Funding a website without selling user data or advertisements

2 points by dyladan 13y ago ↗ HN

I have been reading hacker news for quite a while and love what I've found on this site. I am thinking of starting a website but I am having a funding problem. I do not want to sell user data and I really do not like advertisements. I would like to be able to offer the service for free but I also need to be able to pay the bills. Has anybody had any success with alternate funding models? How would I go about making this work?

7 comments

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[deleted] 13y ago ↗

(comment deleted)

[dead] fuzzywalrus 13y ago ↗

Twitter and Facebook still haven't answered this question...

samfisher83 13y ago ↗

How about a freemium model. Some services are free and for some better services you charge something,

ireadqrcodes 13y ago ↗

read this http://www.getelastic.com/7-business-models-for-monetizing-d...

what is your website about?

dyladan 13y ago ↗

If you want to check it out you can at symposium.dyladan.me

I don't have any ssl yet though so i'd be wary of putting in any passwords you share with other sites if you are going to sign up.

Mz 13y ago ↗

As I understand it, Dwarf Fortress survives entirely on donations and Hyperbole and a Half survives entirely on selling products. The author of the second isn't comfortable with either donations or ads.

joosters 13y ago ↗

Donations. Sell stuff that people will pay money for. Get a 2nd job. Kickstarter project with overblown promises.

Really, we'd all love to do something and have all the costs magically paid for, but there's no magic solution.