from Hacker News

I launched a paid community in one month

by micropoet on 11/26/20, 1:42 PM with 68 comments

by phoboslab on 11/26/20, 2:43 PM
About 20 years ago I was coming across a website called something like filthyrichguy.com (I can't remember the exact name). This site described how rich the guy owning this site was and how you could become rich too. How? By just buying his book, of course. I was mesmerized by this site and it's audacious design for a solid hour or two. I searched around the web for more information and ended up in this circle jerk of sites promoting each other. None with any substance.
This feels similar. The blog post and the site is beautifully designed (really!) but I have a hard time figuring out what I'm buying. Is it access to a chat where everyone tries to sell you their "startups"?
I guess it's not for me, but congratz to your success!
by timjones on 11/26/20, 2:32 PM
The "launch with 100 free members" strategy worked extremely well to avoid the classic "chicken and egg" problem. It's hard to quantify, but it set the tone for the community with friendly, intelligent, and experienced people.
As a new member, that led to an amazing first-time user experience where I got high-quality answers to every question I posted.
And now I'm motivated to help out other members just as the first members helped me.
Launch revenue is great, but it won't survive unless it gets this right ^^
by finikytou on 11/26/20, 9:22 PM
I don't understand. Once I suscribe am I one of the experts that others will pay for? Its sound like a pyramid scheme lol
by DoreenMichele on 11/26/20, 6:18 PM
Average pay for writing isn't that high.
I think an angle you should focus on is that technical blogs are a means to develop technical careers. Most blogs don't make money or don't make much money.
But if you have a skill, like programming, that can command an excellent wage or salary, a blog can help you learn your craft, show your expertise and network. However, you will need to back that up with real world examples, not just hypotheticals.
That's the way to avoid being thought of as "Someone getting rich telling people to buy my book about how to get rich" when that's your entire schtick.
by kerabatsos on 11/26/20, 3:49 PM
When first visiting bloggingfordevs site, it looks, to me, like an infomercial. I'm not immediately convinced I need to give you my email address in order to gain some personal value. That's not to say it wouldn't possibly be a great experience if I did so - it's just that, from my initial impressions, it doesn't seem particularly unique and valuable. But hey, if it's working and growing, congrats!
by thinbeige on 11/26/20, 3:51 PM
The story sounds quite impressive. Also the post itself, its writing and visual style, are surprisingly well executed. OP must be working 24/7.
So, I don't want to be that guy but every time I had disclosed my secret sauce in the past, e.g. how my recent venture sky-rocketed, I disclosed it when the growth was over, never, really never, before. Why should I hand out my treasure map which was months of work to everyone?
However, the author wrote that she wants to reach 20K and this will be still a challenge and so she seems quite credible but still, reading this post took some time and I am not sure if it was well invested. I feels like the typical r/entrepreneur post how-I-made-x-in-y-weeks but, again, much better executed.
by BMSmnqXAE4yfe1 on 11/26/20, 11:02 PM
I have noticed that the way to make money on the internet is to provide services to people wanting to make money on the internet.
by xenihn on 11/26/20, 8:15 PM
I really like the theme!
But spending $10 on a Something Awful forums account sixteen years ago is the last time that I'll ever pay money for the privilege of producing monetizable content for others, with no forms of profit-sharing for producers (posters, in the case of a forum).
by _jy3k on 11/26/20, 6:31 PM
Blogging for X "Learn to grow your blog as an X without an existing audience".
I guess this is an ultimate blog. A fixpoint of blogs. Possibly a quine would be something analogical for actual computer programs.
by dmonn on 11/26/20, 2:16 PM
Very impressive. I think there's no better time than today to build niche interest groups like these – and it pays.
Starting my dev career, blogging was what ultimately led to my first high-profile internship, which opened so many doors down the line. Big fan!
by BLanen on 11/26/20, 7:46 PM
> Taxes and healthcare are super expensive here in Germany
1. It's actually not. I assume your primary audience is American so this is just a strange statement.
2. This is your personal after-profit spending and has little to do with your venture's numbers.
by AlchemistCamp on 11/26/20, 3:39 PM
It's worth pointing out that it's an Alexa 300k site already (prior to this HN post's effect), which is some objective evidence that author is skilled at building a site and/or community.
by gnicholas on 11/26/20, 10:23 PM
Just in case others missed it, the lion's share of the revenue was not recurring — it was lifetime purchases ($3,420 @ $180 each). The recurring revenue for the first month was about $2k.
I'm also not clear on the "in one month" aspect of this, since the author stresses that most purchasers were people that were on her 4,000-person newsletter list. Presumably that was built up over a much longer time period?
Still, congrats to @mlent for launching this, adding value for so many people, and taking the time to share her experience!
by gbrindisi on 11/26/20, 3:32 PM
I love the idea of an aggregator of blogs written by engineers.
One thing I noticed is that if you write a blog about tech topics, you will suddenly be competing with the shallow blogs of vendors in your niche.
They have people and resources to waste in content marketing, you don't and it's a struggle to be discovered on google by other engineers.
A good aggregator that optimize for "discovery" would be awesome!
by mindhash on 11/27/20, 3:44 AM
I think community and habit is really what we pay for in education, we just dont realise it.
If the Paid packaging of the product had been course + community, we wouldn’t have seen the negative messages here.
by timwaagh on 11/27/20, 1:19 AM
Congrats, it looks like you effectively monetised your network. I have met some people who wanted to do this, did have something to offer yet failed quite spectacularly to the point of becoming homeless and destitute. I guess it all depends on who you know. A lot of people (like me) are simply unwilling to pay more than something is worth in terms of time invested. But it proves that if you are popular amongst the right kind of crowd that is able and willing to spend, it is possible to do it.
by ramosu on 11/26/20, 9:16 PM
I appreciate how some people are able to release so much of their ego and write things like "I did this in just X days", or "I'm only 15 and did that".
Not that I'm a genius like them. But sometimes having these ego bursts really helps getting some attention.
by nbzso on 11/26/20, 7:51 PM
You are cool, talented with strong working habits.
Please, rewrite your article and remove information how much money you have made. It feels wrong.
How My Paid Community Made $5K in Its First Week.
May be: How I started paid community for developers successfully.
This may seem like good copy but in reality with this kind of "transparency" you are losing a lot of valuable members. Personally I don't understand the business model of this product. And have logical questions: People pay for access to closed community and knowledge. Did you share revenue with your members? Because if you'r product is access to closed information channel pricing is too high. As a customer I don't understand for what I am paying. There are a ton of resources in any form for topics that you provide, what is differentiation factor?
by elliotbnvl on 11/26/20, 6:17 PM
After a brief skim through, Monica's content looks awesome. I subscribed and will be looking forward to her emails!
by thih9 on 11/26/20, 9:30 PM
> I already spend over $300/mo on SaaS tools to run the community
Would be interesting to know the details.
Congrats on your project!
by maz1b on 11/26/20, 6:32 PM
Nice to see a Weekend Build fellow here! Great stuff Monica.
by tomcam on 11/26/20, 6:31 PM
Inspiring story, awesome lede.