Ask HN: As an indie app developer, do I need E&O Insurance?

6 pointswillswire4 comments

I have several iOS/macOS apps that make a descent profit every year. Do I need to protect myself with E&O insurance?

If you make decent profit, it may not hurt getting one considering that it can protect against issues like data loss etc. But it can cost anywhere from a few hundred bucks to couple thousand on an average. If you are making say at least 5K in profits/year, it may be worth it.

But E&O is $700+, to start. At the low-end. And then there is the paperwork and the audits.

unclear if basing insurance decision on profit is a good rule of thumb.

Dumb thought experiment: my business plan is to sell badly engineered custom software below cost, but make it up by volume. All the clients love the low sticker price until they realise my software doesn't work. Then they all litigate to recover what they paid. Even though my business runs at a loss, it is not obvious that avoiding insurance is good decision.

(Not obvious that insuring me is a winning strategy for an insurer either.)

So, these are apps that could affect someone’s finances, business or health?

Make sure you are at least operating as a corporation.

Techinsurance.com is pretty reasonable for E&O

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