Top all-time · #720
Successful Software
Personal blog · successfulsoftware.netbusinessstartups
Successful Software is a personal blog at successfulsoftware.net about business and startups. Since 2007, 89 different Hacker News readers have linked it 340 times, most often “Visual vs. text based programming, which is better?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-24, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 0 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Successful Software, a blog by a solo software developer on running an indie software business: pricing, marketing, AdWords, lifestyle programming and failed products. Commenters cite specific posts as data points and advice.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
...requires more than just good programming.
Most-linked posts?
- Visual vs. text based programming, which is better?5 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2024-01-17
- The software awards scam (2007)4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2008-03-24
- If you aren’t embarrassed by v1.0 you didn’t release it early enough (2007)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-01-26
- ‘Honeypot’ pages to try to convert people searching for cracked software4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2017-03-10
- Marketing = Hacking the Human4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2013-10-16
- Lifestyle Programming3 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2021-02-01
- How much code can a coder code? – Successful Software3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-02-10
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-05-09
- Interview with a cracker3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-04-07
- /2013/03/11/the-1-percent-fallacy/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-11-23
What Hacker News says?
I also looked into Twitter demographics back in 2014 and they were clearly bullshit as well: https://successfulsoftware.net/2014/04/03/twitter-demographi...
Comment linking /2014/04/03/twitter-demographics-are-bullshit/
on “Uber discovered they’d been defrauded out of 2/3 of their ad spend”Submitted 20 years working on the same software product as a story · 533 points
HN discussionSome time back I kept hearing how effective remarketing (aka retargetting / cyberstalking) was. So I did my own (small scale) A/B test and it didn't work for my small business. Fair enough. But the weird thing was that no-one else seemed to have done the same simple A/B test. Or, if they had, I couldn't find it. https://successfulsoftware.net/2014/12/23/remarketing-does-i... It is also widely quoted that you "have t…
Comment linking /2010/06/03/do-customers-need-to-see-an-advertisement-seven-times/
on “Uber discovered they’d been defrauded out of 2/3 of their ad spend”Submitted No-one knows what they are doing as a story · 292 points
HN discussionSounds great. Also, if you went to work for BigCo and got a big pay rise, you would probably very soon get use to it and it wouldn't make you much happier. I wrote a bit more about this topic at: https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programm...
Comment linking /2013/11/06/lifestyle-programming/
on “I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it”Submitted Lifestyle programming as a story · 288 points
HN discussionA collected a few crazy support requests here: https://successfulsoftware.net/2010/11/21/problem-exists-bet...
Comment linking /2010/11/21/problem-exists-between-keyboard-and-chair/
on “I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it”Submitted GitHub has not removed malicious imitation software after 3 weeks as a story · 281 points
HN discussionVisual programming works best when it is used on a limited domain with a higher level of abstraction than programming languages such as C. For example data transformation, image manipulation, sound processing etc. More discussion of isual vs code here: https://successfulsoftware.net/2024/01/16/visual-vs-text-bas...
Comment linking /2024/01/16/visual-vs-text-based-programming-which-is-better/
on “We need visual programming. No, not like that”Submitted Making your own hot sauce as a story · 232 points
HN discussionI've been writing and selling my own software on the web full time since 2005. On the whole it was a 1000 small improvements to the software, website and marketing that improved the sales day by day and year by year. Rather than a blinding flash of inspiration that tripled sales overnight. But probably the single best improvement in sales came when I 'segmented' my event table planning product from a single price to…
Comment linking /2013/02/28/how-i-increased-sales-by-adding-extra-price-points/
on “Ask HN: What made your business take off that you wish you'd done much earlier?”Submitted Why isn’t there a decent file format for tabular data? as a story · 214 points
HN discussionAlso, one of the things that no-one tells you about parenthood is just how much effort you spend entertaining them. So maybe bookmark this, it might come in useful in a few years!: https://successfulsoftware.net/2014/01/31/fun-and-geeky-thin...
Comment linking /2014/01/31/fun-and-geeky-things-to-do-with-kids/
on “I sold TinyPilot, my first successful business”Submitted The 1% fallacy as a story · 196 points
HN discussionNot true. This post made the front page (in the distant past): https://successfulsoftware.net/2010/05/27/learning-lessons-f...
Comment linking /2010/05/27/learning-lessons-from-13-failed-software-products/
on “Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business”Submitted Lessons learned from 13 failed software products as a story · 175 points
HN discussionThere is a lot not to like about CSV, for all the reasons given here. The only real positive is that you can easily create, read and edit CSV in an editor. Personally I think we missed a trick by not using the ASCII US and RS characters: Columns separated by \u001F (ASCII unit separator). Rows separated by \u001E (ASCII record separator). No escaping needed. More about this at: https://successfulsoftware.net/2022/04…
Comment linking /2022/04/30/why-isnt-there-a-decent-file-format-for-tabular-data/
on “A love letter to the CSV format”Submitted The AI bullshit singularity as a story · 159 points
HN discussionI've been working as a solo indie developer since 2005. I think being solo has advantages as well as disadvantages. So don't beat youself up about not having a partner. one of the keys, from my experience, is early feedback. Start showing your product to people as soon as you have something that might be useful to someone. No matter how imperfect it is. Do not wait until it is polished. I wrote about that here: http…
Comment linking /2007/08/07/if-you-arent-embarrassed-by-v10-you-didnt-release-it-early-enough/
on “Persisting as a solo founder”Submitted FogBugz goes dark as a story · 156 points
HN discussionCareful, this sounds like the 1% fallacy - just because 1% sounds like a small number doesn't make it an easy target. http://successfulsoftware.net/2013/03/11/the-1-percent-falla...
Comment linking /2013/03/11/the-1-percent-fallacy/
on “I must announce the immediate end of service of SSLPing”Submitted ‘Honeypot’ pages to try to convert people searching for cracked software as a story · 150 points
HN discussion>If you catch 1% of those people, https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/03/11/the-1-percent-fall...
Comment linking /2013/03/11/the-1-percent-fallacy/
on ““I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business””Submitted What non-technical users don’t understand about your software as a story · 147 points
HN discussionI am 48 and have been programming professional since I left University at 21. After ~20 years working for other people, I struck out on my own. I have been running my own 1-man software company for the last 9 years. It isn't an easy option, but it is a great lifestyle and I make a very comfortable living from it. I don't expect to ever go back to employment. You can find out a bit more about this route here: http://…
Comment linking /2013/11/06/lifestyle-programming/
on “Ask HN: What happens to older developers?”Submitted The declining profitability of Google Adwords as a story · 140 points
HN discussionAdwords used to work really well for me, over the years the return declined and the system got more complex until it wasn't worth the effort anymore. There is a good post from Andy Brice on this: https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/05/26/the-declining-prof...
Comment linking /2013/05/26/the-declining-profitability-of-google-adwords/
on “Google and Facebook ad traffic is 90% useless”Submitted The brutal truth about marketing your software product as a story · 135 points
HN discussionPretty much the entire https://www.successfulsoftware.net blog is about that. Maybe start with: https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/
Comment linking /starting-a-microisv/
on “20 years working on the same software product”Submitted Low-Competition Niches In Retail Software as a story · 111 points
HN discussion
