

Ask HN: Super simple, revenue generating products? - oldmanstan

One particular thread tonight astounded me: the one showing AwesomeReminders at more than 750 PAYING users.<p>What other super simple, quick-to-build websites/apps are there that generate a non-trivial amount of revenue? (At least a few thousand a month.)<p>I want to study/think about them.
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patio11
Don't study the product. Study the _distribution mechanism_. (In
AwesomeReminders' case, national press coverage due to having an appealingly
quirky narrative.)

I've had half a dozen people clone my software product. They are apparently
under the impression I'm in the software business. I'm actually in the
educational publishing business, and I'm really good at distribution via SEO
for it. That is the missile, the software is just the warhead. Without the
missile, you can only blow yourself up.

~~~
heliodor
quirky narrative? i don't think that's what's getting people's attention. for
me (and i'm going to guess most other people) the reason why i find it
interesting is because the concept is so ridiculous! And simple.

~~~
acangiano
I think you mean the same thing. The idea is odd and makes people smile.
Journalists are in the business of selling you a story, and this product
happened to be a ridiculous, quirky idea that may actually work. That's a good
story.

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moconnor
If I knew a way to develop over $7k monthly revenue that quickly, I'd be doing
it. I suspect that goes for everyone here. Props to jacquesm - I didn't think
AwesomeReminders would take off like this but I think it's, well, awesome that
it has!

~~~
swombat
I thought AwesomeReminders was Zackattack's, not Jacquesm's?

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wdewind
Yeah it is Zackattack's

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coryl
I want to clone/steal their ideas!

But actually, their originality and novelty is what gets them popular in the
first place. I think if I tried to copy AwesomeReminders today, I'd probably
fail the way most people expected the original AwesomeReminders to fail. Being
first matters?

~~~
petercooper
You might not be able to, but being first isn't everything. The right person
could copy AwesomeReminders with the right twist (and the twist is key). Being
first is, in fact, harder since the first entrant into a market has to prove
it exists! We now know there are > 700 people who like the idea of someone
validating them over the phone each day.

I suspect that most self help gurus could sell a similar service to their user
bases at a higher rate. Would I pay $100/mo for Tony Robbins to call me for 1
minute once a week with an inspirational message? Probably not, but I'd bet my
left arm that 100 or more of his devotees would, and it'd be a $10k/mo revenue
stream for 2 hours per week.

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wlievens
"a few thousand a month" is quite ambitious for a single, "super simple" app.
You should consider building a dozen super simple apps that bring in "a few
hundred"... seems more doable.

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frobozz
I believe that the "million dollar homepage", and "one red paperclip" were
quite financially successful. Both super simple and quick to build, however,
as others have mentioned - it's not the thing itself, but the marketing of it
that is important.

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matthewphiong
Super simple it may seems to most of us -- simple website, etc but the work,
effort, energy needed behind the scene is whole lot than you think. This is
real human calling every day, not a computer-cron job call.

I believe there is no such thing as super simple, deploy and forget money
making product. The amount of time, effort, energy are the key things that
make the money counts.

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vijayr
I remember coming across this one

<http://www.calendarsquick.com/printables/index.html>

no clue how much money it makes, but I was thinking can such a simple service
make money?

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danielhodgins
I wonder though if the 700 subscribers figure is legit. Would be easy to fake
that. Perhaps a good chunk of the subscribers are all curious internet
marketers and developers wondering how they can spin off their own
variation/twist on the concept.

~~~
what
I think most people bought it as an annoying joke gift for their friends. I
know I did.

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revorad
AwesomenessReminders in other languages could work, if you can hack the
relevant distribution channels (as patio11 pointed out).

~~~
mahmud
Who could be as vein? I speak 5 languages, other than English, and couldn't
fathom a market for it.

But then, I was actively against the idea when Zack announced it, so what do I
know?

~~~
revorad
Well yeah, I thought it was a pretty weird idea too. I speak a few Indian
languages, but I can only imagine desi people hurling abuses back at random
people calling them to say "Bhai waah aap ka to jawaab nahi!". Might work with
some niche like Indians abroad doing it for their extended families or
something.

Or maybe people from other countries might buy it.

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envain
well, if i could, i would have already.

There seems to be some lore about doing good SEO over possibly syndicated
content and google ads your way to profit. have heard different people say
this in one form or the other, and have seen some sites based on this model
...

can only guess what the investment/returns involved would be

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percept
Who's got the "Mail-a-Letter" app? That one's pretty simple and I think it was
doing a few thousand a month.

~~~
ezl
<http://snail.dustincurtis.com/> is one such app. I don't recall seeing any
revenue numbers on it though.

~~~
percept
Nah, it was this one, basically low-volume direct mail:

<http://mixergy.com/mailfinch-paul-singh-interview/>

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iterationx
craigslist, yahoo answers

