Shows
Indie BitesAndrew Gazdecki on the best way to sell your indie SaaS businessAndrew Gazdecki is the founder of Acquire, previously known as MicroAcquire, the largest startup acquisition marketplace. I’ve spoken to many indie hackers about selling their businesses, many of whom have done so using Andrew’s platform. Before starting the Acquire, Andrew spent 8 years bootstrapping Bizness Apps to $10m ARR before being acquired by a private equity firm. You might also know of Boostrappers.com, the site Andrew started, sharing stories of bootstrappers. Finally, he also wrote a book called Getting Acquired, which tells his story and outlines exactly how you can sell your business.Timestamps00:00 - In...
2025-10-3016 minIndie BitesWhy you should build a sweaty startup instead of an indie SaaS - Flo SchirmerToday I’m talking with Flo Schirmer about "sweaty startups", a term for old-fashioned, low-risk businesses that are often service based and unsexy. I’m talking window cleaning, car washing, self-storage, house moving and more. We’re going to discuss if you can do this as a side hustle, if you should do this over a regular software business, and what you need to do to get started with some ideas along the way.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:38 What is a sweaty startup?03:18 From window cleaning to home security04:37 How to start a sweaty startup06:41 Growth for a sweaty...
2025-06-0216 minIndie BitesHow Tally grew to $150k MRR in 5 years - Marie MartensMarie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder she started with her partner Filip, now used by half a million people and are over $150k MRR. Marie was on the pod 3 years ago when they’d scaled to 16,000 users and $8k MRR in 1 year. In that episode we discussed the origin story, getting their first 100 users and how they’d grown so quickly. Today, we’re going to be finding out how they’ve built such a robust business over the past 3 years and 15x’d their revenue.Listen to Marie's first episode:https://indiebites...
2025-05-2317 minIndie BitesWhy the Marketoonist is the dream indie business - Tom FishburneTom Fishburne is the founder of Marketoonist, a bootstrapped marketing cartoon business he started in 2010. He started drawing and sharing cartoons in 2002, and it took him 8 years to make the leap, despite having a successful career in marketing. 15 years later, Tom is still going strong, with the business making money from cartoon licensing, speaking gigs, brand deals, his book and more.Listen to the extended version of the show here: https://indiebites.com/membership/Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:23 - Moving to Czech Republic out of college02:16 - From Czech Republic to MBA03:19 - Starting cartooning04:03...
2025-05-0116 minIndie BitesWhy Jack Ellis acquired Fathom Analytics from his co-founderJack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, a simple, privacy focused analytics tool launched in 2019. I last spoke to Jack on the podcast in 2021, where he talked about the inception and growth of Fathom, taking on a massive incumbent and why Jack loves working with a co-founder. In December 2024, Jack acquired his co-founder’s share in the business, making him the sole owner (i think). Today, we’re going to talk about why he made this unique move and what’s next for Fathom.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:20 Jack finds out about EmailOctopus02:34 Why Jack acquired Fathom05:03 How ca...
2025-04-1614 minIndie BitesTypeshare's $34k MRR bootstrapped journey - Sam ShoreSam Shore is the co-founder of Typeshare, a writing platform made to create and publish text across the internet. Typeshare has made over $1m in revenue since it was started in 2021, with over 80,000 user, currently $34k MRR I’m speaking to Sam to find out how he started Typeshare as the first of 12 startups he was planning to build, and what made this stick.00:00 Intro01:10 Sam's entrepreneurial background02:03 Failed past projects03:31 12 startups in 12 months04:16 The idea for Typeshare05:38 Getting traction with Typeshare06:50 Getting to $15k MRR in 1 year with infuential partnerships09:52 How is Sam making sure he has fu...
2025-03-0515 minIndie BitesHow Justin Duke is building Buttondown into the perfect bootstrapped businessJustin Duke is the founder of Buttondown, a simple email tool he launched in 2017. Justin was last on the podcast 2 years ago when he’d hit $15k MRR and just left his role at Stripe to focus on Buttondown. I was struck by Justin’s well thought through approach to building. He makes calculated risks and shares a lot of his learnings on his blog, Applied Cartography (which is an essential read for any indie hackers).This episode I catch up with Justin to hear how he’s grown the team to 8 people and his approach to buildi...
2025-02-0717 minIndie BitesHow to sell your indie business - Josh PelegToday I’m not actually joined by an indie hacker, but by someone who can help a lot of indies out there. Josh Peleg is the Head of Biz Dev and Mergers and Acquisitions at BlueThrone. Essentially, he knows all about how to sell a business from the buyer's side.In this episode we’re going to learn from Josh exactly what you need to know about selling your indie product. How you find an acquirer, what does the process look like and how you can get a deal over the line.I’ve spoken to som...
