[eli_s]

All of the businesses you mention solve real problems that other business people are willing to pay to have solved.

The way I see it social sites need to climb a very steep peak before they have any chance of making money from ads - how many facebooks (which is still a long way from profitable) can the web ecosystem support? - If you do reach the top of that peak which only has room for 2-3 big players you have a chance of banking millions.

B2B services on the other hand are much safer. Business people understand that products and services cost money - and they are used to paying for the services they use.

My advice to developers looking for a product is to forget about the 1 in a million chance that they will develop the next great social app and cash out rich. By focusing on customers that are willing to pay, your venture has a much greater chance of becoming profitable and sustaining itself.

[patio11]

I think that, fundamentally, a lot of startup founders don't charge money because they lack the confidence to ask people for it. Which is crazy, because the people who would be your customers spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on things they care about less than your software.

I know I was TERRIFIED of charging money 2.5 years ago. What if it breaks?! What if there is a bug?! What if no one cares about what I'm doing?! But charging money is the BEST MEDICINE for this fear because people will pay you money. And after that happens a few thousand times, you start to lose the sense of "zomg, I am totally unworthy of being compensated for improving people's lives, perhaps I could put out a tip jar in a suitably discrete location and hope some money falls into it."