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Ask HN: Building a side project that makes money. Where to start?

602 points by ihoys ↗ HN
I work for a tech company. The fallacy is that I have so much information about day to day job in my head that I have lost all creative juice. I can code in python with some help but my skills are more towards management and backend data processing.

I want to build a side project. Especially, one that makes money. Even if it brings in $100, I feel that it will provide more satisfaction than my current job.

I don't have any frontend dev skills. Where should I start?

Should I outsource the website development part? I am 31. I am pretty sure learning FE development is not going to be useful anytime soon. With tech stacks, if you don't practise you tend to forget things eventually.

Can you provide some ideas on where to start? What are some simple things I can build by myself? Any ideas?

255 comments

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cheez
Pick someone else's niche making money, tweak it to make it your own, implement. Rinse, repeat until you achieve success.
ams6110
Can't recall where I first heard it, but it was at least 25 years ago.

To be successful, find a successful person. Then do what they do.

xapata
The tough part is figuring out what's causal and what's just correlated.
swalsh
There is something to be said for taking this route. Establishing a new market is really hard, expanding an existing market is much easier. I think its fair to say at this point First mover advantage does not necessarily lock up the market. There are just so many examples. The benefit is you can look at their mistakes. Find a small niche they've neglected, and start iterating.
jjude
Start to teach. Create a course in udemy on what you know (data processing or management). If creating a video course overwhelms you, create a text based course. I'm using softcover to do that. You can check here: https://www.jjude.com/softcover-in-docker/

Creating a course can get you the momentum. You can start there and branch out to other things.

j_s
This is a great idea to gain experience building an audience, something tremendously valuable as you continue to build additional products.
constantinLG
This is great advice. Turn whatever you know right now into a learning opportunity for others. This is what we do at http://teacherr.com, we help others build an audience around their experience and monetize their following by selling information.
dorait
Check out https://www.meetup.com/Code-for-San-Francisco-Civic-Hack-Nig...

Find one similar in your region. If it does not exist, start one.

Coming up with an idea for a product that is useful and that people will pay for is more difficult than actually implementing one.

xapata
Ah yes, with a good idea, the rest is just "a simple matter of implementation."
theparanoid
Look at YCombinator startups, most fail to come up with a product that people will actually pay money for.
builditand
This proves that bad ideas exist, not that the idea is the most important or difficult part.
xapata
Maybe it was the right product, but the implementation was shoddy. We'll never know.
haser_au
Here's my suggestion. Walk down the road to shops in your area (small, family run businesses) and ask if they have a business problem they think IT can solve.

You'd be surprised how little some of these businesses know. I have previously; - Built a travel database in MS Access for a Travel Agent (long time ago) - Ordered and setup ADSL connections and email for a water tank manufacturer and a furniture store - Capture requirements, researched, ordered and installed an office (6 people) worth of IT kit for a not-for-profit (didn't charge them for this work). - Designed and implemented a roster management system for an IT helpdesk for a university.

There are heaps of opportunities. Just have to know where to look.

intrasight
This really is an excellent suggestion. I would add on to it to also talk with local governments as they are increasingly wanting to provide mobile digital services to citizens.

Onto this I will add a suggestion to consider volunteering your services. If you do an outstanding job as a volunteer, then when the organization gets some budget, you'll be first in line to do the work.

pryelluw
This is bad advice because you are not giving them a reaso to pay you. Volunteering is nice and all but never ever give away your product. Offer something related that you can tie in and convert into a sale.
jononor
Don't offer to work for free. If a sizable organization really wants to have a problem solved (and they believe you can do it), they will try their best to find money for it. Just go to the next place / next problem.
thirdsun
Great suggestion.

It's easy to forget the problems non-tech small businesses face when you spend your days on HN. As someone who works at a company that deals with these small businesses I see it everyday. For many of them providing simple solutions that let's them move from pen-and-paper-based solutions to databases and small applications simply feels like the kind of magic we take for granted around here.

antoaravinth
This is very true. I had my friends, who built a simple application for a Medical shop in Chennai,India. The medical shop has around 10+ branches around the city. The application helps them to print the invoice, find medicine across branches, raise for new medicine etc!