2025-01-2215 minIndie BitesArvid Kahl on building a profitable SaaS (Podscan), calm funding and juggling a media businessArvid Kahl is returning to the podcast for the third time. In 2019, he’d just sold Feedback Panda for a life changing amount of money and then wrote the book Zero to Sold. In 2023, he was in full-on creator mode with The Bootstrapped Founder and had just released The Embedded Entrepreneur. Now, he’s still producing the content but is also spending time on his SaaS Podscan, which is an extremely ambitious tool that transcribes every podcast and let’s you track mentions of your brand.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:27 Arvid's life as a SaaS founder02:48 Are people still...
2025-01-1516 minIndie BitesHigh Signal founder on the state of indie hacking and building in public in 2025 - Pete CodesRecently I’ve been reviewing my catalogue of previous guests and have been intrigued to see where they are now, so expect to see a few more returning guests over the next few weeks.Today is a chap who was last on the podcast 3 years ago, and is still ever present in the indie community. Pete Codes is writes the High Signal newsletter, sharing all the best indie hacking news every week. He’s making his main living through Ghostwriting for Twitter, Bluesky and LinkedIn, but he’s still launching new projects and keeping his previous projects live.
2025-01-0814 minIndie BitesHow Podsqueeze grew to $16k MRR in 18 months - Tiago FerreiraTiago Ferreira is the co-founder of Podsqueeze, an AI podcast tool that helps automate your podcast content. The tool, that helps you create show notes, newsletters, social posts and more, is currently doing $16k MRR and growing. You might also know Tiago from his podcast Wannabe Entrepreneur, where he’s interviewed impressive founders including Pieter Levels.Timestamps00:00 - Intro120 - Tiago Ferreira01:06 - Tiago's background02:25 - Lessons from failures03:40 - Starting Podsqueeze - solving your own problem05:53 - How Podsqueeze had a successful launch06:40 - How to have a successful launch08:10 - Growth tactics for Podsqueeze...
2024-09-1315 minIndie BitesHow Buy Me A Coffee grew to millions of users - Jijo SunnyToday I’m joined by Jijo Sunny, who is the co-founder of Buy Me A Coffee, one of the most popular donation and membership platforms on the internet. They’ve processed 10’s of millions for creators and have built a 26 strong team. Since founding Buy Me A Coffee, Jijo has dabbled in all sorts of projects, including a stint in YC with a podcasting app. Now though, Jijo is back building a new product, Voicenotes, a voice driven AI note taking app.👉 Listen to the full 1 hour conversation with Jijo here: indiebites.com/membershipTimestamps00:00 I...
2024-08-2316 minIndie BitesHow focusing on customer happiness led to success for KnowledgeOwl - Marybeth AlexanderMarybeth Alexander is the founder and Chief Executive Owl of KnowledgeOwl, a bootstrapped knowledge base software founded in 2015. Started as an idea within SurveyGizmo, where Marybeth was working at the time, the company has since flourished into a small, profitable, sustainable business ultimately being built to improve the lives of the founders, employees and customers. In this episode we talk about how Marybeth bought the company from her previous employers, how they grew through reviews and why more indie hackers should put customer happiness front and centre.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:26 Founding story of KnowledgeOwl (prev Help...
2024-08-0916 minIndie BitesRanking #1 in Google with Lorem Ipsum and making a career out of scientific SEO - Kyle RoofKyle Roof is the co-founder of High Voltage SEO, PageOptimizer Pro and Internet Marketing Gold. An agency, software and course business respectively which all focus on mastering SEO. I’ve spoken at length on the podcast before about how SEO can be such an effective tool for indie hackers to use, so Kyle is the perfect guest to talk to today.Timestamps00:00 Intro02:58 How Kyle learned SEO04:31 Being Scientific with SEO05:47 Why you should try paid ads07:17 Ranking top of Google with Lorem Ipsum10:15 Where do people start with SEO12:13 Encouraging word of mouth growth13:56 Recommendations...
2024-06-1414 minIndie BitesFinding success with a QR code app after selling his previous indie business - Ramy KhuffashRamy Khuffash is the founder of Hovercode, a QR code generator he’s working on full time. Previously, Ramy founded Page Flows, a library of inspiration videos for product designers that he sold last November.Timestamps00:00 Intro00:56 Email Octopus Sponsor02:30 Page Flows Acquisition05:03 What did Ramy buy after he sold his company05:56 Starting Hovercode08:05 Finding new business ideas09:32 Growth for Hovercode11:22 Working with a horizontal product12:20 The perfect indie business14:48 Ramy's futureRecommendationsBook: The Mom TestPodcast: Hidden BrainIndie Hacker: Laura Roeder, Amar GhoseMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the me...
