OnlineOrNot
"An uptime monitoring service for websites, APIs, and cron jobs with automated status pages, built with a disciplined 2-hour-per-day side project approach."
Marketing Channels
Content marketing / React blog
Creator mentions a React blog that, like OnlineOrNot, was built knowing others were doing the same thing but betting on unique perspective
Hacker News
Creator shares the product in HN threads; also created a HN-specific status page (hackernews.onlineornot.com) for visibility
Sales and marketing skills
Creator explicitly states that getting better at sales and marketing made the project worth building
Growth Levers
- Continue creating niche status pages (like the HN status page) as marketing assets that showcase the product
- Invest in SEO content targeting uptime monitoring, API monitoring, and status page keywords
- Leverage the 'unique perspective' positioning to differentiate from established competitors in blog content
- Expand cron job monitoring as a less competitive niche within the monitoring space
- Build integrations with popular deployment platforms to capture users at the point of deployment
- Create comparison pages against established competitors to capture high-intent search traffic
First Customer Strategy
The creator started building OnlineOrNot in 2021 with a disciplined 2-hours-per-day habit, competing in a crowded uptime monitoring space by betting that a unique perspective would resonate. Early traction came from the creator's existing audience (React blog) and improving sales and marketing skills over time.
Pricing Insight
No specific pricing details mentioned, but the product has been above $500/mo since 2022 with steady growth, suggesting a SaaS subscription model. The creator keeps a full-time job to build it exactly how they want without revenue pressure.
New Market Opportunities
- Side project builders Commenter was building their own monitoring service but stopped due to competition — there is a market of developers who want simple, developer-friendly monitoring
- Cron job monitoring niche Cron job monitoring is a less crowded sub-niche within the monitoring space that could be a differentiator
Key Takeaways
- • Competing in a crowded market is viable if you bet on a unique perspective and invest in sales and marketing skills
- • A disciplined daily time-box (2 hours/day) with aggressive scope-cutting makes side projects sustainable long-term
- • Keeping a full-time job removes revenue pressure and lets you build the product exactly how you want
- • Getting better at sales and marketing is often the key differentiator, not just building a better product
- • Default-alive businesses (low costs, steady growth) can compound over years into meaningful revenue
- • Creating niche marketing assets (HN status page) that showcase your product is an effective low-effort growth tactic
Sentiment Analysis
1 NeuNotable Quotes
"How did you decide to persevere despite this? — josefresco"
"What boosted it most was getting better at sales and marketing to make it worth building. — rozenmd"
Comments
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