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semi-regular business Q&A session
It's been a while since the last one, so ![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
denise suggested that we do another Dreamwidth-the-Business Q&A session.
But first, some data. One of the things that we promised when we started this site - and still do! - is that we will be open with the details of how the business is run, how it's doing, where your money is going, etc. Given that, here's the breakdown of our first few months of operations (discounting May):
June: $7,500 income
July: $5,000 income
August (thus far): $2,500 income
This is pretty much what we expected. More people buying accounts towards the beginning of the site, tapering off as we come up towards the various renewal periods. We're comfortable with these numbers and trends so far.
Our current monthly expenses come to about $6,000. This breaks down roughly 50/50 into "server costs" ($3k/month) and "people costs" ($3k/month). We are presently paying a few people as contractors to do time-sensitive and business-critical work for us. (Systems administrators, ToS enforcement, and some development time.)
We are not, currently, paying any salary to Denise or myself. (Which is one thing we really hope to fix...but stay tuned for today's news post.)
Summary:
Dreamwidth is running slightly in the red, but has enough money in the bank to keep the site running for several years at the current run rate. We have a few things in the pipeline which we hope will allow for us to increase the attractiveness of the site to paying customers (features) as well as give us more sources of revenue (credits, virtual gifts, etc).
There will be more data about our next-6-months plan in the upcoming news post. But for now, if you have any particular questions about the business, things you want clarified, or anything, please comment. Denise and I will be happy to answer!
denise suggested that we do another Dreamwidth-the-Business Q&A session.But first, some data. One of the things that we promised when we started this site - and still do! - is that we will be open with the details of how the business is run, how it's doing, where your money is going, etc. Given that, here's the breakdown of our first few months of operations (discounting May):
June: $7,500 income
July: $5,000 income
August (thus far): $2,500 income
This is pretty much what we expected. More people buying accounts towards the beginning of the site, tapering off as we come up towards the various renewal periods. We're comfortable with these numbers and trends so far.
Our current monthly expenses come to about $6,000. This breaks down roughly 50/50 into "server costs" ($3k/month) and "people costs" ($3k/month). We are presently paying a few people as contractors to do time-sensitive and business-critical work for us. (Systems administrators, ToS enforcement, and some development time.)
We are not, currently, paying any salary to Denise or myself. (Which is one thing we really hope to fix...but stay tuned for today's news post.)
Summary:
Dreamwidth is running slightly in the red, but has enough money in the bank to keep the site running for several years at the current run rate. We have a few things in the pipeline which we hope will allow for us to increase the attractiveness of the site to paying customers (features) as well as give us more sources of revenue (credits, virtual gifts, etc).
There will be more data about our next-6-months plan in the upcoming news post. But for now, if you have any particular questions about the business, things you want clarified, or anything, please comment. Denise and I will be happy to answer!
no subject
* Charitable icons: I'd like this as a subset, but not all v-gifts. The point for me would be supporting DW; I can support other places with my money separately.
* Blocks of DW points = WIN. That sounds great. I'm actually not at all likely to charge $1 on my credit card, partly because I know how the fees are and because it seems like nickel and diming myself to death -- I've had to really train myself not to spend $1 here, $1 there, and ending up with nothing at the end of the month. But I can budget for $20, it doesn't get eaten up with fees, and then I have a bunch of points to share. Sounds like all-around good.
* Being able to buy things in small financial increments sounds great, and I too wish I had better ideas of what to suggest here.