2024-05-3116 minIndie BitesFrom Tweet Hunter's 8 figure exit, to starting all over again - Tibo Louis-LucasTibo Louis-Lucas is a serial founder, most well known for starting Tweet Hunter and Taplio in 2021, before selling the company in 2022 for 8 figures. Since then, Tibo has gone on to acquire an AI video creation tool, Typeframes, which he spun Revid.ai recently. He actually announced after recording this that he has left Tweethunter and is back to focusing on his early stage products, which we touch on in this episode. He’s also started a newsletter with over 50k subscribers and has over 115k Twitter followers. Tibo is a bit of a legend in the indie maker sphere ri...
2024-05-1617 minIndie BitesBuilding a $200k MRR bootstrapped maid software for a price sensitive niche - Amar Ghose, ZenMaidAmar Ghose is the founder of ZenMaid, a Maid Service software that has just hit $200k MRR. Amar is a seasoned bootstrapped entrepreneur, having started ZenMaid back in 2013. Amar’s story shows the power of sticking with something through the hard times, and having an unsexy niche (aka not selling to other indie hackers) can lead to a phenomenal indie business.Timestamps00:00 Intro02:53 Scaling in the first 2 years04:38 Growing an indie business in a price sensitive niche06:54 Travelling while indie hacking08:12 Losing 40% of revenue in 6 months13:23 Hustle Porn - Should indie hackers work harder?15:38 RecommendationsRe...
2024-05-1016 minIndie BitesBuilding WP Minute, a 5-figure side project without a huge audience - Matt Medeiros, WP MinuteMatt Medeiros is the founder of WP Minute, a weekly podcast highlighting WordPress news in less than 5 minutes. He’s a podcasting expert, having previously worked as Director of Podcasting success at Castos and now hosts & produces Breakdown, a podcast by Gravity forms. This episode talks about how you can make a sustainable 5-figure side project, with a niche audience while working a full time job and increasing your opportunities as you do it.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:32 From the family car business to digital agency with his dad03:35 Becoming a Wordpress Expert and Starting Matt Report04:45 Using po...
2024-04-2516 minIndie BitesBuilding a $700k ARR newsletter - Manu Cinca, Stacked MarketerManu Cinca is the founder of Stacked Marketer, a daily marketing newsletter he bootstrapped to $700k. In 2023, he acquired 2 newsletters to bring the subscriber count to 100k and raised a small 250k funding round to help boost growth.
2024-04-1016 minIndie BitesBootstrapping the 100DaysOfNoCode learning platform - Max HainingMax Haining is the founder of 100DaysofNoCode and 100DaysofAI, which are bootcamps designed to help non-techies gain tech skills. Max wanted to be an entrepreneur from a young age and started 100DaysofNoCode as a challenge for himself to learn NoCode tools during covid, but as more people joined in, he realised he could bootstrap the challenge into a learning platform which he’s now working on full time.Follow Max:TwitterTimestamps00:00 - Intro01:28 - Max early life03:31 - University student inspired by Zuck04:59 - Discovering indie hacking06:13 - Starting 100DaysofNoCode09:45 - Turning 100DaysofNoCode fr...
2024-04-0315 minIndie BitesBouncing back from losing 70% revenue - Max Serrano, IGotAnOfferMax Serrano is the founder of IGotAnOffer, a bootstrapped coaching platform focused on helping people get jobs and progress their career. Initially starting out in consulting, Max started IGotAnOffer on the side, creating digital products to help people land consulting jobs, but pivoted to coaching after they lost 70% of their revenue in the tech hiring freeze, having to lay off the majority of his staff. Now, with a profit first mentality, they are on a growth trajectory again.Timestamps00:00 - Intro03:16 - What indie hackers can learn from management consulting04:42 - The idea for IGotAnOffer06:23...
2024-03-2715 min
This Indie Life27: James is gone; Dago is backIn this episode, Dago quits his job and comes back to the indie life. Meanwhile James is nowhere to be found and the podcast is headed towards a new direction.Dagobert linksDagobert's TwitterDago's Twitter CourseDago's NewsletterJames linksJames' TwitterIndie Bites - indie founder chats2 Hour Podcast - podcasting courseWhitstable Craft Co - handmade leather walletsPodPanda - podcast editing
2024-03-2026 minIndie BitesBuilding and monetizing an audience as a software engineer - Randall Kanna FransonToday I’m joined by Randall Kanna Franson. Randall is a senior software engineer who has written 3 books, including one published by O’Reilly and a self published one which made over $70k. She also created a course called Hack the Tech interview which made $20k in the first 24 hours and $50k in the first month. All of this has been through Randall’s efforts to share her learnings from almost a decade being a software engineer and growing her twitter audience to over 50,000 followers. She’s also dabbled in SaaS products, notably launching and growing CodeTutor which she sold aft...
2024-01-2416 minIndie BitesCan you really scale a No Code SaaS? - Kieran Ball, NoCodeLifeKieran Ball is the founder of NoCodeLife, a selection of case studies of those making successful businesses using NoCode. Kieran also has courses on how to become a NoCode SaaS founder, specifically using the Bubble platform. I wanted to get Kieran on the pod to discuss and challenge the NoCode movement and if you can actually create a scalable product using the tools available, or if NoCode serves a different purpose.Timestamps00:00 108 - Kieran Ball02:07 Failing to learn how to code03:05 How Kieran discovered no code04:28 Are no code apps hacky?05:52 Who has been successful building...
2024-01-1116 minIndie BitesB2C vs B2B SaaS as an indie hacker - Val Sopi, BlogstaticToday I’m joined by Val Sopi, the founder of Blogstatic, a lightweight blogging platform built to take on the likes of Ghost. Currently Val is sitting around $1k a month, but with a low-priced annual plans approach, he’s relying on new sign ups and plan upgrades instead of recurring subscriptions. So he’s at a crossroads of needing to pour fuel on the fire to grow his low-cost blogging platform, or attempt to build a B2B SaaS, which he believes is a much more sustainable option for an indie founder. Val has been hardened by business succes...
2024-01-0317 minIndie BitesHow VEED bootstrapped to $7m ARR - Sabba Keynejad, VEED.io (2020)Today I'm revisiting one of my favourite episodes, from 2020, with Sabba Keynejad, co-founder and CEO of VEED.io, an online video editing platform. When I interviewed Sabba, VEED were at around $2m ARR, fully bootstrapped. Since this interview, they’ve gone on to bootstrap to about $7m ARR before raising a whopping $35m series A from Sequoia. And when I first met Sabba, years before this interview, VEED was just a small product that wasn't generating any revenue. This episode is special to me because I’ve followed VEED’s journey from the start and it’s been inspiring to see...
2023-12-2714 minIndie BitesLemon Squeezy CTO on why he still makes side projects - Gilbert PellegromGilbert Pellegrom, is co-founder and CTO of Lemon Squeezy, a platform for selling software and digital products online. Previously Gilbert created the Nivo Slider all in 2010, which grew to millions of users before selling it. He then went on to work with Orman Clark at ThemeZilla and Dunked, who he’s teamed up with again to build Lemon Squeezy. What’s interesting about Gilbert is that despite being the CTO of a rapidly scaling startup, he’s still making and shipping side projects, which we’ll talk about more on this episode.If you want to hear more abo...
2023-12-2016 minIndie BitesScaling and exiting a $65k MRR with meal planning app - Jeffrey Bunn, Mealime & ClearfulToday I’m joined by Jeffrey Bunn, who is the co-founder of Clearful, a digital journal app he built with his wife, Maria. Previously they co-founded Mealime, a meal planning app which grew to a whopping $65k MRR before they exited in 2018. In this episode we cover the story of founding both apps, how they utilised the app stores for growth and why they started a B2C app in a crowded market.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:30 Starting Mealime07:07 Pivot to mobile and reducing prices08:36 Mealime Growth09:46 Private Equity Exit10:38 Life post-exit an...
2023-12-1317 minIndie BitesThe slow and steady path to growth - Michael ChristofidesToday I’m joined by Michael Christofides, who is the founder of PgMustard, a product which helps people speed up Postgres queries. Michael started out working for a Devtools company as a product manager and went on to run customer success at London based unicorn, GoCardless. Now, Michael might not be as well known and successful as other popular indie hackers, but he works on his own terms and has been committed to his project for years.In this episode I want to unpack why Michael stays committed to his product despite slow growth, his unique approach to...
2023-12-0616 minIndie BitesArvid Kahl on side projects, hobbies and making money as a founderArvid Kahl runs The Bootstrapped Founder, a podcast, newsletter and educational resource to help founders grow successful bootstrapped businesses. He’s also written two books, Zero to Sold and The Embedded Entreprenuer. Arvid is a returning guest, having previously been on the show almost 3 years ago, to talk about his exit from FeedbackPanda, which he grew to $55k MRR with his partner, Danielle.In this episode we talk about life as a creator and solopreneur, how Arvid is scratching his SaaS itch and how people can leave their jobs to work on their side projects....
2023-11-2917 minThis Indie Life26: James gets a fancy shirt; Dago gets a divorceIn this episode, Dago has a big life event which is going to change the trajectory of his indie life. Meanwhile, I reflect on one of my best weeks in a while being on form after spending some time away relaxing.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:41 James updates12:07 Dago updatesDagobert linksDagobert's TwitterDago's Twitter CourseLogology - high quality logos and brandsMemelogy - the best startup memesJames linksJames' TwitterIndie Bites - indie founder chats2 Hour Podcast - podcasting courseWhitstable Craft Co - handmade leather walletsPodPanda - podcast editing
2023-11-2325 minIndie BitesQuitting his job and taking a £20k loan to go full time indie - Harvey Carpenter, GrowformHarvey Carpenter is the founder of Growform, a form builder which is now around 7K MRR. It's a mixture of enterprise and some other clients, and he's tackling a product in a market that is extremely competitive and crowded, but he's trying to carve out his own little slice of that market.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:21 Harvey's life before Growform01:35 Side projects as a 17 yr old04:10 Getting a law degree05:04 The idea for Growform06:42 Benefits of picking a niche09:12 Growth tactics10:06 Quitting his job and taking a loan13:16 Future goals13:48 Taking recreation seriouslyRecommendationsBook: The...