It all started when my friends went to each Medical shop and talked about the idea and one of the medical shop clicked.

j_s
This is a great way to start freelancing; be careful to research multiple sources if looking for a multi-customer side project!
superasn
I think you should start something very very small and forget about the money part for now. For me, my most successful project ideas came from problems that I faced during my own site launches.

Since you don't have much knowledge of FE development, I would suggest you keep things Simple Stupid and try to do as much as possible with HTML and jQuery. I have created really complex websites using just PHP and jQuery (sites that have made me 6 figures over time), plus you will learn the real nitty-gritty like DOM manipulation, CSS tricks, etc - which you will need to use anyway at least a few times regardless of the shiny JS framework.

I would highly recommend at this time you don't get sucked into the React, Node, Vue, etc. You will only end up wasting months without nothing to show for it (but maybe I'm just too old school).

Whatever time you have left after that, use it to learn online marketing. Learn about list building, SEO, Copywriting, outreach and affiliate marketing. Because that's how you turn your technology into actual money.

conorcleary
Very helpful, as a geek trying to build a real-world business selling honey.
iman453
Any resources you'd recommend for learning online marketing?
superasn
Assuming you are just starting out first make sure to get the basics right. What I mean by that is stay far away from these "growth hack" sites or any courses that promises you instant results and hacks. They can be useful but unless you are already getting 500 sign-ups / day you don't need them just now. Save your money because there is enough free information on the net to get some really good results and you'll often find more helpful information in the first 3 results of Google than a $2000 course or coaching.

Secondly, The best approach I have learned when it comes to online marketing is to learn from your competition, esp when you are just starting out. Need a catchy headline? Look at the best adword ads (these guys spend a ton optimizing for clicks), need a great landing page.. Ditto, want to learn how to write the best selling emails, subscribe to all your competitors. You never have to start at square one.

pryelluw
You dont really need anything to start. Simply do the following:

- Talk to people about whatever problem you are looking to solve. Leverage social media and join in the conversation. Twitter is a good place to find people to talk to.

- Pay attention to the words people use. All problems have a set of specific keywords that tell you everything about how people feel about it. Use these keywords to communicate with people. Talk with their own words.

- Be consistent. Repetition is key. Say the same thing in different words. Repeating is important. Communicate the same message in similar ways.

That's pretty much what you need. Once you've learned more about the problem and those who have it, you can then leverage that data by using tools to reach more people.

Marketing (all of it) is about comminication. Listen and oay attention. Good luck.

j_s
FWIW: If you're asking about marketing after you've built a product, you're doing things in the wrong order. That's why I've included Rob's Start Small, Stay Small as one of core ideas is market validation. From a review: "not about coding but about [finding] a great niche, building a product that executes at a plateau and make it run automatically"

"The other resource I'd recommend is the one I'm releasing in ~3 weeks :)" https://www.julian.com/learn/growth/intro -- julianshapiro | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14026863

Secret Sauce: The Ultimate Growth Hacking Guide "the only actionable Internet marketing guide out there" (2017) $40 https://www.secretsaucenow.com/ -- austenallred | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13807171

Marketing for Developers "Don’t build another software product no one uses. Discover what people will pay for before you start coding." (2015) $39 https://gumroad.com/l/devmarketingbook -- mijustin | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12034104

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth "I started doing a series of interviews on my blog with successful founders about how they got traction" (2015, 2nd ed.) $15 https://amzn.com/dp/B00TY3ZOMS -- epi0Bauqu / yegg | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10346268

Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup "The book is approaching 11,000 copies sold to date, so it's obviously filled a need." (2010) $10 https://amzn.com/dp/B003YH9MMI -- rwalling | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5361601

These guys all use their own techniques so they love bundling additional stuff besides the ebooks.

davidw
Rob's book is a bit old at this point, but I'd heartily recommend it just the same.
j_s
Yes, it's easily worth the $10 before starting anything; the rest might pay off more once there's a product.
joe563323
What is the website that made 6 figure ?
superasn
There are many, i can't name all of them here but a few old ones are listed in my HN profile.
j_s
Money is a good motivator but it is not the only one.

