You can't compare something that requires a critical mass to be useful (app.net, Facebook, Twitter) with issue tracking software. B2B products, like bug tracke

You can't compare something that requires a critical mass to be useful (app.net, Facebook, Twitter) with issue tracking software. B2B products, like bug trackers, can carve a niche and do rather well with just a few hundred or thousand paid customers. Yes, they're not going to all be Atlassian, but a solo founder charging 1,000 people $30 a month can live very comfortably. And you can drift along for a while and not ultimately give up because "the big guys" are 1000x your size. B2C products, like app.net, exist on an entirely different plane. Disclaimer: I run a fairly new project management tool / bug tracker that already has already replaced a considerable amount of my monthly income.