2023-11-2215 minIndie BitesHow to get to ramen profitability - Charlie Ward, Ramen ClubToday is a special episode, because it marks 100 episodes of Indie Bites. And to mark the occasion, I’m bringing back my guest from episode 1, Charlie Ward, founder of Ramen Club to talk about how he’s grown to community into the core of the London indie scene while scaling to £7k MRR in the process. Charlie has also been a long time supporter of the show, having sponsored well over 30 episodes and taking a bet on me early on.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:40 - The impact Ramen Club has on other founders03:08 - Rebranding to Ramen Club0...
2023-11-1515 minIndie BitesBootstrapping EmailOctopus to $3m+ ARR - Jonathan Bull & Tom EvansToday I’m joined by Tom Evans and Jonathan Bull from EmailOctopus, an email platform who have bootstrapped to over $3m ARR since they were founded in 2014. They’ve been battling in a crowded and competitive market, with some huge funded companies to contend with, but they’ve made it work in an indie way. In this episode we talk about how they lost 99% of their users overnight, why they’ve chosen to compete on price rather than in a niche and their reasoning behind staying bootstrapped for so long.Get the extended episode here: https://indiebites.com/memb...
2023-11-0817 minIndie BitesBuilding a financial engine for your indie business - Justin JacksonIn this episode I have a returning guest, someone who is a keystone of the bootstrapping community, it’s Justin Jackson, co-founder of Transistor, MegaMaker and more. Today we have an unstructured but very useful chat about building a financial engine for your business. This is a topic that has come up countless times in my indie journey and I think it’s something that a lot of indie businesses don’t address as early and seriously as they should. There a ton of actionable tips in this conversation about how to manage your finances, building a solid, profitable busine...
2023-11-0115 minThis Indie Life25: Are side projects impossible to make successful?In this episode, Dago talks about why he can’t do side projects anymore without going al in, but he does have a plan. Meanwhile, I’ve had a big week with my podcast Indie Bites, speaking to a bootstrapping legend, but having to overcome a metric shit ton of imposter syndrome.About Dagobert (to be updated soon...)Previously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to u...
2023-10-1626 minIndie BitesRob Walling on multiple projects, why building an audience is dumb and other SaaS wisdomRob Walling is an absolute legend in the bootstrapping and indie scene. He’s a veteran entrepreneur with his most notable exit being Drip in 2016. Rob also founded MicroConf, started TinySeed and is the host of the Startups for the Rest of Us podcast, which has over 680 episodes having started in 2010. It doesn’t stop there for Rob, he’s also written 4 books, Start Small Stay Small, Start Marketing the Day You Start Coding, The Entrepreneurs Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together and most recently, The SaaS Playbook.Get the hour long episode here: https://indiebites.com/member...
2023-10-1317 minThis Indie Life24: We're back and indie hacking againIn this episode, Dago talks about how the honeymoon period for his job is over and how he’s going to address it with side projects. Is logology coming back? Meanwhile, I’ve been settling back into a new slightly too relaxed routine with my whale client and wonder what I need to do to make some progress with my side projects.About Dagobert (to be updated soon...)Previously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than...
2023-10-0521 minIndie BitesGrowing an audience, making difficult decisions and launching screencasting.com - Aaron FrancisAaron Francis is currently an Educator at Planet Scale, but you would have seen him all around the internet doing courses, YouTube videos, podcasts and more. Notably he was a founding member of the Hammerstone team, which he’s recently left, to focus his energy on doing something he loves. Most recently, Aaron has launched Screencasting.com, a course teaching you how to make better screencasts.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:25 Aaron's Background02:10 Learning Software Engineering through books03:24 Audience Building05:51 Benefits of each content medium08:07 Making time for everything09:27 Having a full time job10:23 Leaving Hammerstone12:36 Launching Screencasting.com14:33 Ho...
2023-10-0516 minIndie Bites$20k MRR with Airtable app using YouTube and SEO for growth - Andy Cloke, Data FetcherToday I’m joined by a returning guest, Andy Cloke, who runs Data Fetcher. Data Fetcher is an API plugin for Airtable that he’s grown to 20k MRR. In our previous episode Andy was only at around £3k MRR, so in this conversation we talk about what he’s done to grow so rapidly, including investing in new marketing channels such as YouTube.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:58 Growing to 20k MRR04:51 Building a machine06:01 YouTube Strategy09:09 Launching another product11:38 Hiring and reinvesting into the business13:07 Future of Data FetcherRecommendationsBook: Psychology of MoneyPodcast: AcquiredIndie Hacker...
