago
      Hey. Thanks for the compliment. Yes, it's a single person project. The initial release took a long time; I was working on it between freelance projects. I'm using a custom jQuery MVC implementation on the front end, some twitter bootstrap, and a couple of 3rd party plugins (i.e. ckeditor, nanoscroller, pdfjs, etc)
• jsonne 12y ago
  I started an advertising agency in February with another friend who also used to work in tech. We're Ramen profitable (2 founders make below market, but livable, wages). We were fortunate enough to find some clients in the marijuana industry out here in Colorado who have been largely overlooked by other agencies due to the stigma attached to it. Our strength is solidly in the digital space (particularly social advertising).
• AJay17 12y ago
  I started: http://www.thingsunder15.com http://www.thingsunder15.com and http://www.myfancysauce.com http://www.myfancysauce.com both slightly profitable.
• coderholic 12y ago
  I launched http://ipinfo.io http://ipinfo.io back in 2013 and when it hit 50M API requests a day early this year I decided to launch the paid plans, and it's been profitable ever since. It's now hosted across 2 providers in 3 different cities, and handles almost 100M requests per day with a p99 of less than 1s and p50 of less than 100ms. Expect more services and features later this year!
  • stevekemp 12y ago
    That traffic is pretty impressive, I've seen your site before and even though I don't have an obvious need for it I've had it bookmarked for a while. Congratulations :)
    • coderholic 12y ago
      Thanks!
  • mtufekyapan 12y ago
    Your product is impressive but I think you can do with this product much more valuable things. For example, I want to specialize my landing page depends on visitors location. For example I want to change if user comes from US H1 and H2 message. Can you build something makes this possible?
    • coderholic 12y ago
      You can absolutely customize your LP depending on the user's location by using http://ipinfo.io http://ipinfo.io, eg: $.get("http://ipinfo.io", function (response) { if(response.country == "US") display_us_message(); else if(response.country == "TR") display_turkey_message(); else display_generic_message(); }, "jsonp"); I'll send you a mail to see if you're proposing something else.
• reqres 12y ago
  Started a UK postcode and addressing API in the midst of developing another (eventually failed) project - partly to scratch my own itch and partly because the existing offering was in a bit of a sorry state. Was profitable within 2 months despite some idealistic pricing on my part. The feedback and kind words from my users over the past year has been incredibly humbling.
  • joshdance 12y ago
    Curious about this. What does your API do? Associate addresses with postcodes and vice versa? And this is a rookie question but how are postcode different from zip codes in the US?
  • junto 12y ago
    Interesting. We are using Post code anywhere.co.UK for a variety of projects in the UK. What's your URL?
• mjwhansen 12y ago
  We launched Geocodio [1] in January 2014. It's a side project, so the definition of "profitable" is a bit different, but it's paying for itself and then some -- servers, Basecamp, LLC filing fees, etc. We're making enough that it covers costs for other, less serious projects [2][3] and our "fun" server (for testing out new projects/ideas/etc) with some to spare. This was our first time launching a serious product as a side project and it's been a blast. I actually wrote up a few thoughts on launching side projects last week [4], largely based on our experience with Geocodio. [1] http://geocod.io http://geocod.io [2] http://opennear.by http://opennear.by [3] http://happykitchen.dotsqua.re http://happykitchen.dotsqua.re [4] https://medium.com/@mjwhansen/things-ive-learned-launching-a-side-project-2968c3becd17 https://medium.com/@mjwhansen/things-ive-learned-launching-a...
  • mtufekyapan 12y ago
    How many user use geocod.io?
• thibaut_barrere 12y ago
  I launched WiseCash (https://www.wisecashhq.com https://www.wisecashhq.com), a cash flow forecasting app for freelancers and small businesses publicly in July 2013. This is bootstrapped using freelancing. We are currently at $800 MRR and growing. I'm having a lot of fun helping people get more freedom of choice in their lives!
