Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue)
Several years ago, I had a client whose salespeople were using Excel to generate sales proposals. This was inefficient and the resulting documents looked awful, so I developed a new process for them using a no-code platform. It featured a web form that was tied to a workflow engine, and a fancy PDF got emailed to the customer to sign. When the client loved the solution, I knew I was on to something. However, the no-code platform wasn't very customizable, so I decided to rebuild the process as a SaaS product. The client's CTO wanted in and we became cofounders. Today, we passed the…
Side project passed $2.5k/mo revenue after 2 years (Phoenix and Vue) launched on April 18, 2021 with 381 votes, #33 of 3,754 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches.
In plain words
This is a SaaS proposal generation tool built with Phoenix and Vue that helps sales teams create professional documents efficiently. It combines web forms with a workflow engine to streamline the proposal process, automatically generating branded PDFs for customer signatures. The product is designed for sales organizations looking to replace manual processes like spreadsheet-based proposal creation. After two years of development, it reached $2,500 in monthly recurring revenue.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Several years ago, I had a client whose salespeople were using Excel to generate sales proposals. This was inefficient and the resulting documents looked awful, so I developed a new process for them using a no-code platform. It featured a web form that was tied to a workflow engine, and a fancy PDF got emailed to the…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Tapflow 2.02025 · tapflow.ai · ▲1,125We built Tapflow for devs, designers, PMs, and tech folks who’ve been sitting on internal docs, templates, and systems — but never productized them. Upload a PDF, notes, or workshop deck, and Tapflow drafts a structured product (with chapters, teaser and pricing plans). It’s good for AI kits, onboarding guides, design systems, and frameworks. You can sell through Stripe, LemonSqueezy, or PayPal. Real-time collaboration is in early beta. No site builder, no LMS — clean design and just focused tools to ship. Fully bootstrapped and just launched on PH today →…
- MNMy new SaaS side-project, after years of open source2018 · ▲229
Hi guys, I've created an open source web builder framework (https://grapesjs.com) years ago, which I'm still maintaining, and now I'm excited to publish a side project based on it, Grapedrop (https://grapedrop.com). It's a simple web page builder which allows you to design and publish your web pages very quickly. The project is still in beta with a lot of stuff to improve but I'd really like to share it and hear what people think about it and maybe also get some constructive feedback.
Saas.do – Build powerful webapplications without coding2016 · saas.do · ▲53No-Code Plattform zur schnellen Digitalisierung und Automatisierung von Unternehmensprozessen. Flexibel, skalierbar und ohne Programmieraufwand.
- A9Analyzing 9 years of HN side projects that reached $500/monthFeb 2026 · ▲12
After analyzing 9 years of HN side project posts, I found some counter-intuitive patterns about what makes projects profitable. Three things that stood out: 1. B2B dominates: 73% of $500+/month projects target businesses, not consumers 2. Speed matters more than polish: Average 47 days from launch to first sale. Most started charging with 3-5 core features. 3. Pricing cluster: 87% price between $20-49. Low enough for impulse purchase, high enough to be sustainable. I compiled this into a dataset of nearly 700 projects with tech stack, pricing, and timeline data. Built it because I was…
I was bored of coding PDFs, I created a SaaS to solve this problem2024 · transactional.dev · ▲5hey hn, I have wasted too much time in my career creating PDF generation systems for invoices, quotes, activity summary, etc... I created this product so that I never waste my time on that again I hope I can help folks with this product, what do you think?
More dev tools this month
the category →
Contribute to oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 2d ago · github.com
open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 30d ago · github.com
Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 28d ago · github.com
OpenBot▲362Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer
Dev tools · 25d ago · openbot.run
Talanoa▲346Hi HN, I’m a fullstack developer, and honestly, I’ve lost count of how many side projects I’ve worked on over the years. But one idea kept coming back to me: a different kind of email client. It first came to me in 2014: “What if we could handle emails more like conversations?” Every year, I’d revisit this concept in my “Build Notes.” Ten years later, no one had built exactly what I had in mind — so I finally decided to do it myself. That’s how Talanoa was born. I wanted something focused on people, not timelines. I was tired of marking messages as unread just to remember to reply later, or…
Dev tools · 22d ago · talanoa.email
Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
Launched alongside, April 2021
the whole month →
Build your landing page with these 100+ tools
Growth · 2021 · landingpage.fyi
- PFPDFs from HTML▲742
Life & fun · 2021 · pdf.math.dev