HACKER Q&A
📣 hai2ashwin

What can I build that would pay a dollar for?


I want to build something of value within one month that a lot of people would want and will pay a dollar a month for. I am open to ideas where usually the market charges $10 or more. I am experimenting on a model that needs zero employees, zero evil, no hockey-stick growth ambitions, and yet delivers a great lifestyle by doing what people want and charging 10x lower.

What is your no-brainer idea?

PS: I am a 2-time entrepreneur with 1 small exit and a reasonably successful product startup.

  👤 brudgers Accepted Answer ✓
Probably nothing. Transaction costs (including risk) swamp the value of a $1 online service. Among the risks is the low probability of a viable business of $1 transactions. Unsustainable business models make services unreliable in the long term.

To put it another way, you're competing with Dollar Tree's one dollar duct tape, tortillas, and spatulas.

👤 troydavis
I'd pay much more than that for an way to "read" (watch) media RSS feeds on Apple TV. Instapaper, Pocket, and other "read later" services expose RSS feeds of their folders - and they are accessible without the user giving their Instapaper/similar password to a third-party app.

Anyone who sends videos to a read-later service like that - rather than using the service-specific version, like YouTube's own "Watch Later" list - would then be able to watch those videos on Apple TV. Basically, a media-only RSS reader (player) for tvOS.

(This would also work for YouTube's own RSS feeds and any others, but I don't see use cases for those.)

👤 kensavage
People find value when they pay for things not get them at a discount. If a product or service was truly valuable I would expect to pay a larger amount not one dollar. If this is just a trial to get started I understand. Just some feedback
👤 marceloabsousa
Based on your restrictions, this doesn't sound like a 'no-brainer' idea whatsoever... I think your best option would be to join a team which is building something of value to a lot of people for one month and charge them 30$ as your salary.
👤 qubex
I’d willingly pay a dollar a month for a service that credited two dollars a month to my PayPal account.