If you intend to switch to money later, you should probably at least validate the idea before having a great time building something only to find out no one wants it.

yodon
If your goal is to make money, don't allow yourself to write a single line of code until you have talked to people not related to you (and not close friends with you), heard at least two of them independently describe facing the same business problem, and heard both of them say "yes, that would help!" (or better "yes, I would buy that!") in response to your proposed solution.

Finding a real business problem and a real solution is what matters. The tech is just an implementation detail you work out later.

enraged_camel
On the other hand, I've had a lot of success showing people proofs of concept as a way to get the conversation going about various ideas I have. Sometimes people don't know what they want/need until they actually see a pre-alpha version in action.
collyw
Indeed. Most people don't know what is possible let alone what is easy / hard to develop.

The answer to everything in my previous workplace was "another excel sheet" when we had a proper Django application with relational integrity and data validation. Showing them that a few clicks on a web form was easier than what they were used to - copy pasting data from one web page, pasting it back into an excel, reformatting it and uploading it, followed by a ton of data validation errors.

daliwali
>The tech is just an implementation detail you work out later.

Are so-called "tech" startups even about technology anymore? They are more and more focused on extracting value than innovating anything. Consider the focus on sales, marketing, advertising as of late and ask yourself if the greatest minds of this generation should be spending their efforts on making people buy stuff they don't need.

TeeJay942
OP isn't looking to build the next great tech startup. Just a side project that makes money.
herbst
I have 2 SaaS. One that fit this advice and one that didn't. The one that did is a year old without a sale. The one that I had no one in mind that would pay for it was profitable from month one. However both were bigger weekend projects I wouldnt spend much more than that on it
techbubble
Side projects that also do some public good might be a good avenue for you to consider. I built Walkstarter https://walkstarter.org a free walkathon fundraising platform for public schools as a side project. The experience is fantastic. I continue to develop my skills, e-meet new people, and the platform is on track to raise a very satisfying $1 million for schools.
davidjnelson
A simple way to make $100+/month is writing short books, articles, and giving away things like software and putting adsense ads on the site.
hoschicz
Do you have any experience with this?
davidjnelson
Yes, feel free to email me at the address in my profile if I can help.
oldmancoyote
Before you get deeply into what you are going to sell, consider how you are going to market it. Marketing is a * * *! Successful marketing is harder than programming a product, much harder and more problematic. Just ask the folks trying to sell iOS apps when there are about 2 million apps on the market. Lining up a buyer for a custom product before you begin (as some here have suggested) sounds very attractive to me.
mendeza
Get some inspiration from indie hackers.com . I have been wanting to do something similar and there are tons of great advice and wisdom from solo developers building their own businesses.
roycehaynes
Spend a few days identifying problems people pay for, particularly easy problems that you can build yourself. The key is that the solution has to be fairly easy to build since you're not comfortable full-stack. Once you've chose a solution that already makes money solving a problem, build the same solution but position it for either a niche market or make a better product than competitors.

I would at minimum leverage bootstrap or semantic ui as your ui. Otherwise, hire someone to do the web interface for you.

roycehaynes
My last advice is pursue traction in addition to building a product.
wordpressdev
You can start with what you already know and then build over it, or diversify, with time. The easiest way to monetize your knowledge to create a blog and link it up with social media (twitter, FB, youtube etc).

For example, you can write about management and backend data processing (what you do at work). This way, you don't have to learn something new to start your side project (except maybe how to manage a blog). The blog can be monetized via Ad networks like Adsense and Amazon affiliate program etc. As you grow, you may take in direct advertisers, sponsored content etc.

encoderer
As a software engineer who has built a side project that more or less pays my Bay Area mortgage here is my advice:

Find an idea that plays to your strengths and build something with a friend/coworker who is a better frontend developer. A good partner is invaluable, and with this you can already see how.

Also, charge on day one imo.