2023-09-2815 minIndie BitesMaking $200k a year teaching Google Sheets - Andrew KampheyToday I’m joined by Andrew Kamphey, who is the founder of Better Sheets, a platform of tools and tutorials to get better at using Google Sheets, that has done well over $200k in revenue since he launched in 2020. He started out working as a tech on cruise ships, before moving to LA to work in the film industry, which is where he gained all of his Google Sheets prowess. From here he’s had a meandering life journey, working while travelling South East Asia, starting and selling an influencer newsletter, writing a book about charging and even launching a Sa...
2023-09-2114 minIndie BitesBootstrapping Ticket Tailor to £6m ARR, selling and repurchasing the company, losing motivation and more - Jonny WhiteJonny White is the founder of Ticket Tailor, a platform for selling tickets online doing over £6m ARR and growing. Jonny founded Ticket Tailor in 2011, grew it to £2k MRR and then sold it to a company called TimeOut a short while later. After a few stagnant years at TimeOut, Jonny then bought the company back to make the lifestyle business he’d always wanted. After hitting all his goals, Jonny made the decision to build out a team and bootstrap the company to profitability and beyond. Now with a team of 20+ people, Jonny has a whole new set of c...
2023-09-0416 minIndie BitesCarving a new life path with a newsletter about Workspaces - Ryan Gilbert, WorkspacesRyan Gilbert is the creator of the Workspaces newsletter, which showcases the best workspaces in tech and beyond. He grew it to 6,000 subscribers and $2k per month with sponsors + affiliates, before being acquired by Loops (Founder Chris Frantz was on episode 61) and going on to be their first employee. In this episode we talk about how simplicity has been so important for growth of the newsletter, how he makes it appealing for guests to share and his reasoning for selling at such an early stage.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:26 Life before Workspaces03:37 Did you have any side projects...
2023-08-0315 minIndie BitesTaking on Bit.ly bootstrapped - Tim Leland, T.LYTim Leland is the founder of T.LY, a link shortener with almost half a million users that he recently quit his job to pursue full time. Tim started out building chrome extensions, including a weather extension that grew to 200k users at it’s peak. He then capitalised on Google closing down their link URL shortener and tried to build his own competitor, which is where T.LY was born. Tim has gone for the high volume, low price option for his product, which often isn’t recommended as a good route for Indie Hackers, but Tim has made...
2023-07-2116 minThis Indie Life23: Are we no longer indie hackers? (Dago's job update)In this episode, Dago has started his new job and gives an update on what it’s like now he’s joined the dark side. Is he happy? Does he regret the decision? All will be revealed in this update conversation. I, meanwhile, travel to Dago’s country, avoid him completely and drive to the furthest point away from him to do some work.Dago updates:How he's finding his new jobDoes he regret it?Pros / consJames updates:Driving 1,600 miles to the South of FranceMoving the flat aroundWallet biz updateAbout Dagobert (to be...
2023-07-1025 minIndie BitesWorking towards life-changing outcomes as an indie hacker - Colleen Schnettler, HelloQueryIn this episode I’m joined by Colleen Schnettler, which a lot of you would have heard from through her Software Social podcast she co-hosts with Michele Hansen. Colleen has been on quite the journey over the past few years, going from years of contracting to launching her first product, Simple File Upload, then getting a large contracting gig with Hammerstone, landing a separate full-time job to then quit 3 weeks later to rejoin that Hammerstone as a co-founder. Now Colleen is working on a product called HelloQuery, a reporting tool for SQL queries which has been accepted into a re...
2023-07-0415 minIndie BitesGamifying products, shipping quickly and knowing when to quit - Marc LouvionMarc Louvion is an indie hacker with many many products. His tagline on his website is relatable for all “I was fired everywhere so I had to work for myself (even Tai Lopez fired me...)”. If you go to Marc’s Indie Page you can see all his projects, including Habits Garden, Gamify List, Visualise Habit, Make Landing & more. Marc is living in Bali and on his way to $5k MRR across his projects. You might have seen Marc on Twitter with his hilarious launch videos and candid build in public updates.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:32 Marc's indie hacker...
2023-06-1416 minThis Indie Life22: Closing down Logology (Dago's startup)In this episode, Dago’s got a big announcement. You might have seen on Twitter, he’s closing down his startup Logology and getting a job. I’ll read his whole tweet and then we’ll discuss why he’s making such a big decision.Read Dago's tweet.About Dagobert (to be updated soon...)Previously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than two years just to build a product and had to use most of ou...
