Ask HN: How to make at least one thousand dollar from software?

if you're only looking to make 1k i wouldn't build a saas

i'd build bootstrap themes and sell them on sites like themeforest etc

any similar kind of thing you can sell, a wordpress plug-in or something that does something people are always looking for

you'll have your 1k in short order

I know you don't want to hear this. You need to find your own niche and create solution for it. There are so many different industries. Manufacturing for example, has more I maybe 1000 different sub/niche industries. As you get involved with these companies, you will find your software and sell to those in need of the solution.

Look into accounting, manufacturing, wholesale, b2b. Ancient dinosaur industries with very small movement because of the monopolies. Keep your eyes open, it is not easy, if it were, everyone would be a millionaire.

Create bots to catfish on dating apps.

Your thinking is all backwards. Product comes first, and money comes later.

If you're not an influencer, you'll have to invest in marketing. Growing with established players (e.g. Shopware, WordPress etc.) is a good start because you can leverage existing channels in an existing market. Of course there a are lot people playing that game and some you'll compete with have really low labour costs and copy every idea that's able to grow an audience.

If you're trying to conquer a mainstream / trend market via bootstrapping - just don't do it. You won't be able to compete with VC funded companies.

Targeting low price mass markets? You'll likely drown in marketing costs before getting anywhere.

As long as you don't have some unfair marketing advantage (your best friend is Pewdiepie), you best bet is to find a niche B2B problem in a "big enough" market and solve that.

I think if you move to an area of high salaries (and, usually, high cost of living), such as Silicon Valley, Manhattan, Seattle, or some European job markets (e.g. Zurich), you probably can achieve a mid-career salary/compensation of $200K or so (significantly more if you are good, or went to a prestigious school, but I think $200K is eventually achievable for any decent engineer). Alternatively, you can create your own online application, which will be in very high demand, and will not have good analogues. You can also consider opening your own SaaS company as https://audext.com/.