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Running solo doing around $750k/year on a desktop app. The market is so huge and so many niches to filll. Make something you can sell for $50-300 with upgrades

Running solo doing around $750k/year on a desktop app. The market is so huge and so many niches to filll. Make something you can sell for $50-300 with upgrades once in a while and set up a simple shop. It has never been easier to develop desktop software. If I was going to start this route today I'd 100% make an electron app and try to address and already large market that has stagnated or has shitty entrenched players making a ton of margin.

jetti 10y ago
That is some nice revenue. I would assume you have pretty high margins on that as well. How long has your app been released? I'm going down this route and making dev tools that help replace the sucky entrenched big players. I haven't officially launched a proper version (early access is going on now) but I'm hoping that I'll be able to be as successful as you are.
- desktopapp 10y ago
  Most software sold as a license via a microISV has very little overhead/fixed costs. Whatever you sell you keep. It's been a bit over a decade.
  - icedchai 10y ago
    Congrats! You're living the dream. How much time do you spend a week working on this?
    - desktopapp 10y ago
      It's a full time job, with an extra helping of anxiety.
dispose13432 10y ago
How do you sell? That's one of the annoying (and liberating) things about desktops, they don't have an app-store, so you have to run your own store (without reviews) and people have to trust that you're not going to sell them a virus.
- desktopapp 10y ago
  Good SEO, reputation, big market, staying alive long enough that word of mouth starts to mean something.
- mrec 10y ago
  Steam sells non-game application software now. Mostly content creation stuff so far AFAICT; I don't know how strict their acceptance guidelines are.
- jetti 10y ago
  There is the Windows 10 Store now. I'm not sure how many people use it and what the niche that is most popular for customers.
nthState 10y ago
Wowzers! May I ask a few questions? - What category is your app in? - What is an "electron app" - How do you distribute? Mac App Store/Windows/Your own site? Thanks!
- gbrits 10y ago
  not OP, but electon apps: apps based on the Electron framework: https://github.com/electron/electron https://github.com/electron/electron
- desktopapp 10y ago
  Tool. Comment answered next question. Distributed on own site.
Berone 10y ago
If you can point me to one of these niches, I'd give you 15% of revenue generated on it
- desktopapp 10y ago
  People pay money for productivity software/tools. Look at how many tiny ISVs are making fairly large amounts of money selling Git clients. I think 1Password has like 60 employees now. There are companies much larger than 1 person doing screen capture software and large companies selling remote desktop solutions.
  - jv22222 10y ago
    Nice. Some people might be put off by how competitive those spaces are. Don't be! https://blog.nugget.one/2016/10/04/competition-does-not-matter/ https://blog.nugget.one/2016/10/04/competition-does-not-matt...
weaksauce 10y ago
Congrats on your success! A few questions... Why electron over native? How large in scope is your program? How large in scope was your program when you first started? Is it just one program and domain or have you diversified to different areas?
- marpstar 10y ago
  > Why electron over native? Presumably to go cross-platform with less effort.
  - desktopapp 10y ago
    Exactly. Windows is a much much larger market in terms of number of devices and Mac is larger in terms of pros that pay for software. And there is huge value in supporting both. If somebody wants to buy an organization-wide license, they almost certainly have lots of both and if you're being evaluated against a competitor that only supports one platform it is quite the leg up.
ppsg 10y ago
What are your thoughts on various business models? The traditional "sell once, offer paid upgrades" seems to be better suited for apps with a stable feature set, where you can take a year or two to produce the next major version. However, a more iterative approach to development doesn't work with this model very well. The recently popular switch to subscriptions (Adobe, Office, 1Password, Jetbrains, YNAB, etc), while obviously every developer's wet dream, may not sit very well with customers, at least if there's no obvious service being offered (like e.g. Dropbox).
- desktopapp 10y ago
  I think it depends on your software and your price point. You're never going to sell a $20 app as SAAS without a service component. 1Password probably didn't have a long term path forward selling a stand-alone $65 password manager. Certainly something worth thinking about from the beginning. If you can have a desktop app that integrates with a service and have SAAS pricing you will be truly living the dream.
  - thepredestrian 10y ago
    Interesting. What exactly do you mean 'desktop app that integrates with a service'? Any examples?
ztianjin 10y ago
this income is very good. compared with worker in Google and facebook.
zerr 10y ago
> I'd 100% make an electron app Don't do that... there are quite a lot of cross-platform but native ways to develop fast & slick desktop apps.
- jetti 10y ago
  What are other options that are truly native? Also, speed isn't always a factor and Electron can get you up and running quick, especially if you already know Nodejs and HTML
  - zerr 10y ago
    The only electron app I can more or less bare is VS Code, yet I don't use it regularly. For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it. The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.
    - jetti 10y ago
      You didn't answer what other cross-platform are out there. > For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. > The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job. I disagree. It allows people to get up and running with a cross platform app relatively quick. You could then port most of that to a mobile app since a lot of the platforms (if not all of the major ones) allow one to create an app using HTML and javascript. I'm a desktop developer (the only web stuff I've done is working on a Wordpress page) but I still see value in Electron and plan to use it for a project. You get cross platform plus all of the libraries that nodejs has, which is a ton.
      - zerr 10y ago
        > what other cross-platform are out there Qt, wxWidgets, Gtk,... > The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. I have to use it for the job. And yes, I think it is bloatware, memory hog with a non-intuitive UI.

