5 ms·

Im curious what percentage of living expenses are covered by the project for the author. I have a few products generating over 50% of my yearly expenses and am

by nhance 3y ago

Im curious what percentage of living expenses are covered by the project for the author. I have a few products generating over 50% of my yearly expenses and am feeling like going full time is almost a possibility now. A bit too nervous to pull the trigger just yet

samwillis 3y ago
I pulled that trigger later than I could have, I was earning 2x my salary from my side project before I quit. At 50% if you can see an upward trend, ~6 months savings, and have a plan that the time will give you to execute, got for it.
- bombcar 3y ago
  The "main thing" is how hard it would be to get back in the business (i.e, get a job) if the whole thing explodes. Also if you're going to quit anyway, you might as well ask the company you currently work for if they'll let you go on sabbatical, or part time, or consulting. That can give you a bit of extra runway/feeling of security.
  - valval 3y ago
    I suppose you can go back to any of the previous points in your CV as a software professional in today’a day and age if you never burned any bridges. Especially so if you make it obvious in your current job that you’re only leaving because it’s time to try your own thing - if it doesn’t end up working, people are likely to be very understanding.
    - marginalia_nu 3y ago
      It's not like I'm doing nothing for these upcoming years. Dunno what you're doing wrong if you can't land a job with a built-from-scratch internet search engine on your resume.
      - bombcar 3y ago
        In general all you need is an explanation for a break in work history and there are billions that will satisfy interviewers and HR; at worst just say “health reasons” and then sue when you don’t get the job ;) (/sarcasm)
      - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
        But can you pass LeetCode :-)
marginalia_nu 3y ago
Author here o/ In general I've had like infrequent but large influx of money from the project, so it's hard to answer. Although I have relatively long runway, no small thanks to nlnet for their generous grant. On some level it's all a gamble. Either I try to make this work somehow, or I close up shop and keep working as an office drone, because I really can't keep doing both. My hope is that I'm able to make it work on a wikipedia-like model donation model, maybe supplemented with selling commercial API access (access is free CC-BY-NC-SA). My burn rate is literally my living expenses plus a hundred dollars per month of service costs to I don't have to be spectacularly profitable to sustain flight. ... all that is contingent on making it work quite a lot better than it does now, so I guess I have my work cut out for me. It's also a weird project, since it's had an almost absurdly positive reaction. For example, many people develop a search engine and get almost lynched on HN for not working exactly like Google or not dealing with some query as expected. Someone found a link to my barely working search engine that didn't properly support multiple-keyword queries and this happens: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764
- jerf 3y ago
  If nothing else, you could open with just a Patreon or something. Basically as a way of outsourcing the "subscription revenue" implementation until such time as something direct yourself makes sense.
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    I do have a Patreon, but I guess people aren't finding it and/or have ad-blindness to the words 'donate' and 'patreon' ;P
    - abnercoimbre 3y ago
      I recommend saying 'Patreon' instead of 'Donate' on the site's main navigation menu! It does have a stronger effect because they'll associate it with a human being behind the screen.
    - 3y ago

by nhance 3y ago

samwillis 3y ago

I pulled that trigger later than I could have, I was earning 2x my salary from my side project before I quit. At 50% if you can see an upward trend, ~6 months savings, and have a plan that the time will give you to execute, got for it.

bombcar 3y ago
The "main thing" is how hard it would be to get back in the business (i.e, get a job) if the whole thing explodes. Also if you're going to quit anyway, you might as well ask the company you currently work for if they'll let you go on sabbatical, or part time, or consulting. That can give you a bit of extra runway/feeling of security.
- valval 3y ago
  I suppose you can go back to any of the previous points in your CV as a software professional in today’a day and age if you never burned any bridges. Especially so if you make it obvious in your current job that you’re only leaving because it’s time to try your own thing - if it doesn’t end up working, people are likely to be very understanding.
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    It's not like I'm doing nothing for these upcoming years. Dunno what you're doing wrong if you can't land a job with a built-from-scratch internet search engine on your resume.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      In general all you need is an explanation for a break in work history and there are billions that will satisfy interviewers and HR; at worst just say “health reasons” and then sue when you don’t get the job ;) (/sarcasm)
    - HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
      But can you pass LeetCode :-)

marginalia_nu 3y ago

Author here o/ In general I've had like infrequent but large influx of money from the project, so it's hard to answer. Although I have relatively long runway, no small thanks to nlnet for their generous grant. On some level it's all a gamble. Either I try to make this work somehow, or I close up shop and keep working as an office drone, because I really can't keep doing both. My hope is that I'm able to make it work on a wikipedia-like model donation model, maybe supplemented with selling commercial API access (access is free CC-BY-NC-SA). My burn rate is literally my living expenses plus a hundred dollars per month of service costs to I don't have to be spectacularly profitable to sustain flight. ... all that is contingent on making it work quite a lot better than it does now, so I guess I have my work cut out for me. It's also a weird project, since it's had an almost absurdly positive reaction. For example, many people develop a search engine and get almost lynched on HN for not working exactly like Google or not dealing with some query as expected. Someone found a link to my barely working search engine that didn't properly support multiple-keyword queries and this happens: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28550764

jerf 3y ago
If nothing else, you could open with just a Patreon or something. Basically as a way of outsourcing the "subscription revenue" implementation until such time as something direct yourself makes sense.
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  I do have a Patreon, but I guess people aren't finding it and/or have ad-blindness to the words 'donate' and 'patreon' ;P
  - abnercoimbre 3y ago
    I recommend saying 'Patreon' instead of 'Donate' on the site's main navigation menu! It does have a stronger effect because they'll associate it with a human being behind the screen.
  - 3y ago