2.5 KiB
+++ title="Miscellaneous" mediatype="rev" conference="seattle-2022" date="2022-11-16T12:00:00-08:00" description="Experiments in additional income" thumbnail=""
videos title="Memory Strategies" embed="https://player.vimeo.com/video/774890907" service="vimeo" download_link="https://player.vimeo.com/progressive_redirect/playback/774890907/rendition/720p/file.mp4?loc=external&oauth2_token_id=1777364455&signature=3c443137144bf46966f5607ab00f818dfa5f98e1ac7643e62160f55e0bb27792"
speakers name="Abner Coimbre" bio="" image="" +++
We must diversify revenue to weather the tough years. For example, depressed conference attendance due to mass layoffs could be devastating to our business. Indeed this nearly happened in 2024, where we came close to shutting down like many other tech conferences. We survived through fundraisers, but we’d prefer to build a buffer by creating bonus revenue streams—although ticket sales will always be our primary source.
Ideas we’re currently exploring:
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Software Sales
Selling our own software is the most promising avenue. Handmade conferences have inspired other indie conferences, so it makes sense to offer them the apps we wrote ourselves to self-host a tech conference. -
Magazine Sales
As part of Return to Meatspace we’re publishing physical magazines every quarter (starting January 2026.) We don’t expect meaningful profits here, but they will generate significant word-of-mouth buzz for conference tickets.
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Merch Shop
We’ve been promising merch for AGES but have not delivered yet. Operation 2030 must address this, especially now that Jes Chuhta gave us a fresh coat of paint. Even if profits are peanuts a merch shop will indirectly boost ticket sales. -
Twitch Subscribers
Twitch streams generate hundreds of dollars every few months (nothing to sneeze at when you're indie.) With a stronger presence we can grow this into the thousands.
If we succeed diversifying, we’ll also be able to do more than just cover conference costs or Abner’s living expenses:
- Help meetup hosts rent fancier venues for their own local events
- Professionally design and mass print flyers, pamphlets, etc. to spread the word everywhere
- Offer paid contract work to accelerate our Key Objectives—especially Self-Hosting for All which requires a lot of manpower.