Tell HN: Today I made my first “bucks” on the web

[out_sider]

It was a small subscription, actually quite small, it was 10,72€ :), but they were the first ones I've ever done with a side project (or in the internet at all) so they feel quite special.

Just wanted to share that and thank Hacker News for keeping a guy motivated to try side-projects.

Very short summary: I develop a lot of integration tools for Microsoft 365 through their Graph API and this year Microsoft is going to disable all basic authentication connections to their sign in system (basic authentication are all protocols where you can't force MFA).

This affects a lot of users who configured their accounts on iOS a while back and are still using Exchange ActiveSync (even if you upgrade iPhone it imports the settings). So I made a Web App which will list all of your tenant devices still using legacy protocols and how to move them to modern authentication:

https://betterlicenses.com/audit_log

I also document on a blog post how this can be retrieved for free using existing Azure AD sign in logs, but it's not as easy to understand and my Web App will send you a daily notification whenever a new device is found using basic authentication.

Used Stripe to receive payments and the app has been running for a month and half. It's on a subscription bases only for 20 days because the first 2 weeks it was free and a lot of users were using it and my server costs exploded due to having to analyse a lot of log entries.

Update: I just wanted to say how nice this community is, really upbeat and encouragement comments :), thanks

[gregdoesit]

Congratulations! There's something special about the feeling of you "earning" your first revenue that comes from an online customer you've never met, and not from an employment contract, consulting, or similar "traditional" relationships.

I'm not sure why, but when this first happened with me - it was selling a book I wrote online - it started to change my way of thinking, opening a realm of possibilities I never considered before.

Because if you can sell something to a customer for €10,72, that's €107,20 for 10 customers and €10,720 for 1,000 customers. And, unlike with employment, where there is a limit on salaries, there is no - theoretical - upper limit on your revenue.

Congratulations and hope you keep building your entrepreneurial muscle. Best of luck with the side project and beyond!

[out_sider]

Thank you so much, I've been sharing on other places about my side project and they only come back with something in the lines "yeh right, no one will pay for this" ... really nice to hear something as supportive like this :)

[asicsp]

>I'm not sure why, but when this first happened with me - it was selling a book I wrote online - it started to change my way of thinking, opening a realm of possibilities I never considered before.

Similar story for me. I published my first ebook under pay what you want model. I was just trying to get my feet wet, so to speak, and I knew there wouldn't be much demand for that book. Getting the first payment was a wonderful feeling. Kept me motivated for the second book, for which I expected lot more demand and it did kickstart my career as an author.

[2143]

I agree with everything you said.

The commas instead of decimals momentarily threw me off though.

[RajuVarghese]

Congratulations! That is a good feeling to see money trickling in.

Since I am probably one of the older ones here let me tell you about my experience in the 90's. I had written a time synchronization program for Windows NT and put it on the internets for anyone to download and use. Many did. Intriguingly, I got emails from two large Wall Street financial companies saying that they would like to install on their servers/workstations but my policy of "giving it away" would imply that they could NOT use it; I would have to charge something for it, they said. Ok, I told them and set a price which they happily paid. Those were olden times.

[out_sider]

Thats a great story , thanks :) … honestly I’m almost enjoying more seeing people here sharing their stories and giving encouragement than the small amount I made :).

Can I ask , was it like a lot of money ? Like, enough for a really good vacations :)?

[Rudism]

That's great! It's a good feeling to know someone appreciates what you worked on enough to pay for it.

My first bucks came back in college in 1998 when I made a silly game using Macromedia Shockwave in which you tossed iMacs out of a pickup truck at little Bill Gates clones walking alongside the road. At the end of each play session a screen with my name and home address displayed asking for $5 if you liked the game. A single kind soul sent me a check and a postcard saying they loved it and to keep it up. Sadly I lost the postcard--I wish I had kept better track of it because it would be fun to have as a little keepsake from before I really started my career as a programmer.

[out_sider]

The 90's were amazing :) ... tossed iMacs to Bill Gates and then post mailed you the money, awsome :)

[dusted]

Such a different world we live in now :)

Congratulations! Having done something that someone is ready to pay (anything) for is a great achievement!

I only ever had had a single $1 donation made to one of my open-source projects.

It came with a angry message telling me to stop the e-begging (the e-begging was that I had written "If you'd like to show your appreciation for this free game, consider donating a small amount to [paypal link]" xD

[out_sider]

:), unbelievable, donating to complain about a free game , that’s another dimension :). My offering is also focus on organizations so that helps :)

[yrgulation]

“It was a small subscription, actually quite small, it was 10,72€ :)”

There is no such thing as “small” when it comes to steps taken towards freedom. Congratulations and keep pushing!

[out_sider]

Thank you :) ... it felt like a lot more money due to being the first time and I thought "well at least it paid for McDonalds I had yesterday" :)

[newaccount74]

I wonder if this is a good fit for a subscription. For most people this is going to be a temporary problem, so I think a one-time fee would be more suitable.