2023-06-1325 minThis Indie Life21: Where have we been?Dago and I have taken a break from the pod while Dago gets to the bottom of his burnout. He's spent some time meditating and figuring out what the next steps are for his indie hacking journey. I have been galavanting around the world and away from my problems, spending time in both New York and Brazil, despite still being in crippling debt.Dago Updates:Figuring out burnoutShould he get a job?James Updates:Trip to New York and BrazilStill struggling with motivation / directionAbout DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but...
2023-06-0225 minIndie BitesIs indie hacking having an identity crisis? - Dominic Monn, MentorCruiseIn this episode I’m bringing back a previous guest, Dom Monn, who is the founder of MentorCruise, which he’s now working full time on with a small team. I brought Dom back on to discuss something that has been on my mind, and has come up in twitter conversations recently which Dom has been involved in.Is indie hacking having an identity crisis? Is the indie label and mentality limiting success and holding many founders back? I think it could be and so we discuss why this might be happening and what we can do abou...
2023-06-0115 minIndie BitesHow to find and validate your ideas - Bram Kanstein, Startup Stash / No Code MVPToday I’m joined by Bram Kanstein, who you might know from Startup Stash, which is the most upvoted product ever on Product Hunt. Bram also started the No Code MVP a course, which shows you how to launch an MVP without code. In this episode we focus a lot on how indie hackers can find ideas and launch them the right way.Timestamps00:00 Intro03:18 Startup Stash05:56 No Code MVP09:47 Finding ideas12:22 Idea validation15:00 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - Untethered Soul by Michael SingerPodcast(s) - Joe Rogan, HIBT, MFMIndie Hacker - Danny PostmaFo...
2023-05-2715 minIndie BitesGrowing Frontend Mentor to 500k users and $30k MRR - Matt StuddertMatt Studdert is the founder of Frontend Mentor, which helps people level up their front-end coding skills by building projects. They have over 500,000 users and are hovering around $30k MRR. Matt didn’t start out wanting to run a SaaS, starting out playing poker, then became a personal trainer, before changing his career and learning to code when he was 28.Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:16 Playing Poker full time02:58 Becoming a personal trainer04:24 Learning to code with General Assembly06:33 Front End Mentor08:33 Building a scrappy MVP11:29 Growth for Front End Mentor15:03 ReccosRecommendationsBook - badass make us...
2023-04-3016 minThis Indie Life20: Dago "I am a Twitter rockstar"In this episode, Dago has decided he is a Twitter Rockstar and tries to justify himself, meanwhile, I’ve made huge progress in paying off my debts and there’s even some positive leather news.Dago Updates:Coming to terms with the fact he's a Twitter rockstarThoughts on the Twitter API price increaseJames Updates:New sponsor deal going wellSold more walletsAbout DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife). It took them more than...
2023-04-2425 minIndie BitesJordan O'Connor on running a $30k MRR SaaS and doing SEO consulting on the sideJordan O’Connor is the founder of Closet Tools, a bootstrapped app that helps people sell more stuff on Poshmark which has been in and around the $30-40k MRR mark. He’s found a lot of his growth through SEO, like many successful entrepreneurs, and now helps other founders do the same through his Rank to Sell power half hours.Listen to the full 90 minute chat with Jordan here ->Timestamps00:00 Intro03:29 Jordan being awful with money04:30 Jordan's indie hacking journey06:10 Launching and failing with different products07:06 Choosing SaaS08:31 Starting closet tools11:38 Pricing for...
2023-04-2017 minIndie BitesGrowing a $2m p/y indie business - Josh Ho, Referral RockJosh Ho is the founder and CEO of Referral Rock, a SaaS he founded in 2014 doing over $2m a year in revenue. Referral Rock helps businesses to design, launch and manage a customer referral program. Josh has had decades of experience as a founder, pouring his early entrepreneurship energy into a notes app that he ultimately couldn’t monetize.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:24 - Josh's background02:11 - Lessons from a failed startup04:16 - Failed startup to new long term bet05:41 - The idea for Referral Rock06:59 - Pricing a B2C product
2023-04-1216 minThis Indie Life19: Dago is cured!In this episode, Dago’s got to the bottom of his illness and is on the road to recovery, you won’t believe what it is! After months of positivity and growth, I might be running into some mental health problems so we try and stop it from getting worse, but there is some good news from me later on.Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oVPOcy8WcbgAbout DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now building his own startup with his wife, Logology (that's the name of the startup, not his wife...
2023-04-1025 minIndie BitesBuilding a 6-figure creator business - Jay Clouse, Creator ScienceJay Clouse is the founder of Creator Science, which is a membership, community, newsletter and podcast helping you become build a creator business, which he bootstrapped to over $40k a month towards the end of last year. His podcast is one of the best produced shows out there and it’s on my very short list of shows that I can listen to every episode and know it’s going to be killer. I think the creator business angle is interesting for indie hackers who haven’t quite found a product yet and want to build something. Creating content and sp...
