I've been prevented from doing anything meaningful on a startup of my own for ~5 years, primarily because I was intimidated by the big picture of how much went into making a "real business". But in that same time frame (and in front of my over HN-ed eyes), Patrick has done great things and inspired me to refocus on small, incremental progress that adds up over time. Now I make sure I don't let a single week go by without doing something to improve my technical and business situation.
Patrick is inspiring because he seems like so much more of a relatable Everyman that more developers can relate to. Plus he's a super nice guy!
What I like is that, even more so in the past, the financial figures are just so small in comparison to what we normally read. So many HN stories are about billion dollar valuations and million dollar investments, but with Patrick we see $30k presented in epic detail and with pride because for a humble side project I imagine it's been quite a journey. (I have a side project too that grew from a bit of mucking around to enough passive income that I could entertain a modest retirement, so I know where he's coming from.)
Catalogue of interior design photos for inspiration. Got lucky with SEO so I don't think there's much value in describing it in detail like Bingo Card Creator though - entire site didn't take much to put together. The parallel I wanted to draw was watching the numbers (sales, ad clicks, whatever) come through each week and sometimes pinching yourself.
