Maybe a solo developer can't do everything but with a bit good taste, social skills and a small niche, he/she can invent a sustanaible project at least to earn enough for himself.. or not?
Absolutely. You'll find folks doing that over at the Bootstrapped forums or on the Chasing Product podcast:<p><a href="http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/" rel="nofollow">http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/</a>
<a href="http://www.chasingproduct.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.chasingproduct.com/</a><p>A better bet is to have multiple products that you sell to the same audience, not just one product. One product alone may only have small success, but if you have several small products all bringing in revenue it will add up over time. And while you're working on building them, it's safest to keep multiple revenue streams to fund yourself while doing it - be open to doing freelancing / consulting, or keep a part-time job. Patio11 worked at his day job for a long time while doing Bingo Card Creator.
Plenty Of Fish: $575 million exit just a couple weeks ago<p><a href="http://betakit.com/plentyoffish-acquired-by-match-group-for-575-million-usd/" rel="nofollow">http://betakit.com/plentyoffish-acquired-by-match-group-for-...</a>
Rob Walling did this and write/talks a lot about how to do it: <a href="http://www.softwarebyrob.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.softwarebyrob.com</a>
Lots of examples in the recurring threads about passive income and side projects:<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7094402" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7094402</a>
If I recall correctly Marco Arment started Instapaper all by himself and kept working on it all by himself until it was not feasible anymore, and that's when he sold it.<p>I think the solo-programmer startups are usually something among these kind of projects:<p>- a webapp for simple or largely automated service<p>- smartphone/tablet app<p>- smartphone/tablet game<p>...
I build GoReturnMe.com as a solo developer. It needs an update though. My last update of the framework caused some issues, now trying to find the time :(
Facebook? It's so obvious and I'm not sure if it counts...<p>I started a simple paid monthly platform for meeting new people a few months ago - if I would put even a little bit of effort into marketing then I'm pretty sure it would be a liveable monthly wage on 5h/week within 2-3months...
@levelsio built 12 startups in 12 months as a one-man show AFAIK. Here is his website: <a href="https://levels.io" rel="nofollow">https://levels.io</a>
errorception, by rakesh pai (@rakesh314)<p>he has a bunch of big name customers as well
on the home page <a href="http://errorception.com" rel="nofollow">http://errorception.com</a>