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Recently I've been contemplating about creating something fairly small, that would eventually bring in. ~100K/year. Many would say it's not big enough,or so,but

Recently I've been contemplating about creating something fairly small, that would eventually bring in. ~100K/year. Many would say it's not big enough,or so,but it would allow me to build a decent retirement fund, support many activities that don't cost a fortune but still require money and so on.

imnotreallynew 4y ago
How could you possibly know some product or idea would bring in such a specific amount?
encoderer 4y ago
Do it. That would also be an asset worth anywhere from $100k-500k (depending on the type of business, growth rate, etc).
scubakid 4y ago
Curious to hear more about your idea if you feel like sharing. Is your 100k ARR target an estimate based on research into the space or more like a notional goal you'd be content with reaching?
raunometsa 4y ago
Yes! This is what my site MicroFounder is exactly about and by that, I don't mean you should buy the paid membership (you can build it without paying for any "framework" or community or whatever). I feature new startups built by solo founders on the front page (for free) to show people that it's possible to build a profitable internet startup to pay the bills. Or, to keep the job and build a retirement fund, or travel fund, or whatever. I'd say that every developer should think about it. Yes, of course, work your full time dev job but also start thinking and then building some small startups. Maybe you won't reach $10k MRR in a year (although I have many examples on my site who do) but still, you're starting to move in this direction. And there's this question of "if" – can I succeed? Others are doing it, but me — me personally, can I do it? And I'd say of course, yes, 100% – because it's a matter of making the decision.
- zaroth 4y ago
  I don’t understand why it’s just a one time payment? If you’re doing a micro-startup, you need valuable tools and insight today. You don’t care about 12 months from now. You certainly don’t care about $99 twelve months from now… If it was $99/yr would it decrease your conversion rate even a little bit? For fun, add a toggle to let people set it to not auto-renew and Tell HN a month from now how it went? Don’t actually implement any recurring billing code until 11 months from now, just save sign-up date and what renewal preference they selected in a database somewhere? Possibly never bother even writing the code to kick out people who don’t pay for their renewal? Actually, maybe frame it as a way for micro-startups that succeed with your help, they will basically have a way to keep donating $99 a year to a tool that really helped them, even if they outgrow it? Hmmm… pricing is hard. But lifetime service memberships inevitably become an albatross don’t they? I can tell you this - a $99 customer has lifetime value of $99, but a $99/yr customer has lifetime value of $99 * 1.0 / C. Where C is churn and worst case churn is 1.00 but realistically will be less than 1.00 (100%). In any case, it would be hugely interesting to play with that pricing model!
  - TheSmiddy 4y ago
    >> If you’re doing a micro-startup, you need valuable tools and insight today. You don’t care about 12 months from now. You certainly don’t care about $99 twelve months from now… Exactly, the value is in the present, not in the future. This is so clearly obvious that anybody purchasing it knows that there's no value exchanged for the recurring fee and thus the recurring fee looks like a shady cash grab and is more likely to result in less overall sales.
Kalium 4y ago
There's nothing wrong with a lifestyle business like this. It's just not something you should think about with the "startup" business and financial framework. Those are particular tools that address a particular set of problems. There's a major set of difference between a startup and a small business.

imnotreallynew 4y ago

How could you possibly know some product or idea would bring in such a specific amount?

encoderer 4y ago

Do it. That would also be an asset worth anywhere from $100k-500k (depending on the type of business, growth rate, etc).

scubakid 4y ago

Curious to hear more about your idea if you feel like sharing. Is your 100k ARR target an estimate based on research into the space or more like a notional goal you'd be content with reaching?

raunometsa 4y ago

Yes! This is what my site MicroFounder is exactly about and by that, I don't mean you should buy the paid membership (you can build it without paying for any "framework" or community or whatever). I feature new startups built by solo founders on the front page (for free) to show people that it's possible to build a profitable internet startup to pay the bills. Or, to keep the job and build a retirement fund, or travel fund, or whatever. I'd say that every developer should think about it. Yes, of course, work your full time dev job but also start thinking and then building some small startups. Maybe you won't reach $10k MRR in a year (although I have many examples on my site who do) but still, you're starting to move in this direction. And there's this question of "if" – can I succeed? Others are doing it, but me — me personally, can I do it? And I'd say of course, yes, 100% – because it's a matter of making the decision.

zaroth 4y ago
I don’t understand why it’s just a one time payment? If you’re doing a micro-startup, you need valuable tools and insight today. You don’t care about 12 months from now. You certainly don’t care about $99 twelve months from now… If it was $99/yr would it decrease your conversion rate even a little bit? For fun, add a toggle to let people set it to not auto-renew and Tell HN a month from now how it went? Don’t actually implement any recurring billing code until 11 months from now, just save sign-up date and what renewal preference they selected in a database somewhere? Possibly never bother even writing the code to kick out people who don’t pay for their renewal? Actually, maybe frame it as a way for micro-startups that succeed with your help, they will basically have a way to keep donating $99 a year to a tool that really helped them, even if they outgrow it? Hmmm… pricing is hard. But lifetime service memberships inevitably become an albatross don’t they? I can tell you this - a $99 customer has lifetime value of $99, but a $99/yr customer has lifetime value of $99 * 1.0 / C. Where C is churn and worst case churn is 1.00 but realistically will be less than 1.00 (100%). In any case, it would be hugely interesting to play with that pricing model!
- TheSmiddy 4y ago
  >> If you’re doing a micro-startup, you need valuable tools and insight today. You don’t care about 12 months from now. You certainly don’t care about $99 twelve months from now… Exactly, the value is in the present, not in the future. This is so clearly obvious that anybody purchasing it knows that there's no value exchanged for the recurring fee and thus the recurring fee looks like a shady cash grab and is more likely to result in less overall sales.

Kalium 4y ago

There's nothing wrong with a lifestyle business like this. It's just not something you should think about with the "startup" business and financial framework. Those are particular tools that address a particular set of problems. There's a major set of difference between a startup and a small business.