

Ask HN: Who started something in 2013/14 which is already profitable? - bjonathan

I think that can be inspiring and interesting to learn about the early journey of already profitable businesses.<p>I enjoyed the 2012 edition : https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=4088538<p>Impatient to learn about the accomplishments of the community.
======
jaredtking
I launched Invoiced [1] as a private beta in June of 2013 while in college. In
November I took it out of private beta and have since been fortunate enough to
be able to focus on it full time.

Invoiced provides simple invoicing for the small business/freelance crowd. It
is bootstrapped, profitable, and currently producing 4-figures of MRR. I learn
something new every day and get to work with awesome people (customers).

[1] [http://invoiced.com](http://invoiced.com)

~~~
cpher
Cool, good job. I had two issues: 1\. The fixed header is an issue when
scrolling. Also, the pricing table has the <li> bullet points still showing.
(edit: on Chrome current version) 2\. Looking at the pricing page, it took me
a minute to distinguish between the _names_ of your packages. Maybe have
something less "mathy". Otherwise, great job.

~~~
jaredtking
Thank you. I fixed the pricing table. I plan to do a refresh of the landing
page in the near future and might remove the fixed header at that time. Also,
great tip on the packages. I let my passion for math slip through into the
pricing.

------
dully
I launched my first app in March 2013 and it's basically paying off my school
tuition. [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spinme-alarm-clock-
guarantee...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spinme-alarm-clock-
guaranteed/id607979227?mt=8&uo=4&at=10ld6x)

~~~
binarysolo
This is clever! Bought -- and good luck with school!

~~~
dully
Thank you! :)

------
mjwhansen
We launched Geocodio [1] in January 2014. It's a side project, so the
definition of "profitable" is a bit different, but it's paying for itself and
then some -- servers, Basecamp, LLC filing fees, etc. We're making enough that
it covers costs for other, less serious projects [2][3] and our "fun" server
(for testing out new projects/ideas/etc) with some to spare.

This was our first time launching a serious product as a side project and it's
been a blast. I actually wrote up a few thoughts on launching side projects
last week [4], largely based on our experience with Geocodio.

[1] [http://geocod.io](http://geocod.io) [2]
[http://opennear.by](http://opennear.by) [3]
[http://happykitchen.dotsqua.re](http://happykitchen.dotsqua.re) [4]
[https://medium.com/@mjwhansen/things-ive-learned-
launching-a...](https://medium.com/@mjwhansen/things-ive-learned-launching-a-
side-project-2968c3becd17)

~~~
mtufekyapan
How many user use geocod.io?

------
23andwalnut
I launched Duet ([http://duetapp.com](http://duetapp.com)) in May 2013 and
it's been profitable since day 1. I'm going to start focusing on it more so it
can hopefully grow into something I can live off of.

*edit: I'm very curious to know, what about this comment is worthy of downvotes.

~~~
m3mnoch
i would guess it's the difference between "making revenue since day 1" and
"profitable since day 1".

it's hard to imagine that you recouped all of your time/money/expenses not to
mention that going forward, you can work on it full time -- all as of day one.

~~~
23andwalnut
Very good point. And very true.

------
coderholic
I launched [http://ipinfo.io](http://ipinfo.io) back in 2013 and when it hit
50M API requests a day early this year I decided to launch the paid plans, and
it's been profitable ever since. It's now hosted across 2 providers in 3
different cities, and handles almost 100M requests per day with a p99 of less
than 1s and p50 of less than 100ms. Expect more services and features later
this year!

~~~
stevekemp
That traffic is pretty impressive, I've seen your site before and even though
I don't have an obvious need for it I've had it bookmarked for a while.

Congratulations :)

~~~
coderholic
Thanks!

------
abhimir
Our mobile games startup started in Dec 2013 is profitable. Our monthly
revenues are 3-4X our monthly expenses (which includes market salary for Co-
Founders.) In fact in the last 2-3 months, we have been able to save up almost
18 months worth of runway for our team of 8.

Bear in mind that the team is based in India, so our salary and other expenses
cannot be compared to Silicon Valley, but in India we pay market rates.

