Label LIVE Reviews and details

Social recommendations and mentions

• Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell

  $500/month (3 figures) is a great milestone. I remember talking to a mentor that said, “you have something people will buy, stop working on features and focus just a bit on marketing.” It was good advice because now I’m regularly generating revenue of 4 figures per day. Rewind 5 years… I was so frustrated I couldn’t easily design and print barcode labels on my Mac using a spreadsheet. I opened up vscode and wrote... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago

• Ask HN: PG's 'Do Things That Don't Scale' Manual Examples

  I bought a hundred different label printers off eBay/amazon so I could reverse engineer and test all the different protocols. Now my app works with most label printers on the market and manufacturer’s send new models to me without even asking. I personally answer every support email. My wife once asked me how many customers I had. Then she asked how many email support emails I’ve handled over the same time period.... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago

• Show HN: Strich – Barcode scanning for web apps

  This app is adjacent to my indie electron app [1] for designing and printing labels, including barcodes. My app runs on Mac/windows and can be licensed offline. I love offering my users affordable one-time licenses that will work “forever.” I also offer a monthly subscription to satisfy the herd. 1) https://label.live/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago

• Show HN: Retool Mobile

  What does “Zebra” mean in this context? > Native mobile components include a barcode scanner, camera, NFC reader, geolocation tracker, signature pad, and Zebra integration to allow you to fully enable your field teams to operate efficiently. The only mention of Zebra in the docs is for zebra striping table rows/lists. Or does it mean Zebra printer for label printing via ZPL? My wheelhouse is label printer... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago

• Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

  I deeply want to understand and solve this problem. I’m an indie dev that created a desktop app (electron) to design and print labels. I sell a one-time license for $147 but also a subscription for $14.99/month. About 20% of my revenue is MRR. It’s up to the user, and they seem to love it when they have this choice. Is it sustainable for me? I think so. I license per computer. My largest customers have 20+... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago

• Barcode help

  There are barcode fonts and online barcode generators that are free. Just search "12-digit upc barcode generator" and you'll find lots of options. Decent label design software can also input barcode images easily. We use Label Live. Source: over 1 year ago

• Ask HN: What is the most impactful thing you've ever built?

  Over the last 4 years I built a label design and print app using Electron/React. It has 5000+ desktop users and will reach 7 figures in revenue in the next year. I recently launched a new thermal label printer brand named mydpi. Right now I'm selling a 300 DPI direct-thermal version to compete with DYMO and low-end Zebra. In a month I'll launch a thermal-transfer version with bundled ribbon/labels. I never thought... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago

• Mail Merge returns to Pages after nine years

  Mail merge is great for long form letters and adding greetings, addresses, etc. But if you need to print labels from Numbers you might want to consider something a bit more powerful. Enter my solo developer niche. I wrote an electron app called Label LIVE that can import excel/numbers files and format each row’s data on a label, hide and show objects based on rules, swap images, and lots of other features. Check... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

• Ask HN: Who Wants to Collaborate?

  I love building electron apps that integrate with hardware. If you’ve got hardware (USB, serial, Bluetooth) that needs a new UI/UZ - get in touch! I came across this niche while building Label LIVE (https://label.live) for USB label printers. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Ask HN: Why is building Windows apps so complicated

  Another option is to use an Electron boilerplate and then start learning a web framework of your choice. Electron development is incredibly rich. The UI is web tech, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s RPC back to a node process. You can call into native code on any platform. There are tons of NPM modules for both the browser and Node. There are bindings for whatever languages you want to use, and if... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Ask HN: Is everything changing too fast?

  Three years ago I started an proof of concept electron app to design and print labels on thermal printers. That app has grown into mid-6-figures revenue from mostly “one-time license” sales. I do offer monthly subscription pricing with an expiring license and after a year my MRR has hit $3k. My competition is windows only and closed-source, largely backed by private equity. I live in a small town in Minnesota so I... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Ask HN: What is the most meaningful work you have done?

  I never thought I’d grow up creating label printer software but I just love making good hardware usable by average people. As my (electron) app’s revenue accelerates through 6-figure territory I think about how the money is a good measure of how much I’m helping people. I get emails every day about how users love my app - and sheeeesh, that feels good. Read more at https://label.live. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Mechanical sympathy for QR codes: making NSW check-in better

  Indie dev here. I made an electron app to generate and print barcoded labels/images. It’s one of the only apps available allowing windows and macOS users to print to thermal printers without drivers. You can create forms for variables that get injected/interpolated into barcodes/images. I just added the ability to print from the command-line or via URL. I’m looking for label printing system integrators and... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• Ask HN: What’s the Status of Electron in 2021?

  I wrote an electron app a few years ago and it’s grown into a real business by surpassing my consulting income. I had to solve a few dozen really tough technical issues surrounding supporting USB on both mac and windows, fonts, etc. Feel free to reach out to me via the contact form at https://label.live. Cheers! - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

• My tiny side project has had more impact than my decade in the software industry

  A few months ago my tiny side project blossomed into a 6-figure income stream. It’s an electron app that designs and prints labels. Users import spreadsheet data and generate barcodes. Since I have a customer base and a target market, I’ve had every one of my mentors tell me I need to stop writing features and work more on marketing and analytics. But it’s not as fun! Instead, I find myself up late at night... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago