But no, I don't think the point stands, because they are not selling an ebook or anything else. The pattern you identified exists, but I don't think this matches the pattern.
I put an early GenAI side project up, someone convinced me to monetize, and boom - $700k ARR in almost no time.
I'm not sure it's possible now with so little effort given how full the space is, but if you're in the right time and place with the right solution, there are tons of people that will pay you.
Same story as always: create value, solve a problem, make something people want.
Projected, or has it been operating for a year?
I'm about to open source our desktop AI VFX compositing and animation tools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAAiiKteM-U
https://getartcraft.com/ (github and download links are not live yet)
I'm an engineer and a filmmaker. I'm really into video generation, but controllability and consistency are critical. I've been working on staging, blocking, and animation tools to control how various commercial and open source models behave.
I just didn't have a passion for TTS and voice conversion.
The Uberduck folks were my closest competitors for a while and they were YC funded. I think Suno and Udio sunk their product roadmap for music tools and they pivoted to something else. Maybe voice agents? They're cool folks.
Now Weights.gg is leading the "TTS for teens / consumers" space. There are dozens of startups in the voice conversion for music production space. This used to be an easy ramp to revenue, but the market is saturated.
I personally have another example. Own MM B2B.
Cool on making $1M though, I'm guessing through selling books
In his first year after finishing A-levels (at age 18), Alex West felt lost and unenthusiastic about the traditional university path. A pivotal moment came when he read "Rich Dad Poor Dad," which ignited his desire for financial independence and entrepreneurship.
He began his entrepreneurial journey with eBay arbitrage.
Initially, he sold personal belongings. He then discovered the concept of buying items cheaply and reselling them for a profit. His first successful arbitrage venture involved PS3 controllers, buying them in bulk or from less optimized listings and reselling them individually. This process taught him the fundamentals of e-commerce: sourcing products, creating listings, photography, packaging, shipping, customer service, and dealing with issues like returns and scams. He reinvested his profits, expanding his product range to include items like GoPro accessories. By the end of this first year, he had managed to make approximately £10,000 in profit. Key takeaways from Year 1 for Alex were the importance of taking action, learning by doing, gaining practical business skills (even on a small scale), and the empowering realization that he could forge his own path outside of conventional routes. This foundational year built his confidence and provided him with tangible business experience.
At least that's what I'm getting from the blog.
philjackson•1d ago
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jt_b•1d ago
I'm actually having fun reading it after applying that.
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