Uneed Residency - The Finances

I run a lot of things in public, so it would be weird to stop now. Here's exactly what the first Uneed Residency cost, where the money came from, and how much of it came out of my own pocket.

The money coming in

Three sponsors backed the first edition:

• Creem: €4,300
• Fload: €4,300
• Bonus sponsor (Fernand offered us a meal): €1,000

That's €9,600 in total. I'm grateful for it, and it covered a big chunk of the week! But not all of it.

The money going out

So the first Uneed Residency cost €14,410.

The result

€9,600 in, €14,410 out. I covered the difference myself: €4,810.

I knew going in that a first edition rarely breaks even, and I'm fine having lost some money to get this off the ground 😊.

But I want to organize those residencies multiple times a year, so I need to find a way to lower the costs!

What I can spend less on

Some of these numbers were first-edition numbers. I didn't know what I needed, so I over-provisioned, and a few things were one-off setup costs.

The two obvious ones:

• Video (€2,400). This was a big bet on documenting the first edition properly, and honestly, the result is totally worth it, even better than I expected (thank you, Arnaud 🙏🏻)!! We will use this video to showcase the residency, especially to future sponsors 👀. But going forward, we will probably be fine with a simple setup.
• Cheese & Friends (€1,237). Wonderful, but generous 😅. I can scale this back without anyone noticing they're getting less.

Between those two, I should be able to cut at least €3,000 (I want to still include a restaurant) off the total without hurting the experience.

My rule for myself

I don't want the Residency to be a profit machine. That's not the point. But I also can't bleed €5k per edition while running three a year.

So here's the line I'm drawing: I'm happy to front some money for each edition, ideally no more than €1,000–2,000. That feels like a fair amount for me to invest in something I care about, and it keeps the whole thing sustainable. Anything above that, the model needs to change. Below it, I'm comfortable.

Fixing the income side

There are two levers I can pull, and together they more than close the gap.

1. Bill the sponsors in euros

The sponsors paid in USD, and the conversion ate into what actually landed in my account. Next time I'll ask to be billed in € directly. That alone adds roughly €1,400 of budget for the same deal.

That takes sponsor income from €9,600 to about €11,000.

2. A small contribution from residents

This is the part I'm still deciding on. The Residency runs with about 10 people, and my plan going forward is 50% returning residents, 50% new each edition.

I see two options:

• Everyone contributes €200. With ~10 people, that's €2,000.
• Only returning residents contribute €200. With ~5 returning, that's €1,000. New residents get their first edition fully covered; if they come back, they chip in.

I lean toward the second option. It keeps the door wide open for new people (the contribution should never be a barrier to a first experience IMO) while asking those who already know the value to help carry it.

Putting it together for edition 2

Here's roughly where that lands, assuming I trim expenses to around €12,500–13,000:

Every one of these sits inside my €1,000–2,000 comfort zone, and the version I prefer — euro billing plus a contribution from returning residents — leaves me fronting under €1,000. That's exactly the kind of number I'm happy to invest, three times a year, in something this good 😍

Why I'm sharing all this

A week in a manor with ten indie hackers isn't free, and pretending otherwise helps no one who wants to do the same thing. The first edition cost me €4,810. The second one shouldn't, and now I know why.

I’ll do the same for all the future editions 👊🏻