4 ms·

Ask HN: Anyone make good money selling side-projects?

I have a lot of good product ideas, and some partially built ones. But I don't have the cash, or the marketing / sales experience to actually be able to sell them. I'm wondering if I can just build them and sell off the code to make some money on the side.

PaulHoule 3y ago
Sell a product or service to customers or sell the business?
- hardly_a_mirage 3y ago
  Just a product, pre-launch.
  - PaulHoule 3y ago
    Pre-launch is tough. Code can be imitated but traction is priceless. 15 years ago it seemed a good idea to build a large number of content sites on a range of topics because these would collect "link juice" and you could either link to your own money sites or sell them to somebody else who wants to do the same. Many of the people who were doing SEO back then are doing paid ads now so it is probably not such a great idea.
  - saluki 3y ago
    Typically you'll need revenue and can sell at a multiplier. Just building a ready made product with no revenue isn't going to pay for the time you spent coding it. An info product might be a better first step to making income in the near term.
beardyw 3y ago
Making a lot probably means it's not a side project anymore. Do you mean side to begin with, or ongoing? The latter will limit the attention you can give it.
- hardly_a_mirage 3y ago
  I'm currently unemployed and getting a job is turning out to be really tough. So I was wondering if it's a viable strategy to build a complete product, end-to-end and put it out on the market for someone else to purchase and operationalize. I think "side-project" is misleading. What I really meant was "quickly buildable" projects. Some examples of such projects would include a unique LLM-powered content generator, or an AI-based Google Forms, etc remove.bg is a good example of a project in the lines of what I have in mind.
  - beardyw 3y ago
    Remember that 99% of value comes from providing solutions to peoples problems, often quite down to earth ones. Keep that in mind.
  - saluki 3y ago
    Keep interviewing while building, you'll need to be making revenue to sell at a multiplier. So I'd think about building something you would enjoy running. Google and read about the slow SaaS ramp of death. It's probably not an immediate solution to not being able to find a job. Check out Rob Walling and StartUpsForTheRestOfUs, great podcast and lots of great advice. Check out his stair step approach. Basically start out with a simple product. An info product, plugin or package and then keep leveling up to get to a SaaS. Good luck, keep those resumes going out.
  - mattmanser 3y ago
    No, it's probably not. It might be if you had great sales/marketing skills to reach the suckers who might buy that. But you already told us you don't. Have a go, but you should stay focused on getting a job. It's, unfortunately, a numbers game. I don't know your situation, smaybe you don't really need to yet. But I did something similar when I got laid off in 2008, and in hindsight it was a massive waste of time and a way of making myself feel better without doing something actually productive to get a job.
- shyn3 3y ago
  Go do a certification instead, but not a silly one.
ano88888 3y ago
find the most simple sass tool that is generating profits. Copy it and make sure product is solid. Sell it at 30% of their price. Stay lean. It should cover for your income at least if you do it right.
meiraleal 3y ago
You can sell it to many People in marketplaces Live codecanyon

PaulHoule 3y ago

Sell a product or service to customers or sell the business?

hardly_a_mirage 3y ago
Just a product, pre-launch.
- PaulHoule 3y ago
  Pre-launch is tough. Code can be imitated but traction is priceless. 15 years ago it seemed a good idea to build a large number of content sites on a range of topics because these would collect "link juice" and you could either link to your own money sites or sell them to somebody else who wants to do the same. Many of the people who were doing SEO back then are doing paid ads now so it is probably not such a great idea.
- saluki 3y ago
  Typically you'll need revenue and can sell at a multiplier. Just building a ready made product with no revenue isn't going to pay for the time you spent coding it. An info product might be a better first step to making income in the near term.

beardyw 3y ago

Making a lot probably means it's not a side project anymore. Do you mean side to begin with, or ongoing? The latter will limit the attention you can give it.

hardly_a_mirage 3y ago
I'm currently unemployed and getting a job is turning out to be really tough. So I was wondering if it's a viable strategy to build a complete product, end-to-end and put it out on the market for someone else to purchase and operationalize. I think "side-project" is misleading. What I really meant was "quickly buildable" projects. Some examples of such projects would include a unique LLM-powered content generator, or an AI-based Google Forms, etc remove.bg is a good example of a project in the lines of what I have in mind.
- beardyw 3y ago
  Remember that 99% of value comes from providing solutions to peoples problems, often quite down to earth ones. Keep that in mind.
- saluki 3y ago
  Keep interviewing while building, you'll need to be making revenue to sell at a multiplier. So I'd think about building something you would enjoy running. Google and read about the slow SaaS ramp of death. It's probably not an immediate solution to not being able to find a job. Check out Rob Walling and StartUpsForTheRestOfUs, great podcast and lots of great advice. Check out his stair step approach. Basically start out with a simple product. An info product, plugin or package and then keep leveling up to get to a SaaS. Good luck, keep those resumes going out.
- mattmanser 3y ago
  No, it's probably not. It might be if you had great sales/marketing skills to reach the suckers who might buy that. But you already told us you don't. Have a go, but you should stay focused on getting a job. It's, unfortunately, a numbers game. I don't know your situation, smaybe you don't really need to yet. But I did something similar when I got laid off in 2008, and in hindsight it was a massive waste of time and a way of making myself feel better without doing something actually productive to get a job.
shyn3 3y ago
Go do a certification instead, but not a silly one.

ano88888 3y ago

find the most simple sass tool that is generating profits. Copy it and make sure product is solid. Sell it at 30% of their price. Stay lean. It should cover for your income at least if you do it right.

meiraleal 3y ago

You can sell it to many People in marketplaces Live codecanyon