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I sell an excel add-in that integrates with some popular trading software. It makes life easier for traders. It has a couple thousand users paying around $10 a

I sell an excel add-in that integrates with some popular trading software. It makes life easier for traders. It has a couple thousand users paying around $10 a month. That's about as specific as I want to get. It required a little domain specific knowledge to create, and a recognized name among trading forums to initially market. Otherwise it's super simple and I'm continually surprised that there are no real competitors.

dsiegel2275 4y ago
That is the exact niche type of side project that I dream about. Though, with "a couple thousand users paying around $10 a month" that is hardly a side project anymore, given the annual revenue north of $200K.
- kilbuz 4y ago
  Pin money in the Bay unfortunately!
  - petesergeant 4y ago
    But enough to retire off a decade or two early if you set up somewhere low-tax and cheap-to-live
- exceltrading 4y ago
  I was quite lucky. It will help fund an early retirement.
- cosmodisk 4y ago
  This is an example of such software: https://www.xappex.com/ https://www.xappex.com/ Basically allows to edit Salesforce data directly in excel. I bet they've got thousands of users.
jdthedisciple 4y ago
So you're a SaaS basically?
- dsiegel2275 4y ago
  Spreadsheet as a Subscription?
  - giarc 4y ago
    I've tried this with Google Sheets add-ons. It can be hard since there is no built in payment method so I end up using lots of API calls to Stripe to check for current subscription status. However, you have to get the user to subscribe on one site and install the add-on on another.
    - exceltrading 4y ago
      Yes, about half my code and effort is handling stuff that an "app store" usually would.
      - sokoloff 4y ago
        Things like this put the "a 30% cut is outrageous!" into a different perspective for me.
        majani 4y ago
        I think what's more outrageous is that more devs don't find it worth to do a website yourself and get a 10x cost reduction on transaction fees
        CamelRocketFish 4y ago
        Which is even better now that it’s 15% for small business
        jerome-jh 4y ago
        It is still outrageous because those two big ones make a huge economy of scale. They did not develop a payment method for a single app but for millions.
daenz 4y ago
How did you do marketing?
- exceltrading 4y ago
  I had spent years building a reputation in various forums, chat rooms, etc. I had released some free software that a bunch of people used. So it wasn't hard to get users when I released a paid product. I'm not sure this side project could be achieved any other way.

dsiegel2275 4y ago

That is the exact niche type of side project that I dream about. Though, with "a couple thousand users paying around $10 a month" that is hardly a side project anymore, given the annual revenue north of $200K.

kilbuz 4y ago
Pin money in the Bay unfortunately!
- petesergeant 4y ago
  But enough to retire off a decade or two early if you set up somewhere low-tax and cheap-to-live
exceltrading 4y ago
I was quite lucky. It will help fund an early retirement.
cosmodisk 4y ago
This is an example of such software: https://www.xappex.com/ https://www.xappex.com/ Basically allows to edit Salesforce data directly in excel. I bet they've got thousands of users.

jdthedisciple 4y ago

So you're a SaaS basically?

dsiegel2275 4y ago
Spreadsheet as a Subscription?
- giarc 4y ago
  I've tried this with Google Sheets add-ons. It can be hard since there is no built in payment method so I end up using lots of API calls to Stripe to check for current subscription status. However, you have to get the user to subscribe on one site and install the add-on on another.
  - exceltrading 4y ago
    Yes, about half my code and effort is handling stuff that an "app store" usually would.
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      Things like this put the "a 30% cut is outrageous!" into a different perspective for me.
      - majani 4y ago
        I think what's more outrageous is that more devs don't find it worth to do a website yourself and get a 10x cost reduction on transaction fees
      - CamelRocketFish 4y ago
        Which is even better now that it’s 15% for small business
      - jerome-jh 4y ago
        It is still outrageous because those two big ones make a huge economy of scale. They did not develop a payment method for a single app but for millions.

daenz 4y ago

How did you do marketing?

exceltrading 4y ago
I had spent years building a reputation in various forums, chat rooms, etc. I had released some free software that a bunch of people used. So it wasn't hard to get users when I released a paid product. I'm not sure this side project could be achieved any other way.