Ask HN: Is it practical to start a 1-person Micro ISV these days? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is it practical to start a 1-person Micro ISV these days?

13 points_isus17 comments

I know of Mike Perham's SideKiq Pro [1] and Andy Brice's Perfect Table Plan [2]. These are along the lines of what I mean by "a 1-person Micro ISV" (they are not Software as a Service (SaaS) providers). These types of businesses, seem to be few and far between, though. Any advice or thoughts on how to go about selecting a first product for an ISV would also be appreciated.

[1] http://sidekiq.org/products/pro [2] http://www.perfecttableplan.com/

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OSS helped because I could build it in my spare time with little investment or risk. I spent the first two years building Sidekiq and Sidekiq Pro and was able to build up an audience by blogging and tweeting.

I spent 15 years working at various startups and earned little more than a typical dev salary in the end. Today I'm making several times my previous salary so the business has been a big success for me.

As for visibility, I'm happy owning my own little niche of Ruby background jobs. I don't advertise or market much, just provide the best product I can, support it every day and developer word of mouth does the rest.

So, would you still do a similar approach if you were starting out today?

Edit: fix grammar

Absolutely. I would change a few things (my pricing model should have been subscription-based from day one) but on the whole the business has wound up almost exactly where I intended it to be.

Thank you. This is helpful.

I have asked around previously. I didn't get much response. I posted a short list to my blog:

http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/10/bicycles-on-...

This list is not just software vendors. Some are webcomic artists. I was interested in any really tiny web operation actually making enough money to support the people running it.

I suspect the lack of response is partly due to low visibility and/or a desire to lie low. Small shops that don't want to grow into big corporations do not necessarily want excessive attention and also may not be well known enough (as a Micro ISV specifically) for other people to confidently say "Yup, this qualifies." A small shop doesn't need tons of traffic and money to support the few people working on it and may view excessive exposure as a bug, not a feature.

Thank you. Your list is particularly helpful.

I'm trying to build a 1-person business for quite some time, going back and forth between ideas. Sometimes I think I would like to implement a desktop app, sometimes I feel web apps would be better, sometimes I just want to quit, etc.

In the last couple of weeks I've been finally building my product as a web application mainly because of these factors: currently I have more experience on web development that desktop development; I use a lot of SVGs and tables and they are easier to do on HTML; I have my source code in Python and C and it is a pain to distribute Python; cross-platform desktop development tools are not great nowadays (Qt is the only serious option and it sucks); I would have to distribute lots of libraries with my application.

The way I see things now is, if you really want to test the market for something and you can use a web app, do it. It is easier for you to control the updates, iterate faster to improve your idea, and have better discoverability. It is less painful for a prospective client to click on your URL than thinking on downloading and installing your application. The funnel for web applications is smaller than for desktop apps [1], and that is really important when you want to test your application.

Later in the game, after you have a stable idea and enough loyal clients, you can always move to the desktop or mobile if that's the case. This is what is happening with all major SaaS nowadays, they start on the web and eventually go to the desktop when they reach some maturity (Evernote, Slack, etc...)

[1] http://www.kalzumeus.com/2009/09/05/desktop-aps-versus-web-a...

> I'm trying to build a 1-person business for quite some time, going back and forth between ideas. Sometimes I think I would like to implement a desktop app, sometimes I feel web apps would be better, sometimes I just want to quit, etc.

I empathize with what you are going through.

> The way I see things now is, if you really want to test the market for something and you can use a web app, do it. It is easier for you to control the updates, iterate faster to improve your idea, and have better discoverability. It is less painful for a prospective client to click on your URL than thinking on downloading and installing your application. The funnel for web applications is smaller than for desktop apps [1], and that is really important when you want to test your application.

Perhaps you are right. I do wonder, though, if there is a place for a desktop offering. Balsamiq Mockups [1] started as a desktop app, if I remember correctly. The plus to an installed app (especially if it is a single executable along the lines of Go, Rust, Swift, etc.) is the customer data can stay with the customer, performance can be quite good without the need to scale the backend, operations can be simpler, among others. (Many of the downsides are already addressed in patio11's article you referenced.)

[1] https://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/

> It is easier for you to control the updates, iterate faster to improve your idea, and have better discoverability.

Absolutely right. This is also my experience.

FWIW there are 22K google hits on MicroISV and variations - https://www.google.com/search?q="Micro-ISV"|"MicroISV"|"μISV...

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Micro-ISV.html

http://www.microisv.com/ (defunct)

http://www.singlefounder.com/the-day-the-microisv-movement-d...

I don't know. I think the "gold rush" period is over, probably was a while ago. Seems like everyone wants to start their own micro-ISV or SaaS or whatever, but I'm projecting. And I'm jaded because I've failed a few times at these things and have a sour taste in my mouth about their viability these days.

I think those of us looking to start something really want certainty that whatever thing we're thinking of building will be successful. I think it can be, but it takes more grunt work selecting the right thing to build.

To answer your question, yes. Go do it then come back and tell us how it go. And good luck.

There are lots of successful 1-person online businesses, but they are not software businesses per se. HN has a huge bias towards apps/software, we only hear from coders/technical people. When it comes to Saas apps, there aren't many examples run by solo entrepreneurs.

The vast majority of successful 1-person businesses are run by non-technical people and are more content-driven then software driven.

>Is it practical to start a 1-person Micro ISV these days?

I don't think so. I've launched a few 1-person SaaS companies in the past, and some were popular (but not profitable). I've settled on earning a salary and investing as much of that salary as possible.

I still get the urge to build stuff, and I still do, but I now look at it as a hobby.

IME, the person's idea for the first product is the reason they start the micro ISV in the first place. I don't know of anyone who started an ISV, and then thought of a product.

Just to clarify ... I am not seeking to start a micro ISV without an idea. I am wondering if this approach is practical to pursue. If it is, there may be ideas/possibilities I have not thought of. When looking through SaaS-colored glasses, everything starts to look like a SaaS. :)

RAD Game Tools seems to be doing just fine.

apps could be ISVs. A lot of software is going Saas because the cost per customer tends to get pretty high unless you can get cheap traffic. List on a popular top 10 list or rank high for a keyword.

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