Why $0-revenue side projects are so common — and how to sell an abandoned app before you delete it

Stripe is quiet, and the analytics dashboard says "0." Scroll a maker community feed and it's all MRR screenshots, which makes it feel like you're the only one failing. But look at the public discussion, and $0-revenue products and short-lived side projects are closer to the default than the exception. So the next move isn't self-blame — it's widening what side project monetization means, and if it makes sense, opening an exit by selling the abandoned app or the MVP prototype itself.

1. What's actually going on

• Write-ups surveying the indie hacker ecosystem keep landing on the same number: a large share of publicly shipped products sit at $0 revenue. The ones that never make it to a tweet are the real graveyard.
• People keep sharing that they've shipped several projects in a row with low average revenue across all of them. The faster you can build, the faster abandoned repos pile up too.
• At the same time, there's real buyer demand for "I'd rather buy a head start than build from zero." The problem is that the marketplace, trust, and price discovery for this are all scattered.

2. The insight — $0 is a status, not a verdict

Zero revenue isn't proof that "you have no talent." Most of the time it's some mix of distribution, channel, timing, and upkeep cost. You can't get the late nights back, but that doesn't mean the code, UI, and domain have to go to zero too.

Let it sit / delete it

• All you keep is server and domain bills, plus a "someday I'll market it" debt.
• The learning is already banked, but the asset itself just disappears.

Hand it off / cash out a little

• To someone else, it might be "a prototype that saves two weekends."
• You're allowed to define indie hacker income as coffee money and seed for the next sprint, not just MRR.
• Selling the MVP prototype isn't a confession of failure — it's reallocation.

The more solidly a project sits at $0, the more often "sell time to someone who needs it" beats "I have to be the one who grows this to the end." That can be a realistic starting point for side project monetization.

3. What WakeAgain does about it

WakeAgain is a marketplace that reconnects abandoned side projects, MVPs, and SaaS prototypes through public bidding (an auction). Zero revenue and a small user base are fine — if you have a description and a demo, you can turn an abandoned app into a listing.

• Free to list · a fee only when a deal closes (see the site and terms for details)
• Buyers search prototypes by keyword
• No guarantee of revenue, a closed deal, or sale price — it's a channel for exit experiments

The takeaway

$0 revenue is close to the community default. Design an exit instead of blaming yourself. Selling an abandoned app or an MVP prototype isn't an embarrassing retreat — it can just be clearing the deck for the next sprint.

Disclaimer: this post is marketing content based on public community and media discussion. It doesn't guarantee that a listing will sell, or any specific revenue or outcome. Check the terms and listing details for deal conditions and risk.