Swizec
Step 1: "Pay Me" button

You'll be amazed by how many ideas you never have to waste time building, if you put up a paywall and nobody pays.

fuckemem
I did this once with a msi to exe converter idea (was getting a lot of traffic on a free page I set up). So I set up a form and after 2 months I got a $20 sale. So I decided to refund him and not to build it.
bikamonki
List down 25 products/services you consume regularly. For each, ask whether a better version could be done. Yes? Do it.

Here's one case: the local/popular site to search for used cars sucks. It is slow, hard to see/compare all options, silly reloads the page on each added filter, filled with outdated listings, flooded with ads, and pic slides take forever (all of this on my slow phone over a slow 3g which is how most visitors must be using it). Furthermore, car dealers (who post most listings) complain about service and price. So I built the proverbial mvp and put it in the hands of my marketing partner (you won't sell a line of code if you do not partner with a person/company dedicated to push your stuff) who's already working on a deal with the used car dealers association, pitching a novel business plan, hopefully making some passive income for both of us.

maaaats
It's not passive just because it's a side business.
daliwali
To me this sounds boring, it may turn into a profitable business but it's nothing innovative. If you limit yourself to what you currently use and try to incrementally improve it, new ideas will rarely come out of that unless you approach the problem from a radically different angle. Good ideas are underrated in this regard.
ecaradec
Stackoverflow definitly fit that description, I wouldn't call it uninovative. Incremental changes often make all the difference.
mikekchar
This is going to sounds like crazy advice, but having worked on many side projects in my life the last thing that's going to let you down is your skills. What you really need is time. Let's say it takes you 400 hours to build your project -- in those 400 hours, you will build up enough skills to get you started (not nearly enough to be good at it, but good enough).

So you need to work consistently 1-2 hours a day on your side project. It really doesn't matter what you do. If you manage to get those 1-2 hours in, you will muddle through and accomplish something. If your goal is to make a side project and bring in a non-zero amount of money, this is achievable. Learn whatever you learn on that project and then do it again.

Personally, I would spend exactly $0 on your task because, like I said, the thing that will kill you in the end is likely to be time commitment. If you spend money, you will be out the money and your time. So start with time and see where it takes you.

As others have said, no need to get fancy. Just build the simplest thing that will get you started, using the simplest tools you can find.

ssijak
My biggest problem is in "no need to get fancy". Do not know how to overcome that urge to overengineer everything in the start and how to be satisfied with minimal working thing even if it looks like crap.
Touche
You can always make it fancy later. Having shipped a project and seeing people using it is very rewarding.
JaumeGreen
I noticed that, as I get older, I tend to have less time, and so I try to optimize my time.

When you don't have an hour a day to work on your side project, but 15 minutes a week, then you do what is needed for it to start working, even if it's not perfect or far from what you wanted.

If you have plenty of time try to make the smallest thing that does approximately what you want. Then iterate over it, but always small but fully functional incremental changes. Don't be afraid of having to throw it away, no need to get it right the first time.

wpietri
You don't have to feel satisfied. You're supposed to feel unsatisfied with an MVP. If you didn't, you wouldn't have the drive to build anything better.

For me, I use three other feelings to combat my high standards.

One is fear. In particular, fear that I'm building a bunch of stuff that won't work. It's the same fear that drives me to write automated tests, or at least to manually run something and see that it works. Except here the fear is that it might work for me but not for my audience.

Another is rigor. This part feels very sciencey to me. I'm trying to test the hypotheses that are implicit in the thing I'm making (and that I've hopefully at least tried to make explicit before I start coding). I want to test my hypotheses as early as possible, and when I don't I start to feel like I'm not being rigorous.

The third is joy in results. The early tests are only looking for one step forward. If that's all I'm looking for, it is really exciting to see that. And so I temporarily set aside my concerns about all the things I'm not testing for and celebrate the wins when I get 'em.

metakermit
> So you need to work consistently 1-2 hours a day on your side project.

I would underline this consistency. I found that as long as I'm regularly doing even the tiniest of improvements to my side-project, I am very efficient over the span of a few months. When due to other obligations I drop the habit, I start forgetting how parts of the codebase work. It becomes harder to restart the project and the whole thing just seems depressing. Consistency is key!