jetti 10y ago

That is some nice revenue. I would assume you have pretty high margins on that as well. How long has your app been released? I'm going down this route and making dev tools that help replace the sucky entrenched big players. I haven't officially launched a proper version (early access is going on now) but I'm hoping that I'll be able to be as successful as you are.

desktopapp 10y ago
Most software sold as a license via a microISV has very little overhead/fixed costs. Whatever you sell you keep. It's been a bit over a decade.
- icedchai 10y ago
  Congrats! You're living the dream. How much time do you spend a week working on this?
  - desktopapp 10y ago
    It's a full time job, with an extra helping of anxiety.

dispose13432 10y ago

How do you sell? That's one of the annoying (and liberating) things about desktops, they don't have an app-store, so you have to run your own store (without reviews) and people have to trust that you're not going to sell them a virus.

desktopapp 10y ago
Good SEO, reputation, big market, staying alive long enough that word of mouth starts to mean something.
mrec 10y ago
Steam sells non-game application software now. Mostly content creation stuff so far AFAICT; I don't know how strict their acceptance guidelines are.
jetti 10y ago
There is the Windows 10 Store now. I'm not sure how many people use it and what the niche that is most popular for customers.

nthState 10y ago

Wowzers! May I ask a few questions? - What category is your app in? - What is an "electron app" - How do you distribute? Mac App Store/Windows/Your own site? Thanks!

gbrits 10y ago
not OP, but electon apps: apps based on the Electron framework: https://github.com/electron/electron https://github.com/electron/electron
desktopapp 10y ago
Tool. Comment answered next question. Distributed on own site.

Berone 10y ago

If you can point me to one of these niches, I'd give you 15% of revenue generated on it

desktopapp 10y ago
People pay money for productivity software/tools. Look at how many tiny ISVs are making fairly large amounts of money selling Git clients. I think 1Password has like 60 employees now. There are companies much larger than 1 person doing screen capture software and large companies selling remote desktop solutions.
- jv22222 10y ago
  Nice. Some people might be put off by how competitive those spaces are. Don't be! https://blog.nugget.one/2016/10/04/competition-does-not-matter/ https://blog.nugget.one/2016/10/04/competition-does-not-matt...

weaksauce 10y ago

Congrats on your success! A few questions... Why electron over native? How large in scope is your program? How large in scope was your program when you first started? Is it just one program and domain or have you diversified to different areas?

marpstar 10y ago
> Why electron over native? Presumably to go cross-platform with less effort.
- desktopapp 10y ago
  Exactly. Windows is a much much larger market in terms of number of devices and Mac is larger in terms of pros that pay for software. And there is huge value in supporting both. If somebody wants to buy an organization-wide license, they almost certainly have lots of both and if you're being evaluated against a competitor that only supports one platform it is quite the leg up.

ppsg 10y ago

What are your thoughts on various business models? The traditional "sell once, offer paid upgrades" seems to be better suited for apps with a stable feature set, where you can take a year or two to produce the next major version. However, a more iterative approach to development doesn't work with this model very well. The recently popular switch to subscriptions (Adobe, Office, 1Password, Jetbrains, YNAB, etc), while obviously every developer's wet dream, may not sit very well with customers, at least if there's no obvious service being offered (like e.g. Dropbox).

desktopapp 10y ago
I think it depends on your software and your price point. You're never going to sell a $20 app as SAAS without a service component. 1Password probably didn't have a long term path forward selling a stand-alone $65 password manager. Certainly something worth thinking about from the beginning. If you can have a desktop app that integrates with a service and have SAAS pricing you will be truly living the dream.
- thepredestrian 10y ago
  Interesting. What exactly do you mean 'desktop app that integrates with a service'? Any examples?

ztianjin 10y ago

this income is very good. compared with worker in Google and facebook.

zerr 10y ago

> I'd 100% make an electron app Don't do that... there are quite a lot of cross-platform but native ways to develop fast & slick desktop apps.

jetti 10y ago
What are other options that are truly native? Also, speed isn't always a factor and Electron can get you up and running quick, especially if you already know Nodejs and HTML
- zerr 10y ago
  The only electron app I can more or less bare is VS Code, yet I don't use it regularly. For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it. The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job.
  - jetti 10y ago
    You didn't answer what other cross-platform are out there. > For others, if I see some desktop app made with electron, I just skip it The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. > The only reason it exist is that web devs do not want to learn right tools for the right job. I disagree. It allows people to get up and running with a cross platform app relatively quick. You could then port most of that to a mobile app since a lot of the platforms (if not all of the major ones) allow one to create an app using HTML and javascript. I'm a desktop developer (the only web stuff I've done is working on a Wordpress page) but I still see value in Electron and plan to use it for a project. You get cross platform plus all of the libraries that nodejs has, which is a ton.
    - zerr 10y ago
      > what other cross-platform are out there Qt, wxWidgets, Gtk,... > The Slack desktop app isn't bad, though I'm not sure if you've tried it. I have to use it for the job. And yes, I think it is bloatware, memory hog with a non-intuitive UI.