Definitely, so imagine if HN decided to show a thumbnail image beside every link on the front page so users get a preview of what they'll see before clicking the link. When looking for a solution HN will quickly discover that auto generating website thumbnails is a nontrivial challenge to do well.
BitPixels solves this challenge by providing a simple img tag HTML code that HN would use to automatically generate and cache a png thumbnail of any URL.
Behind the scenes, BitPixels uses a server farm of real Google Chrome browsers to load URLs and take screenshots so the thumbnails look exactly like the real website. Most competitors use open source libraries like phantomjs or cutycapt that produce inaccurate thumbnails on modern websites.
I run BitPixels (http://www.bitpixels.com) that provides automated website thumbnails. I purchased Bitpixels from another HN member a few years ago and have continued to build and market it.
BitPixels currently makes ~$1k/month which is enough to cover the App Engine and DigitalOcean bills plus a bit extra. I'm working to find 1-2 more marketing channels that can drive sustainable growth.
I run BitPixels (http://www.bitpixels.com) that provides automated website thumbnails. I actually purchased Bitpixels from another HN member a few years ago and have continued to build and market it.
The primary marketing channel is offering a free account that requires attribution on their site (e.g. "Thumbnails powered by BitPixels). The attribution links drive several new users per day and some eventually convert to premium accounts.
I've found DO is great for running RabbitMQ as a hub to process background jobs across multiple VMs. It's relatively simple to hit DO's API to spin up new "droplets" as needed so your queue never gets overloaded. I use this architecture to create over 1MM website thumbnails per day across 10+ VMs and it's been extremely reliable.
I currently use App Engine to handle front end requests and storage so I can't comment as much there, but DO's integration with Mesosphere sounds promising for scaling and reliability.
First stop the bleeding, sell off everything possible and cut costs to bare min.
Then try new ways to start growing again:
1. Try selling product on the Amazon Marketplace to take advantage of the SEO traffic they gained. This will cut your CPAs dramatically. If this works, expand to other marketplace partners.
2. Find local retail partners to sell products or open your own store.
3. Sell products at relevant sporting events.
4. Consider selling training, information, services or other high margin products.
None of this is easy nor a sure thing, exommerce is a cut throat game these days. Best of luck.
I agree with threeseed and I'm also someone who has spent hundreds with Themeforest. Viewing demos one by one is too slow. It doesn't live up to your promise of finding themes quickly.
However, the larger problem you discovered is that spending adwords is not cost effective for theme affiliates. It's common knowledge that the bigger players like Themeforest, ElegantThemes, etc. have better economics so they will always outbid you. But if you reduce your CPCs down to your breakeven, the volume will be too low to bother. Ultimately you need a more cost effective traffic channel to have any chance of making this work.
I also own a premium themes business and a theme review blog so I will share the ways I get cheap traffic:
1. For the premium themes, I rely on marketplaces and blog reviews/roundups. I let them drive the traffic while I focus on building great themes.
2. For the theme review blog, I rely on super long tail search traffic driven by the hundreds of theme reviews I've written. I also gain traffic and links by writing guest posts on prominent WP blogs.
3. Another big traffic driver I see a lot but don't use myself is to release high quality free WP themes. Then mix in premium affiliate themes on your Themes page to make a little money.
Be prepared to spend a solid year working on the above before you see significant traction. It's a tough space to play in these days, but it does eventually pay if you work really hard at it. If that scares you, I would probably pull the plug now before you spend a lot more time.
Honest question for cyclists - why do you continue biking?
It sounds like cycling is far more dangerous and potentially deadly than driving. As others mentioned you'll never "educate away" the problem. The road system is clearly not designed for cycling so both drivers and cyclists are annoyed.
What is it that you get out of cycling to make it worth the risk?
BitPixels solves this challenge by providing a simple img tag HTML code that HN would use to automatically generate and cache a png thumbnail of any URL.
Behind the scenes, BitPixels uses a server farm of real Google Chrome browsers to load URLs and take screenshots so the thumbnails look exactly like the real website. Most competitors use open source libraries like phantomjs or cutycapt that produce inaccurate thumbnails on modern websites.