Also, I would recommend checking out Indie Hackers if you need inspiration :)

https://www.indiehackers.com/

garysieling
I agree with the consistency thing too. I built a search engine for talks (https://www.findlectures.com), which has a UI plus lots of little scraper/ETL utilities.

If I have a small block of time (1-2 hours), I try to make 2-6 really small commits, so there is always progress.

If I have a larger block (4-6 hours) I try to build out a feature so it just works, just working on things that require that amount of time (leave all the short problems for later).

I found this also affects my decisions about what tools I use and how the software is designed. E.g. using npm libraries for UI components that are "good enough", which I might be tempted to start from scratch in a work environment. I also intentionally built an application that is easy to manage - no user accounts means no database to pay for / migrate / monitor.

I'm using Heroku to outsource monitoring/logging, and Aweber for email. Paid tools can be cheap compared to the time it would take to replace them, and if you don't pay for one of these, your side project turns into building those products as well.

drrob
"What you really need is time". This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This...this.

Over the last 6 months I've finally had the chance to a big bulk of my working hours to my main side-project, and it's taking shape very nicely. This is after starting it 3 years ago. Time and concentration are the biggest hurdles to getting anything off the ground.

icoder
I want to add that in my experience, it is not so much about 'time' as an objective thing. Instead, especially for dev work, I would argue it's more about 'energy' (or 'focus', 'attention', 'willpower').

Or maybe you need both and the latter is more my limiting factor at the moment.

inputcoffee
That's a good point. I find I am more productive in the mornings.
snarf21
I agree with you that time is the big limiting factor. I think the other trap that people fall into is starting a side project that is too big. If you can't finish it in less than 2 months, odds are that you never will. Focus on something specific enough that it does something after two months. Then do v2.0 or switch to a new project.

I've personally found the "don't spend money" part to be demotivating. I have several projects running and was paying a low cost designer for a small number of hours per week. This is kind of like having a company without long term commitments. It helps to keep me motivated since I need to keep work ready for him each week. Plus, I've made a personal commitment to pay him regardless. I don't want to waste money or his time so the project naturally keeps some momentum. This may not work for everyone but is like a "go to the gym with a buddy" plan that helps me. YMMV

xemdetia
I think there is a lot of value to what is said here with regard to external expectation. Use the people around you to ask after your side project to make sure you don't stall. If having a recurring bill for a node on EC2 is enough to keep you going then that is good enough.

The other thing I recommend is clock your time and be honest with yourself. It helps you know you actually spent 2 hours working on something and also has a constant action to keep progress going forward. You still need to rest so this has to be part of your clock.

Touche
I disagree with "2 months". It's definitely true that launching early is the way to go. I think the biggest thing is continuing momentum. If you commit to working on the project every day for 1-2 like some others have said, you will accomplish small little things each day, and that will motivate you to continue.
snarf21
Yeah, I wasn't implying that you should have to "launch" anything by two months. Picking something small enough is important so you can say that part is "done". You can then iterate on v2 and keep building momentum or decide that it is too big or not interesting and start again with something else. I think the momentum of 2 hours a day is great but I think it has to have a goal. I think picking a goal that is 2 months out is a good size and will help you focus.
inputcoffee
But isn't time a function of skill?

To put it another way, if you had a lot of practice at building CRUD apps, have your IDE set up, know the short cuts, might it take you 40 hours where someone else needs 400?

In that case, time and skill would be fungible. (Or, skill can be thought of as "stored time.")

thinkmassive
This exact question is addressed in the book "Grit" by Angela Duckworth. I highly recommend reading the book, but to summarize her findings on this question...

    talent x effort = skill
    skill x effort = achievement
So yes, you can achieve more by starting with a higher level of skill, however putting in effort (through deliberate practice) is the best way to increase both your skill and achievement (talent x effort^2).
averageweather
So true. I started side projects so many times without staying consistent and it created this self fulfilling prophecy of "I'm not good enough at coding, I can't build a real web app". Then for http://www.averageweather.io I finally decided to just keep working at it every day. After a few months I was comfortable with python, Django, js, heroku, and postgres to the point where I felt I could build anything I wanted if I just put in the time.

