Been referred to this sub by the Ask me anything community.

5 years ago I created a news streaming app containing live news events from around the world. Though I faced a lot of setbacks and challenges along the way, the app has been operational thus far.

Here comes the challenge - The operational costs have significantly overtaken the earnings generated by the app. In less than 24 hours, a bill of 7000 USD awaits. If I combine my savings + funds in my account, I have about $1400 .

Should I attempt to raise the $5600 in the few hours remaining? Or would it be wiser to bid the business goodbye?

Someone suggested I set up a fundraiser. I’ve got some contributions so that’s a good sign!

Any other ideas will be appreciated.

    • happystatue@alien.topOPB
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      10 months ago

      It shouldn’t cost that much.

      Inadequate research on my end is to blame. The network infrastructure was excessive, so I downgraded to a less expensive alternative. All good now!

  • Altruistic_Charge_97@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Have you considered if some operational costs can be reduced?

    For example:

    • migrating some servers to serverless (AWS Lambda)
    • using a CDN (cloudfront)
    • using services like cloudflare stream
    • TomFromOpenScreensIT@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      Hooray, now suppose the costs go down from 7K yearly to 100$ yearly, what does he have left, a business that does 5k yearly?

      7K server costs is fine, focus on increasing income.

      • cem4k@alien.topB
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        10 months ago

        It seems to me that decreasing the bleed of an unnecessarily expensive architecture is fruit that hangs much lower, no? I’d personally focus on reducing cost in this scenario before increasing revenue. Neither solves OP’s immediate problem, though.

  • Tall_Magician735@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    So little to go on here.

    How many users do you have? How many hits do you get per day?

    The numbers you give here will tell you if this business is worth saving.

    $7000 USD, per what? What are the actual costs of running this business?

    If you want real advice, you have to give real information, so far you haven’t really said anything about this business.

  • TomFromOpenScreensIT@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Unless this has been going on for months on end, you can let the company know you will be delayed on that payment.

    Apply for a business credit card, pay your 7K bill and pay it to the bank/credit card in monthly installments over the course of a year, it should amount to roughly 700$ after interests.

    Meanwhile focus 2024 on increasing revenue by a shitload.

    Good luck.

  • beneficial_formula@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Could you try bringing down those operational costs (even just temporarily)? Also, is your goal just to keep the business operational and not profitable? It sounds like you’ve just been trying to keep the lights on over the years…

    • happystatue@alien.topOPB
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      10 months ago

      Done. Got a less expensive server last minute. Everything appears to be stable, at least for now.