

Ask HN: My Nursing Reference App is Helping Poor Clinics, Losing Money - mncolinlee

I just wrote this Android app as a solo portfolio piece without carefully considering how to monetize it. At the time, I was more concerned with learning new APIs like Google Volley and also with creating an interesting side project to advertise my app development services.<p>Now, I have entire clinics in poorer countries like the Philippines and Nigeria which depend upon my free, ad-supported app.<p>I will soon pass a request limit and need to start paying API fees to Pearson which are quite a bit greater than my Google AdMob advertising revenue. If I do not find a way to gain more paid subscribers or earn more ad revenue, I will start losing a significant amount of money.<p>I want a way to keep my app alive for clinics in poor countries, but to hopefully also meet the break even point. Does anyone have any advice for a solo developer?<p>Thanks!<p>Here&#x27;s the app:<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=com.colintheshots.nursingguide&amp;hl=en
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beat
Grants might help fund it. If your software is genuinely helping third world
clinics, you can probably get some funding for it. Talk to a nonprofit grant-
writing organization specializing in third world health care.

You might also be able to negotiate a special rate (or even free) from Pearson
as a charitable contribution. If their software costs are what threaten your
financial stability, and it's for a good cause, they might be willing to write
it off.

So talk to Pearson, and talk to nonprofit health care grant specialists. Those
would be potentially more effective than trying to figure out how to monetize.

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beat
As for monetizing... if you can stabilize your app financially so it's at
least self-supporting via grants/charity (ooh, get Pearson to sponsor it!),
you could then leverage that success into a for-profit startup targeted at the
money-rich American market.

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bonemachine
Maybe you can find a way to charge for it in richer countries, while keeping
it free in developing countries?

People might feel more likely to pay for it if there as some nominal,
charitable aspect to it: "Buy now and help support women's health clinics in
Nigeria", that sort of thing.

~~~
shyn3
I like the idea you mention. Sounds like it can be used for many endeavours.

OP, do you have any traction in developed nations?

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mncolinlee
Yes, the top country for my customers is the United States followed by the
Philippines and Nigeria.

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sideproject
You can look for collaborators/co-founders who may able to help you
[http://sideprojectors.com](http://sideprojectors.com)

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shyn3
What about have users register their own api key and let them insert that into
your application?

~~~
mncolinlee
I noticed that they closed off generating new API keys. It's possible that
this is because they created their own iOS app and could be working on an
Android one.