~~~
joshdance
What platform? What are your games?

~~~
abhimir
We have games on iOS, Google play and Amazon app stores. Mostly trivia games,
but some arcade games too. As an example, this is our most popular game across
the 3 stores, with 1 million+ downloads
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.froods.dwt...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.froods.dwtt)

------
reqres
Started a UK postcode and addressing API in the midst of developing another
(eventually failed) project - partly to scratch my own itch and partly because
the existing offering was in a bit of a sorry state.

Was profitable within 2 months despite some idealistic pricing on my part. The
feedback and kind words from my users over the past year has been incredibly
humbling.

~~~
joshdance
Curious about this. What does your API do? Associate addresses with postcodes
and vice versa? And this is a rookie question but how are postcode different
from zip codes in the US?

------
tachion
My partner finally decided to give it a try to her idea for her own fashion
brand[1] (instead of regular career in journaling), designing and hand
crafting clothes in small quantities made of self designed and produced
specially for us materials and we're just starting being profitable, even tho
we're at the moment not very active when it comes to advertising via any
channels. The profit varies heavily so far, having very good months and a bit
worse ones, but overall, we're positive.

[1] [http://facebook.com/kropeczki](http://facebook.com/kropeczki)

------
theclaff
My co-founder Dan and I launched WP Curve (24/7 WordPress support) in June
2013. At the time of writing, we're generating $24,166 in MRR.

We share a monthly report every month, here's our last report:
[http://wpcurve.com/june-wp-curve-monthly-report-people-
produ...](http://wpcurve.com/june-wp-curve-monthly-report-people-product-and-
process/) if you're interested.

------
mhluongo
I started cardforcoin.com [1] in January. After great launch numbers [2] and
some legal concerns [3] we're back up, and on track to pay founders salaries
next month. We're still deciding how much of that should be in bitcoin :)

When we had to put cardforcoin.com on hold, we built coinforcoffee.com [4],
which lets you spend bitcoin at Starbucks. It's also "profitable", and I think
we're going to see some big numbers when we expand to other merchants in a
couple months.

[1] [https://cardforcoin.com](https://cardforcoin.com) [2]
[http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/card-for-coin-
trade-s...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/card-for-coin-trade-
starbucks-gift-cards-bitcoin/) [2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7157180](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7157180)
[4] [https://coinforcoffee.com](https://coinforcoffee.com)

------
thibaut_barrere
I launched WiseCash
([https://www.wisecashhq.com](https://www.wisecashhq.com)), a cash flow
forecasting app for freelancers and small businesses publicly in July 2013.

This is bootstrapped using freelancing. We are currently at $800 MRR and
growing.

I'm having a lot of fun helping people get more freedom of choice in their
lives!

------
zrail
I wrote and self-published a book in 2013 that definitely fits some
definitions of success[1]. Sales to date total a little over $30,000, plus
some consulting gigs.

[1]: [https://www.petekeen.net/mastering-modern-
payments](https://www.petekeen.net/mastering-modern-payments)

~~~
qhoc
I'm also trying to get into the book writing business. Can you tell me what
tool you use to write the book? I was using Gitbook.io but it was buggy and
not formatting well.

~~~
zrail
I wrote all of my own tools. The book itself is written in Markdown, and I use
the Redcarpet gem to turn it into HTML. From that, I convert it into PDF and
the ebook formats using Docverter.

[http://www.docverter.com](http://www.docverter.com)

------
ca98am79
I launched [http://park.io](http://park.io) last week and it is already
profitable (around +$500).

~~~
tekknolagi
Brilliant. Love it. So park.io registers the domain for you?

~~~
ca98am79
Thanks! Yes, we register it for you - email me if you have any questions (see
my hn profile for my email)

------
Shrugs
I made FiveStar [0], which was covered on TechCrunch [1] and it made ~$600
last month. Doesn't cost any money to run, so it just sits there. Not a
fabulous success story, and traffic is decreasing, but $10 a day as passive
income isn't awful.

