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Comment by VWWHFSfQ | Hacker News Reader

I'm astounded that he was actually able to run a business pulling in $500,000 a year in subscriptions without ever having to pay the actual platform the users are "subscribing" to a dime. And he's been doing this for what? 8 years? No wonder he doesn't care about shutting it down. It was a free lunch the whole time.

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I wouldn't say it was "free lunch" but it was definitely a benefit for him. He still had costs (Apple Dev Fee, Server Costs, Server Engineer Salary, Artists costs for the various icons.)

They aren't "subscribing" to the platform: they're engaging with it via a premium toolset that is not provided by the platform. The platform benefits because the engagement, content creation, moderation, etc. that the users provide is the ONLY thing of value on the platform.

ISPs are a scam because they don't even pay the internet or make it just connect to it.

$500-600K/year in revenue.

Take away 1. app store fees (30%) 2. income taxes 3. hosting costs 4. contracting costs (he employs at least one part time engineer) 5. design costs 6. health insurance + other payroll taxes, and you are left with a small percentage of that as net income.

Now add in the hours of his life he has presumably put into this app for the last 8+ years. I'm going to go ahead and guess that it was more than 40 hr/5 day weeks

If you consider his skills as a premier iOS/full stack developer, simply getting a job in big tech would be a wayyyy better option for him financially. Heck he could pocket $500K/yr at Google/Meta in straight salary without any of the associated fuss.

I feel compelled to mention that he's in Canada; as with most of the rest of the developed world outside the US, paid health insurance is either not a thing or is a rounding error.

The rest of your math sounds about right.

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