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Comment by moosedev | Hacker News Reader

Without taking anything away from OP's achievement, I'd caution against this kind of exuberant comparison without some qualification around it. The risks to that app's continuing to yield $500/month in perpetuity are quite different (and, I dare say, worse) than the risks faced by the kind of balanced portfolio that "safe withdrawal rate" implies (to me). I acknowledge that you didn't directly compare with such a portfolio, but you did say the app is "the equivalent of saving $150,000" - again, if this is true it's in a very limited sense only: the app and the cash face a very different set of risks.

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This is fair, but as a milestone in long-term self-sufficiency, creating a $500/mo app is significant achievement.

Saving $150,000 is, too.

Which is more likely to lead to true self-sufficiency? Barring other possibilities, the savings. But given human response to positive feedback loops, a successful dev often becomes a more successful dev overtime. Hence, I favor the "first app I wrote that made $500/mo" is more significant.

Didn’t really want to go down this route but since you guys wanted to I would also point out the OP likely hasn’t been making $500/mo for a full year yet so to make that kind of projection is premature. I think at best he will make that for a few months then it will taper off within the year as the app gets less popular.

You can’t just say your app makes $500/mo without giving the time period for how long it has been making that. Generally if it’s not revealed it’s because it hasn’t been very long.

The app made $300 last month and $500 this month. It indeed hasn't been very long, and I agree that $500/mo is a bit of a generous take. However I do plan on adding extra paid features which I think will push that even further.

I don't even know what 5/3/1 is but I was planning on joining a gym this month, so your getting my signup.

For the SEO could you go after Gym Noobs like me who know nothing about different programs, teach them what 5/3/1 is and then lead them to your app? Or is that too crowded and difficult?

That’s a good idea. Basically having a blog saying what 5/3/1 is. It’s a narrow line to walk on as I didn’t write the book and want to respect the author, but I think that I could probably do something like that.

Have you reached out to the author? Since you have the best app maybe he would want to make you the "official app" for a revenue share. And his promotion of your app could grow the pie big enough that you make more even with a split.

The market is massive, play your cards right and this could be just the beginning. Do you speak to users in person much and have an idea of what people want?

I speak to a couple of users directly through email. An Apple Watch companion seems to be what people want the most so that’s what I’ll be working on next

So basically you have no idea.

Mandatory XKCD on the dangers of extrapolating : https://xkcd.com/605/

I think a better comparison is what similar apps would sell for. 2-4x annual revenue seems to be common. So $12-$24k which is not bad!

Since $500 are almost 100% profit, I guess OP can sell it for about $30,000 which is not bad at all.

I made the valuation at 5x yearly profits.

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