[0] [http://fivestar.io](http://fivestar.io) [1]
[http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/03/fivestar-finds-the-best-
pro...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/03/fivestar-finds-the-best-products-on-
amazon-from-any-category-on-any-budget/)

~~~
denizozger
So how do you make money off your site?

~~~
JoshuaRedmond
I'd guess through Amazon affiliate links, which will pay out for every
purchase that originated on the site. Very nice idea, and brilliant use of an
affiliate scheme.

------
jsonne
I started an advertising agency in February with another friend who also used
to work in tech. We're Ramen profitable (2 founders make below market, but
livable, wages). We were fortunate enough to find some clients in the
marijuana industry out here in Colorado who have been largely overlooked by
other agencies due to the stigma attached to it. Our strength is solidly in
the digital space (particularly social advertising).

------
qhoc
I built this eCommerce site using Magento for my wife and it was profitable
from day 1

[http://flovery.com/](http://flovery.com/)

It's basically a more modern / contemporary artificial flower arrangements.
Stuffs you see in Neiman Marcus selling for $400. She sells for $200 or less.

------
ivan_ah
I launched product1 of my publishing startup on Jan 1st 2013 on HN[1] and now
I'm officially living, frugally, from the sales. It was a side-project, but
the interest was so great that I've spent the last 1.5 years building the
company. So far so good. More titles and more authors coming soon. Bootstrap
funding all the way!

The self-publishing route for authors is a very interesting development. I
believe it is going to be one of the more interesting strategies for
monetizing content on the web. Take the best of modern web technology (version
control, bug reports, quick iterations) and apply it to producing books---
meaningful information products that can be sold at 60%--95% margins. What's
not to like?

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4994367](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4994367)

------
plehoux
We launched ConferenceBadge.com January 2013 (team of 4). We are now
profitable and fully pay ourselves with it.

We have no outside funding (we were invited to the YC interview, but weren't
selected).

We now invest our time between this and one other unannounced project.

Life is good.

------
gpinkham
I launched [http://BeatsImporter.com](http://BeatsImporter.com) a few weeks
ago.. like some others it's a side project so profitable is a bit different
for me. in a month of "operation" it's paying for itself using Adsense. really
not sure how else to monetize something like this (maybe a 99 cent app kind of
thing?) At any rate I have done a few small sites that scratched an itch for
me and none ever went any further than scratching my own itch. this one
(BeatsImporter) is the first to go beyond that.. so pretty excited.. :-)

------
Xlythe
We (friends and I) launched SAO Launcher [1] as an Android app in 2013. It
lets you make phone calls, launch apps, and a few more things by swiping down
from a small hitbox.

Got to build a lot of cool things because of it (Themes and Extensions
installed via separate apks, Overlays, Animations). And it's profitable.

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlythe.sao...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xlythe.saolauncher)

------
thehodge
We launched the LinkRisk suite in April last year
[http://www.linkrisk.com](http://www.linkrisk.com) and we are profitable (and
hiring!)

------
peacemaker
I started [http://mammothology.com](http://mammothology.com) last year and was
profitable within 3 months. I create software for small businesses, mainly
WordPress plugins but other things too. It's not a (comfortably) liveable wage
yet but slowly increasing month on month. I'm not much of a marketer so it's
difficult to figure out how to get sales up to that next level.

------
mafellows
Launched iOS Leads [0] in May. Spent a few months testing the product before
launch. Only a handful of monthly software expenses (Mailchimp and Memberful).

Currently at 4 digit MRR, and almost full. The program is capped at 40
customers.

Also went indie dev in 2013, but selling product is way harder than selling
service.

[0] [http://iosleads.com](http://iosleads.com)

------
hayksaakian
I started a recruiting company in the real estate niche.

We're profitable technically, but I would only say "gross profitable" not "net
profitable".

(Couldn't afford to pay minimum wage for someone to do this)

On the up side, its a B2B so there are opportunities to cross sell a better
product if we come up with one

------
jamesgagan
I very recently launched an ecommerce site[1] selling shoe shine kits of all
things. We just launched a few weeks ago but are already making money. It was
a nice feeling to be able to pay myself yesterday, even if it was only $500!