Then something like http://www.thealccalc.com took me like an hour since it is far less complex.

So ya, just keep at it, google for answers to your questions and just keep learning.

pesfandiar
You argue that time is the limiting factor, and I tend to agree with that. However, you advice against spending any money, which can potentially buy you much time if spent properly.

Paying for some of the grunt work or tasks that require learning new skills will free you up to do the more exciting tasks. Not only will this save you time, it also keeps you motivated and helps you keep up your daily cadence.

jtraffic
The time thing really resonates with me. I've had this crazy idea rolling around in my mind for a few months. It's basically a sabbatical for the private sector. I haven't devised a good model, but it's like: "we'll pay for a 3 month vacation, you give us equity in return." The main problem, of course, is the incentive to take a risk-free vacation and do nothing.

I think the problem to be solved is: lots of people dream of doing something, but risk aversion stops them from going all in. As a side project, the idea starves. If you could decrease the risk, more people would try new projects, and some of them would be really valuable.

Ironically, I don't want to quit my job to pursue this

patleeman
This is an interesting idea, would this not be similar to an incubator?

I have a similar problem where I have a side project but can't really quit my job and work full time on it.

jtraffic
Yeah, I guess it is basically an incubator, except people wouldn't fully commit. My impression is that most incubators screen applicants for commitment, and that it's a really important component. I can't really provide hard evidence of my impression.

Here, the worry would be free riding.

dotchev
Talking about simplest tools, which are those for frontend development?
hkmurakami
Find customers first. Then build what they want to buy.
nurettin
Not sure if I should share this, as it is a trivial and obvious thing to do. Recently I created a ramen-profitable on google play with currently a couple of thousand users.

The idea is to look for apps that have low ratings, high downloads and lots of recent comments, then make them better. You can use synonyms and the same niche category to increase visibility on google play. This is where the money is.

arikr
Ad supported or paid?
nurettin
Ads are awful. It is currently a one-time purchase. Edit: this is one more thing that others were doing wrong.

Edit: Google ads are inane in my localization. You mostly get adult lines and "you caught a virus" scams despite opting out. Google doesn't seem to do anything about it despite complaints. I get paid because I removed the ads (even from demo version) and I do it gladly. Good riddance.

icoder
Reminds me of the time an ad managed to somehow break out of its boundaries and present the user with a popup. It still amazes me, this was Google Adsense for Android, but I saw it with my own eyes. And guess who received the bad reviews..
ollieco
How are you monetising it? Is it a paid app (upfront/in-app purchase)?
nurettin
I opted for in-app because then I won't have to manage two releases on play store. (demo/free app and paid app)
e12e
Don't worry, I've thought about doing something similar - I'm sure others have too. Still not so many people doing it that your niche will dissappear.

Would be interesting if you would plug your app(s) though. Might boost your sales too :-)

nurettin
It is a highly localized radio player. Reduced data usage seems to be highly demanded by customers and other app owners tell users it's impossible. But I know nothing is impossible :-)

I am currently experimenting with a streaming proxy that will channel data with 60-70% reduced quality (for customers who aren't audiophiles).

thanksgiving
Like everything in engineering, I imagine it is a balancing act.

I'm often amazed how good enough downsampled 480p video can be (e.g. on YouTube). If you're solving a problem for people, +1 to you.

SyneRyder
> Not sure if I should share this, as it is a trivial and obvious thing to do...

Probably worth linking here to Derek Sivers' post "Obvious To You, Amazing To Others": https://sivers.org/obvious

I've heard of your method before, but I first read it in Fast Company in a story called The Amazon Whisperer, and while it might seem obvious now, I thought it was amazing when I first read it: https://www.fastcompany.com/3021229/chaim-pikarski-the-amazo...

_jdams
That article on FastCompany about the Amazon Whisperer is incredibly eye-opening. Thanks for linking
AznHisoka
This is the only non-vague, useful comment to this thread so far. A specific tactic that can be practically applied.
j_s
This technique also works for Wordpress plugins, and just about any other paid category with reviews.

