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Do you think the costs involved in hosting a large scale web application could be paid for entirely from donations?
by maresca 16y ago
Do you think the costs involved in hosting a large scale web application could be paid for entirely from donations?
- charliepark 16y agoI would doubt that a "large scale web application" would be covered by donations, unless it were truly exceptional, like Wikipedia. I certainly wouldn't want to bank on it. But it's possible. I was interpreting your comment about not having an eye for "riches" as meaning that you weren't looking for the big exit that many of the founders at HN are looking for (see the conversations a few weeks back about how retiring on $4MM might not be "possible"). "A successful startup" could just mean that it covers its own costs and teaches you something along the way. At least, I'm open to that interpretation. Some at HN would describe that dismissively as a lifestyle business. Bottom line: I don't know what your needs are for launching and maintaining the app. At some point, you'll need to decide who's going to pay for the costs: you (out of pocket), the users (through donations or subscriptions), or a third party (advertisers or data miners). Without some external source of funds, it'll fall back to you. That might not be a bad thing, but if you truly are talking about a "large scale web application" along the order of ... well ... even modest successes like Quora or Outright or something ... well ... the money's going to need to come from somewhere. I wouldn't count on donations being the source. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
- charliepark 16y agoI should qualify my comment about "modest successes" ... I have no idea what Quora or Outright look like from the inside. They could be wildly successful based on whatever metrics they have in place. I was just trying to differentiate that level of success from the Facebooks and Twitters.