3 ms·

The main costs are salaries and servers.

by rdouble 15y ago

billpatrianakos 15y ago
I'm honestly asking here because I have some experience writing web apps and I know your infrastructure (servers and code) need to be able to withstand the pressure of all the users and you also have to take security into account but couldn't you just either code the app yourself to start with (or hire someone for a few grand, maybe $10k) and use something like a VPS for about $5k a year or less if you use Heroku or so,etching like AWS if you have few users at first? I mean $50 million dollars? Really? For something that's massively successful this makes some sense but when you start to see companies that merely have ideas or half baked products being valued in these ranges you wonder if you really need that much money to run. Then you start to wonder, even if the startup does become wildly popular what do you do about generating revenue? Many of these guys have no plan to actually make money which makes the investment baffling. You can always hope to get swallowed up by a bigger company amd make a buck that way but how likely is it? The market is just flooded with these things. I have a great case in point: I'm working for some people to build a social network for sharing dating stories. It's a real niche but we can't charge for a freemium model because there's nothing valuable enough to charge for. It's a decent idea and the site will surely get some use and maybe even become popular but I doubt its worth investing in. The creators came into this thinking it would be some internet sensation they'd get rich off of and the way things are going I'm beginning to think that if we were in Silicon Valley that maybe a few VCs would be dumb enough to buy into it! I think that's sad.
- rdouble 15y ago
  You don't need much money to start out but the costs add up rather quickly if you have any significant traction. Heroku is one of the more expensive options. You will be hard pressed to find anyone good anywhere on the planet who will work for "a few grand, maybe $10k." $50M is a lot for a half-baked idea, but why worry about what other people's are doing wrong?
  - itmag 15y ago
    Heh, I'm good (and getting better all the time) and I am working for a crap wage (due to lack of a resumé). Then again, this is Sweden... But, the situation is temporary! I'm just a temporarily embarassed millionaire, and all that :)
  - billpatrianakos 15y ago
    How much do good people really cost? I meant 10k as in someone to build the basic functionality and leaving maintenance to someone else, but again, I don't know. It's probably still more than 10k anyway. So you're making total sense and I'm starting to get it but my real point is that the majority of startups don't get traction. Why pump in money and hope for the best? Why not make someone prove themselves before pumping that much money into an idea? That's the part I think is nuts especially know how likely these sites are to fail. Also, I didn't quite understand what you meant with that very last sentence/question. Please explain?

The main costs are salaries and servers.

by rdouble 15y ago

The main costs are salaries and servers.

I'm honestly asking here because I have some experience writing web apps and I know your infrastructure (servers and code) need to be able to withstand the pressure of all the users and you also have to take security into account but couldn't you just either code the app yourself to start with (or hire someone for a few grand, maybe $10k) and use something like a VPS for about $5k a year or less if you use Heroku or so,etching like AWS if you have few users at first? I mean $50 million dollars? Really? For something that's massively successful this makes some sense but when you start to see companies that merely have ideas or half baked products being valued in these ranges you wonder if you really need that much money to run. Then you start to wonder, even if the startup does become wildly popular what do you do about generating revenue? Many of these guys have no plan to actually make money which makes the investment baffling. You can always hope to get swallowed up by a bigger company amd make a buck that way but how likely is it? The market is just flooded with these things. I have a great case in point: I'm working for some people to build a social network for sharing dating stories. It's a real niche but we can't charge for a freemium model because there's nothing valuable enough to charge for. It's a decent idea and the site will surely get some use and maybe even become popular but I doubt its worth investing in. The creators came into this thinking it would be some internet sensation they'd get rich off of and the way things are going I'm beginning to think that if we were in Silicon Valley that maybe a few VCs would be dumb enough to buy into it! I think that's sad.

rdouble 15y ago
You don't need much money to start out but the costs add up rather quickly if you have any significant traction. Heroku is one of the more expensive options. You will be hard pressed to find anyone good anywhere on the planet who will work for "a few grand, maybe $10k." $50M is a lot for a half-baked idea, but why worry about what other people's are doing wrong?
- itmag 15y ago
  Heh, I'm good (and getting better all the time) and I am working for a crap wage (due to lack of a resumé). Then again, this is Sweden... But, the situation is temporary! I'm just a temporarily embarassed millionaire, and all that :)
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  How much do good people really cost? I meant 10k as in someone to build the basic functionality and leaving maintenance to someone else, but again, I don't know. It's probably still more than 10k anyway. So you're making total sense and I'm starting to get it but my real point is that the majority of startups don't get traction. Why pump in money and hope for the best? Why not make someone prove themselves before pumping that much money into an idea? That's the part I think is nuts especially know how likely these sites are to fail. Also, I didn't quite understand what you meant with that very last sentence/question. Please explain?