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Define profitable, it's extremely easy to build something that generates revenue. The difficult part is to build something that provides enough revenue to supp

by 10dpd 14y ago

Define profitable, it's extremely easy to build something that generates revenue. The difficult part is to build something that provides enough revenue to support 1+ employees, office space, etc

fennecfoxen 14y ago
The economist will refer to something as earning an "economic profit" if it generates more profit than the alternative investment (of time/effort/money). This is, of course, difficult to measure, especially when you consider the worth of intangibles like "I am my own boss" or "I am stressed out and my soul is crushed by the culture of corporate conformity", but there you go. :)
andyfleming 14y ago
And sustainable revenue ;)
withinthreshold 14y ago
I think of profit as residual income (after expenses and overheads), which one can retain/invest or draw.
TamDenholm 14y ago
To me profitable means making more money than it costs to operate. I personally wouldn't count my own time in that equation until I officially draw a salary from it. So if I spent 100 hours making something and spent 5 hours a week maintaining it and it cost £500 a month to run, and the revenue was £501 a month, to me that's profitable. Now obviously it's not profitable enough to keep it in its current state as 5 hours of my time is worth more than £1 but it is worth the time and money investment to make it bring in more revenue.
rfrey 14y ago
"it's extremely easy to build something that generates revenue." For some definition of "easy", I guess.
- bmelton 14y ago
  If you assume costs as follows: - $1 a month for domain - $20 a month for hosting I'd say it shouldn't be terribly difficult to find audience enough to generate enough revenue to cover costs with even just ad revenue on even mediocre projects. Though I should also point out that the word 'revenue' doesn't necessarily equal profit. Are you having a hard time generating even the first penny? What's the niche? Who's the audience? What are the revenue strategies tried?
  - lucaspiller 14y ago
    I've launched a few web apps and a mobile app but have yet to make a single penny. I've a few more as well 'in development', which I may get around to releasing some day... Basically everything I have built is because I found it interesting rather than trying to make money, so I'm not too bothered. However if it is so easy, where are all the "Hello World" tutorials for bringing in revenue?

by 10dpd 14y ago

Define profitable, it's extremely easy to build something that generates revenue. The difficult part is to build something that provides enough revenue to support 1+ employees, office space, etc

fennecfoxen 14y ago

The economist will refer to something as earning an "economic profit" if it generates more profit than the alternative investment (of time/effort/money). This is, of course, difficult to measure, especially when you consider the worth of intangibles like "I am my own boss" or "I am stressed out and my soul is crushed by the culture of corporate conformity", but there you go. :)

andyfleming 14y ago

And sustainable revenue ;)

withinthreshold 14y ago

I think of profit as residual income (after expenses and overheads), which one can retain/invest or draw.

TamDenholm 14y ago

To me profitable means making more money than it costs to operate. I personally wouldn't count my own time in that equation until I officially draw a salary from it. So if I spent 100 hours making something and spent 5 hours a week maintaining it and it cost £500 a month to run, and the revenue was £501 a month, to me that's profitable. Now obviously it's not profitable enough to keep it in its current state as 5 hours of my time is worth more than £1 but it is worth the time and money investment to make it bring in more revenue.

rfrey 14y ago

"it's extremely easy to build something that generates revenue." For some definition of "easy", I guess.

bmelton 14y ago
If you assume costs as follows: - $1 a month for domain - $20 a month for hosting I'd say it shouldn't be terribly difficult to find audience enough to generate enough revenue to cover costs with even just ad revenue on even mediocre projects. Though I should also point out that the word 'revenue' doesn't necessarily equal profit. Are you having a hard time generating even the first penny? What's the niche? Who's the audience? What are the revenue strategies tried?
- lucaspiller 14y ago
  I've launched a few web apps and a mobile app but have yet to make a single penny. I've a few more as well 'in development', which I may get around to releasing some day... Basically everything I have built is because I found it interesting rather than trying to make money, so I'm not too bothered. However if it is so easy, where are all the "Hello World" tutorials for bringing in revenue?