• withinthreshold 12y ago
  Off-topic, but I'm proud to have my thread mentioned in your post. :) A long time went by after I posted it, and I still haven't launched anything, just a couple of nearly-launches. I hope 2014/2015 will change that and wish everyone to not hesitate and just do it!
• hoof_marks 12y ago
  in 2012 i started a loose html-only info-site. But there was sincere effort put on, and one thing lead to another- it turned out a commercial info-site being taken quite seriously by the industry- soon a business model evolved - and things came up. Good employees and a lot of online help in coding got things through. Now our portal earns revenue- i never knew the stuff would be taken so seriously.
• Xlythe 12y ago
  We (friends and I) launched SAO Launcher [1] as an Android app in 2013. It lets you make phone calls, launch apps, and a few more things by swiping down from a small hitbox. Got to build a lot of cool things because of it (Themes and Extensions installed via separate apks, Overlays, Animations). And it's profitable. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlythe.saolauncher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlythe.sao...
• mhluongo 12y ago
  I started cardforcoin.com [1] in January. After great launch numbers [2] and some legal concerns [3] we're back up, and on track to pay founders salaries next month. We're still deciding how much of that should be in bitcoin :) When we had to put cardforcoin.com on hold, we built coinforcoffee.com [4], which lets you spend bitcoin at Starbucks. It's also "profitable", and I think we're going to see some big numbers when we expand to other merchants in a couple months. [1] https://cardforcoin.com https://cardforcoin.com [2] http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/card-for-coin-trade-starbucks-gift-cards-bitcoin/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/card-for-coin-trade-s... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7157180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7157180 [4] https://coinforcoffee.com https://coinforcoffee.com
• qhoc 12y ago
  I built this eCommerce site using Magento for my wife and it was profitable from day 1 http://flovery.com/ http://flovery.com/ It's basically a more modern / contemporary artificial flower arrangements. Stuffs you see in Neiman Marcus selling for $400. She sells for $200 or less.
• theclaff 12y ago
  My co-founder Dan and I launched WP Curve (24/7 WordPress support) in June 2013. At the time of writing, we're generating $24,166 in MRR. We share a monthly report every month, here's our last report: http://wpcurve.com/june-wp-curve-monthly-report-people-product-and-process/ http://wpcurve.com/june-wp-curve-monthly-report-people-produ... if you're interested.
• plehoux 12y ago
  We launched ConferenceBadge.com January 2013 (team of 4). We are now profitable and fully pay ourselves with it. We have no outside funding (we were invited to the YC interview, but weren't selected). We now invest our time between this and one other unannounced project. Life is good.
• peacemaker 12y ago
  I started http://mammothology.com http://mammothology.com last year and was profitable within 3 months. I create software for small businesses, mainly WordPress plugins but other things too. It's not a (comfortably) liveable wage yet but slowly increasing month on month. I'm not much of a marketer so it's difficult to figure out how to get sales up to that next level.
• handzhiev 12y ago
  I launched http://namaste-lms.org http://namaste-lms.org which is profitable. But is far from the profits I was hoping for so probably will start something new again.
  • SomeCollegeBro 12y ago
    Just FYI, there's a typo on the homepage! "Connect to Exmas"
    • handzhiev 12y ago
      Thank you :)
• gpi0 12y ago
  My wife started http://makerjunior.com/ http://makerjunior.com/ to teach kids technology through workshops and kits. Profitable and growing...
• gpinkham 12y ago
  I launched http://BeatsImporter.com http://BeatsImporter.com a few weeks ago.. like some others it's a side project so profitable is a bit different for me. in a month of "operation" it's paying for itself using Adsense. really not sure how else to monetize something like this (maybe a 99 cent app kind of thing?) At any rate I have done a few small sites that scratched an itch for me and none ever went any further than scratching my own itch. this one (BeatsImporter) is the first to go beyond that.. so pretty excited.. :-)
• jsherer 12y ago
  I launched Minimal Reader [1] last year right before Google Reader shut down. It started small, grew organically, and now I've been able to wrangle together a couple thousand customers. [1] https://minimalreader.com https://minimalreader.com