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Comment by _1tem | Hacker News Reader

Sometimes I think about the years of hard work that I put into building a SaaS business and wondered whether I should've just done something silly like this instead.

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About 10 years ago it was possible to make a living from silly Android apps. I made several of farts, meme sounds, and even politicians that were funny to laugh at. One of my fondest memories as dev is making apps for little kids and getting back long strings of hearts, kisses and smiles in the reviews.

Ah, the golden age of Android where any app could make you money.

OPs story is like winning the lottery. The rest of us have to get up and work 80 hour weeks building our business. The latter is more fulfilling and longer lived in my opinion.

But there’s an important lesson here. The structure is the same as a successful serious business. Build something people actually want to buy, build it so you can fulfill it cheaper than cost. Get a little ahead of yourself (but not a lot)

There’s only so many low hanging fruits to exploit (by a LUCKY few). Keep working on your business.

Media likes to all cover some random silly hot story periodically, and they constantly need new ones.

So I’d say it’s actually not limited, although being the one they happen to cover this week would need some luck for sure.

That's like saying "this guy won the lottery, so maybe I should quit my job and just buy lottery tickets."

and you would not actually be the first person to do that

It is still inspiring for someone like me who wouldn’t even know where to start for something like this—-that is can be done by an individual nobody.The author knew a few important things, but more, did their research, asked questions, and pushed forward. I myself would love to move beyond web apps to a physical product.

>did their research, asked questions, and pushed forward

I think the real lesson is they "just started".

Done something silly, or done the same thing with a false advertisement that was more viral?

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