[1] [http://shinekits.com](http://shinekits.com)

~~~
derptacos
Off-topic, but you should contact massdrop.com these are the kinds of products
that may really interest massdrop's customers!

~~~
prakster
What is Massdrop? Website doesn't say much.

~~~
prakster
Oh, I see. Aggregates consumer demand for a given product and negotiates a
discount for it.

------
gamebak
I started [http://skyul.com](http://skyul.com) and it's been profitable since
it's first month when I released this service. The main reason why is because
I'm keeping costs low and I re-invested most of the cash into advertising and
more product development :)

------
jsherer
I launched Minimal Reader [1] last year right before Google Reader shut down.
It started small, grew organically, and now I've been able to wrangle together
a couple thousand customers.

[1] [https://minimalreader.com](https://minimalreader.com)

------
withinthreshold
Off-topic, but I'm proud to have my thread mentioned in your post. :) A long
time went by after I posted it, and I still haven't launched anything, just a
couple of nearly-launches. I hope 2014/2015 will change that and wish everyone
to not hesitate and just do it!

------
AJay17
I started:

[http://www.thingsunder15.com](http://www.thingsunder15.com) and
[http://www.myfancysauce.com](http://www.myfancysauce.com)

both slightly profitable.

------
FigBug
I started a contracting company in 2014,
[http://www.motusdesign.ca](http://www.motusdesign.ca)

We are already profitable, but that's not saying much since we have almost no
expenses.

~~~
hmphhhhhhhhh
Shady, this seems to be riding the coattails of Motus Global...
[http://www.motusglobal.com/](http://www.motusglobal.com/)

------
handzhiev
I launched [http://namaste-lms.org](http://namaste-lms.org) which is
profitable. But is far from the profits I was hoping for so probably will
start something new again.

~~~
SomeCollegeBro
Just FYI, there's a typo on the homepage!

"Connect to Exmas"

~~~
handzhiev
Thank you :)

------
gpi0
My wife started [http://makerjunior.com/](http://makerjunior.com/) to teach
kids technology through workshops and kits. Profitable and growing...

------
mercwear
My wife left corporate law firm life to start her own law practice in March of
this year. By not taking on unnecessary expenses she has been profitable every
single month.

------
hoof_marks
in 2012 i started a loose html-only info-site. But there was sincere effort
put on, and one thing lead to another- it turned out a commercial info-site
being taken quite seriously by the industry- soon a business model evolved -
and things came up. Good employees and a lot of online help in coding got
things through. Now our portal earns revenue- i never knew the stuff would be
taken so seriously.

------
vipinsahu
well we have started little early but we speed things up at 2013-2014 and
cleared the mile store of 1MN$ revenue we are now largest self created open
source plugin marketplace
[https://store.webkul.com/](https://store.webkul.com/) .

------
noname123
I started a 401(k) account and put it on S&P500 index fund, it's gone up about
65% in two years. The best part of the business is that I work less than
Timothy Ferris, "0-hour work week"; I let the money do the work for me, not
the other way around.

~~~
joshdance
Interest to put this under starting something profitable, but the tone seems a
little snarky.

~~~
noname123
Np, I didn't mean to be snarky. I wanted to make a point both the opportunity
cost of starting something creative and the pride that entrepreneurs have for
their "initiative and originality" yet are beholden and exploited by the
investors who invest in them and who'll ultimately reap in their success.

Also that trading can be an creative act (expressing your belief about
yourself, in risk-taking in buying a leveraged option call or a conservative
index fund with stop loss; your personal conflict resolution and problem
solving when the market moves against you) and a simple decision to invest in
an index fund is not trivial but can be just as nuanced in making any complex
decisions. But in the West, we put so much credence in "hustlin'" that we
become penny-wise and pound-foolish.

~~~
chaqke
unless creating for the sense of ownership or pure joy, it's certainly valid
to compare the time spent against the opportunity cost of a full-time job or
contracting.

it was a thread about _profit_, after all.