(It might be much easier to sell a one time $99 audit fee rather than a $10 subscription)

[out_sider]

Sorry , it’s a one time payment and they get subscribed to the service for ever, the price isn’t always 10, it depends on the number of the devices they have using legacy because that’s directly connected to the computing costs, I should have explained it wasn’t recurring, thanks

[dzink]

Congratulations! The first time I was bit by the entrepreneurial bug, was in the game The Sims. I could find my character a daily wage job, or I could have them make garden gnomes in the game and with one of their skills and make a lot more. They were then able to get very extra item and fully max out what the game had to offer. Pursued real world money by making things ever since - first a web site. I made a full month’s average salary for the country at the time in just 10 hours while building 3d letters in Flash and I was really hooked. Pivotal moment!

[smelbe]

Congratulations! When you "earn" your first money that comes from an internet consumer you've never met, rather than from an employment contract, consultancy agreement, or other similarly "conventional" ties, there is a certain sense of accomplishment that comes along with it that is unique and memorable.

[out_sider]

Yes it is, thanks :)… man I really wasn’t expecting such an altruistic reaction from everyone in here , it’s really congrats :), I’m getting a lot more positive feeling from here than the other people I personally know and told them … “10€, that’s not much “, thanks :)

[corobo]

Oh man, I remember that feeling so well, there is no better buzz than when you first make your own money (as opposed to being paid a wage)!

Well done mate!

[out_sider]

Looking at the stripe payments list and seeing the words “successful” in green was really special :) … I mean it’s 10 bucks but still , for something open in the internet and bought by someone on the other side of the planet is really great

[gnicholas]

It's a great feeling! When I was just starting out with a side project, I used to carry in my wallet a bill that reflected the amount of money I had made in the prior week (and then day). This increased the saliency and physicality of the money I was making.

There's research that shows that people spend less money when spending cash (versus card) because it feels more real. I used the "more real" feeling in reverse, to make the money I was earning feel more real than just bits floating in the ether.

[chirau]

>> There's research that shows that people spend less money when spending cash (versus card) because it feels more real.

I have always suspected this. Would you have a link to the research? I would love to read more.

[WelcomeShorty]

Reminds me of my first ever Google check (of ads on a site I made) I received, what a joy!

And since I am based in Europe, cashing that was difficult so I framed it :)

Congrats on your journey.

[snadal]

Hey! I did the same with my first check that I got from Altavista, many years ago.

It was a $35 USD check and bank fees were higher than that amount, also in Europe.

I’ve it framed at my office and feel somewhat nostalgic every time I look at it.

Time flies!!

[pietromenna]

Congratulations ! Thank you for sharing. Would you be open to share you this idea turned into reality? How you found the necessity of the product?

[out_sider]

Thanks and sure, I work for a company which I'm responsible for the administration of Microsoft 365 and app development, they needed this, so I made it free online and a lot of other organizations started using it so I had to change to paid due to the server costs (the app does a lot of HTTP REST requests).

[semireg]

I remember my first sale like it was yesterday. I published an Electron app to the Mac App Store and the next day I had a sale in the Caribbean geography. Wow, I thought... maybe there is a market for what I'm building – because the only way they found it was from App Store search. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

[jmoak3]

Congratulations!! The tools you used are way more impressive than the ones I used for my first web bucks.

>So I made a Web App which will list all of your tenant devices still using legacy protocols and how to move them to modern authentication

Smart, you've got an eye for customer needs :)

[01acheru]

Hey mate, congrats!

Care to tell how customers are finding your app? Are you marketing it somehow or it's all organic? You may never know, your might help someone else tomorrow :)

[out_sider]

Of course , I can’t tell you what worked because I’m not tracking the origin of the visits to the point of purchase but here is what I did:

Used Google AdWords but with a real low budget (10€ per day)

Used Reddit to share it and hacker news , there was a post I did in Reddit which took a lot of attention and was the cause of having to put it paid due to the amount of usage: https://www.reddit.com/r/Office365/comments/v3z5q9/microsoft...

Shared solutions and contributed in Microsoft tech support community

Was careful to use keywords based on google trends and Google AdWords recommendations on my blog posts

Posted on Hacker News

I didn’t send any cold emails but was thinking about it although there might be gdpr issues and spam risk and just bothering people

[sailorganymede]

Hell yeah - it's amazing to finally get someone to understand something you created and pay for it!

[out_sider]

yes it is, I really enjoy coding but having a "customer" on something you implemented alone with a direct relationship with users is special :)

[e-clinton]

Congrats! Excited for you. Hoping that will be me in the not too distant future.

[ploppyploppy]

This must feel great. Congratulations to you - long may it continue.

[out_sider]

Thanks

[beardyw]

Same experience (and amount) here. My first emotion was disbelief!

[out_sider]

Glad to hear it , a long time ago ? Did the side project turn out to increase a lot in revenue ? Thanks