Item — HN Reader

> when you give away something completely for free, people aren’t that motivated to pay for it.

I created gitingore.io about 8 years ago and it's almost at 5000 stars. I had nearly 100k MAU's and that was still not enough to survive. My customers included developers form top tech startups and major companies in the world but the product was free. I ended up selling it so I can re-focus on something more valuable.

2 comments

I think this is a good example of not all projects are equal. I have donated to projects that have an especially large impact on my project, or that solve an especially hard problem. I don't think your project is either. Lots of people might use it, but relative impact to productivity will probably always be low. I think that's ok, and it's a neat project though.

Yeah I totally agree with you — It definitely took me a few years to learn that but you're obviously sharper than I am :).

Would you mind naming/giving a range of the acquisition price?

I already sold it for $12,000.