My FFmpeg wrapper for macOS made $8K in 3 months

[sarah100]

Hey everyone, just wanted to share my success story with CompressX, my FFmpeg wrapper for macOS.

For those who may not be familiar, FFmpeg is a powerful tool for converting, streaming, and recording audio and video content. I created a user-friendly wrapper for macOS that simplifies the process and adds some extra features for users.

I started CompressX as a weekend project to serve my 9-5 jobs, primarily to compress demo videos for uploading to GitLab or sending to my colleagues. It took me 2 weeks to make the first working version. I shared the demo on Twitter and the reaction was extraordinary. People loved it, they said that I was bringing the Pied Piper to life.

Three months later, I hit the $8,000 mark in revenue. I never expected to make a dime from this project, let alone eight thousand dollars. It's been a surreal experience, but it's also been incredibly rewarding.

I put a lot of time and effort into developing this tool, and it's amazing to see it paying off. It's been a great journey so far and I'm excited to see where it takes me next.

 

[theoden]

@sarah100 I noticed you're using Lemon squeezy as your payment processor. How has it been? Any bugs or issues with them?

 

[sarah100]

@theoden No issue for me. I'm satisfied with it. The setup is easy, the dashboard is user-friendly, and the license management system is effective. And their support is also excellent

 

[silent_observer]

@sarah100 Unfortunately my onboarding application to lemonsqueezy was not approved! Does that happen?

Apparently due to low social presence.

 

[sarah100]

@silent_observer I don't think having low social presence is the case. You can try to contact them to get your case explained and see what you can do.

 

[carolcole]

@sarah100 In price comparison with Stripe or something cheaper , is 5%+50cents really worth ?

 

[sarah100]

@carolcole I think 5% + 50cents is worth for me because Lemon Squeezy is a MoR, and they also have a license management system so I don't have to create my own.

 

[leoni120292]

@sarah100 Do you need a business to get paid ? Or as individual it works too since they pay the taxes for you ?

 

[sarah100]

@leoni120292 You don't need a business, can just sign up as individual.

Lemon Squeezy handles the tax for you so you don't have to.

 

[leoni120292]

@sarah100 Would you say you'd win more money if you had a company or not at all? I'm not that familiar with how this works and I'm trying myself to monetize my app

 

[sarah100]

@leoni120292 Unless you want to do B2B, you will not need a company.

 

[613jono]

@sarah100 You should definitely register a company for your app.

If you live in the US, there are big tax implications having your app tied to you directly as an individual and you’re probably going to end up paying a much larger chunk of your revenue to Uncle Sam than you need to.

 

[samuel4christ]

@sarah100 How is this better than handbrake, which is open source and free?

 

[sarah100]

@samuel4christ Handbrake is an amazing tool, people love it. I didn't know about Handbrake when I started CompressX. For compression quality, I think it will be similar between CompressX and Handbrake because FFmpeg was used in both apps. However, I can see that Handbrake has more options which will satisfy pro users. With CompressX, user has a minimalism interface with only the options they need to care about, so that they can spend more time to focus on their work. CompressX also provide advanced feature such as auto compression files in a folder, image compression, gif conversion and deep linking.

 

[roberto1820]

@sarah100 Really neat product and landing page!

Great job and well deserved!

 

[sarah100]

@roberto1820 Thanks

 

[sydneyelise]

@sarah100 Love the website with the video. Makes it obvious how easy it is to use. Really good job. I might just end up buying a license myself!

 

[sarah100]

@sydneyelise Thanks. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or feedback

 

[matteus]

@sarah100 I see you build in public, how is this done? Any advice for that?

 

[sarah100]

@matteus It's simple, you share everything you build in public. For me, when ever I make a change to the app, or fix a bug, or release a new update I share them all on 𝕏. People love it because they know what you're building and the transparency you show to them.