You can go into wordpress.org, just take a look at the download numbers and it will tell you flat out like whether somebody’s downloads are increasing overtime or are they decreasing, when the last updates were, all that kind of information. And you can get a sense from that information alone as to whether or not it would be possible to put another plugin that offers similar functionality

http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-249-f... (search "12:54")

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humanbot
A quick list of such apps:

(Tools) Claro downloads: 10000000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) Free Music Download downloads: 5000000 rating: 2.3

(Simulation) Laser 100 Beams Funny Joke downloads: 5000000 rating: 2.6

(Racing) Liberty Auto downloads: 5000000 rating: 2.7

(News & Magazines) PressReader (preinstalled) downloads: 5000000 rating: 2.9

(Tools) SAMSUNG TV & Remote (IR) downloads: 5000000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) MYTF1 downloads: 5000000 rating: 3.0

(News & Magazines) Hürriyet e-gazete downloads: 5000000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) NetMovies downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.2

(Communication) SoftBankメール downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.2

(Entertainment) YouTube for Android TV downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.4

(Lifestyle) NissanConnect downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.4

(Entertainment) blim downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.6

(Travel & Local) HRS App downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.6

(Simulation) Night Vision Camera Prank downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.6

(Action) Dead Drunk Lover (very hard) downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.6

(Arcade) Happy Win Bro The Wheels Mode downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.7

(Simulation) Face scanner What age Prank downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.7

(Finance) (앱연동) Droid-X 안드로이드 백신 downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.7

(Board) Twist Your Fingers! downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Lifestyle) U+TV앱(리모콘) downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Tools) Universal TV Remote downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Simulation) Woman Hypnosis simulator downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Finance) 앱프리 - 전자서명, 앱프리 downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Music & Audio) Virtual Flute downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Books & Reference) T-Mobile eReader downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.8

(Tools) KSfilemanager for FUJITSU downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.9

(Casual) Funny voice changer! downloads: 1000000 rating: 2.9

(Tools) Universal TV Remote downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Simulation) Adult Stunner Simulator downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Arcade) City Craft: Building downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Simulation) Iron Glove Laser Simulator downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Lifestyle) Mos Burger downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Tools) Too Many Items FREE downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) B tv plus downloads: 1000000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) Smart-AC Universal Remote Free downloads: 500000 rating: 1.7

(Communication) Visual Voicemail Plus downloads: 500000 rating: 1.9

(Racing) Car Driving Simulator downloads: 500000 rating: 2.2

(Finance) NFC Pass downloads: 500000 rating: 2.3

(Travel & Local) VZ Navigator for CasioCommando downloads: 500000 rating: 2.3

(Lifestyle) ARITAUM downloads: 500000 rating: 2.3

(Photography) Photo Eraser downloads: 500000 rating: 2.4

(Communication) 안전신문고 downloads: 500000 rating: 2.4

(Simulation) Pocket ball hologram simulator downloads: 500000 rating: 2.5

(Entertainment) PLUS7 downloads: 500000 rating: 2.6

(Action) Pixelmon Hero GO downloads: 500000 rating: 2.7

(Lifestyle) REALTOR.ca downloads: 500000 rating: 2.7

(Simulation) Pet Spook Simulator downloads: 500000 rating: 2.7

(Entertainment) TOPModel Community App downloads: 500000 rating: 2.8

(Casual) Juegos de Vestir downloads: 500000 rating: 2.8

(Tools) Dog Whistle PRO downloads: 500000 rating: 2.8

(Entertainment) Weight Machine Scanner Prank downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Tools) Quick Measure downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Entertainment) TVチューナー downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Sports) Combate Play downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Video Players & Editors) WatchBig! downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Lifestyle) KT 인증 downloads: 500000 rating: 2.9

(Arcade) hunting craft survival war downloads: 500000 rating: 3.0

(Arcade) Ender Dragon Mod for Minecraft downloads: 500000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) Telewizja Tu i Tam downloads: 500000 rating: 3.0

(Entertainment) Sky Sports Mobile TV downloads: 500000 rating: 3.0

(Health & Fitness) Heart Rate Tester downloads: 500000 rating: 3.0...

bbayer
How did you query such list?
humanbot
crawled google play data earlier and filtered offline.
bbayer
Thanks for the reply. Did you face any issues during crawling process like access restrictions. If you share your practice I will be appreciated.
humanbot
My crawler is modified from https://github.com/KopLyf/GPlayCrawler. Crawled 100k+ apps without any access issue.
nurettin
I just tested this with `apt install python-scrapy python-pymongo && scrapy crawl google`. It seems to download one by one.

Edit: Interesting, it also downloads comments in my locale. Google play seems to be responding according to my IP information.

pbreit
First, you need to turn your attitude around and be a lot more positive.

With respect to a project I'll let you in on a secret: if your service does something valuable, it doesn't have to look pretty.

JayeshSidhwani
You can work with freelance companies [like https://indiez.io/] This will mean that you can pair up with someone who has complementary skills + not worry about getting the projects yourself.
ssijak
Freelance === passive income, kaboooom
[dead] jonasae
Forget about technology and focus on business.

First do what @roycehaynes says: Identify needs. I add: Choose something you can actually do/sell.

And then validate the model with cheap tech: fire some emails, contact your potential customers by phone, use a spreadsheet as CRM, use paypal to charge them.

Unless you are providing IT services, technology shouldn't be your main concern.

Tezos
Yup instead of starting a side project you should acquire some tezos blockchain token and build IOT project on top of it when the network launch

You dont need frontend skills

OpenDrapery
What does acquiring the token do for you?
gsylvie
Here's what I did: at work I needed something. (A git commit graph). But the one I found was #1. buggy, and #2. too expensive. It wasn't my money, but I just couldn't allow my company to pay that much.

So I made my own, and fixed the bug: http://bit-booster.com/best.html

And then I realized I needed a rebase button on the pull-request screen... and so it continues to evolve.

Here's the thing: I've always known I'm a good maintenance programmer. I've always preferred working on existing software instead of making new software from scratch. And writing add-ons for Bitbucket is basically just another form of maintenance programming: reading Bitbucket's code, noticing its flaws and shortcomings, and fixing them.

Also, I love git, and I love going very deep into git (e.g., https://github.com/gsylvie/git-reverse.sh). So this is my dream job.

I've only made $7,000 USD after 1 year on this side project. But $1 of those dollars feels better than $10,000 from my day job.

cstrat
That is pretty awesome.

I've done the maths. They say money can't buy you happiness but we all have our number. It looks like your number is around $70,000,000.

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fiftyacorn
Its a nice product - the curves remind me of the london underground map
danielsamuels
Have you considered simplifying your pricing structure? ;)
gsylvie
I've set 25-user at $112 and 50-user at $225 for a specific reason. Atlassian pays us add-on vendors monthly, but only once we've done $666.67 in sales since the previous remittance.

Atlassian dictates the maintenance renewal price: 50% of initial price for customer to extend maintenance by 1-year.

I've only been at this 1-year, so I don't know what the renewal scene is like. But I suspect renewals are good in this market, since enterprise customers often have policy requiring all their software be supported.

amelius
I have the strong feeling that there isn't much money in software tooling.

Also, like it or not, any successful product will eventually be replaced by an open-source equivalent.

AznHisoka
You can be both successful and open source. Look at sidekiq as an example.
gsylvie
Yes, software tooling is not a huge market compared to say, JIRA. My add-on is 287th place for sales in the last 30 days ($2800). Most of the add-ons ahead of me are for JIRA or Confluence: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/addons/top-selling

Successful tooling often faces competition from open source. But I'm still using IntelliJ...

qin
Baffled why nobody has mentioned https://www.indiehackers.com/ yet.

If you're looking for some inspiration from others who've built revenue-generating side projects and businesses, I'd start here.

richev
Build something that you yourself find useful (and that you can reasonably assume will be useful to other people too).