2023-04-0516 minThis Indie Life18: The AI skeptics embrace AIIn this episode, Dago is up and about, looking fantastic in his recording setup. We'll be diving deep into a topic that's on everyone's minds - artificial intelligence. Despite being skeptics at heart, Dago and I have both started to embrace AI in various aspects of our lives, and we're excited to share our thoughts and experiences with you.Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking chat about the fascinating world of AI, as we explore the ways in which this groundbreaking technology is changing our lives, for better or for worse. So sit back, relax...
2023-04-0421 minIndie BitesBuilding a $15k MRR side project while working at Stripe - Justin Duke, ButtondownJustin Duke is the founder of Buttondown, a simple email newsletter tool without all the bloat. In December 2022 Buttondown was around $15k MRR. He also runs Spoonbill, which is a way to stay updated on what people change on their social profiles. At the time of recording this Justin was an engineering manager at Stripe so you’ll hear references to that, but he’s since left to go all in on being a founder.👉 Join the Indie Bites membership here.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:57 Origins of Buttondown03:25 Buttondown launch05:37 Keeping Buttondown as a side project07:47 A prici...
2023-04-0115 minIndie BitesBreaking Convention: The Radical Thinking of Jack McDade and StatamicJack McDade is the creator of Statamic, a content management system for Laravel. What I love about Jack is how he approaches all of his projects, including Statamic, to just be different. There is so much cookie cutter content out there and everything just ends up looking the same - but not if Jack has anything to do with it. Just take a look at his personal website, his Radical Design course and Icons and you’ll see what I mean. I love it.👉 Join the Indie Bites membership here.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:27 Why Jack start...
2023-03-2516 minThis Indie Life17: Where is the finish line?In this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.Dago updatesWent to doctorsBrain fog is clearingDebating how to record next course segmentJames updatesEnjoying momentumWary of burnoutWorking towards a goalAbout DagobertPreviously a money-chasing software engineer, but now...
2023-03-2224 minIndie BitesFrom $0 to $10k MRR in 2 years - Elston Baretto, Tiiny Host (Revisited)Elston Baretto was last on the pod in March 2021, when he’d just grown his tool, Tiiny.host, to $600 MRR and we recorded as part of my mission to share stories of unknown indie hackers with potential. Fast forward 2 years and Tiiny Host has grown to $10k MRR and Elston has just quit his job to become a full time indie hacker.👉 My side project, Whitstable Craft Co.Topics covered:Hitting $10k MRRWhy PDF hosting has been pivotal for growthBuild what people search forWhy SEO has been such a huge growth driverHow to do SEOGo...
2023-03-1916 minThis Indie Life16: Finding joy in workIn this episode, Dago is coming to terms with working less and making the most of it. I’m not talking sipping mamosas, I’m talking optimizing his Twitter time. I share more details about my long term indie bites partnership, although there might be a stumbling block in the way in my quest for being debt-free.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsbeing forced to optimize my twitter time is coola.i is cool but takes the joy of creating awayJames updates/reflectionsInd...
2023-03-1622 minIndie BitesMaking $12k p/m with Wordpress plugins - Patrick PosnerPatrick Posner is the creator of a portfolio of Wordpress plugins which have been downloaded almost a million times collectively making him $12k p/m. Patrick went full time indie in 2020 and since then has both grown quickly and scaled back operations to build the best sort of life for him. I love these types of stories of relatively unknown indie hackers who are creating the dream life for themselves.What we covered in this episode:Building Wordpress plugins on the side of a day jobMarketing for Wordpress pluginsGetting 1m downloadsBeating a domain resellerFinding SEO keywords...
2023-03-1515 minIndie BitesFrom $50m VC-backed to $20k MRR notes app - Alex MacCaw, Reflect (prev. Clearbit)Alex MacCaw is the founder of Reflect, a note taking app which he’s grown to $20k MRR with a team of 4. Previously, he was the co-founder of Clearbit, a VC-backed company that scaled to $50m in revenue. After stepping down as CEO of Clearbit, he decided to focus on doing the stuff he enjoys. So he’s sailing around the world building an app that gets him excited every day.👉 My side project, Whitstable Craft Co.What we covered in this episode:Why Alex dropped out of schoolCoding without a CS degreeBeing unemployableStarting Clearbi...
2023-03-1016 minIndie BitesStair stepping to millions in SaaS revenue - Craig Hewitt, CastosCraig Hewitt is the Founder and CEO of Castos, a bootstrapped podcast hosting and analytics platform with a services arm for podcast production. He’s been in podcasting almost a decade, having started his own show, Rogue Startups and his production service Podcast Motor (which he folded into Castos). Craig not only shares his ponderings on his show, but he also writes a weekly newsletter called Founder Insights.What we covered in this episode:Craig's background in salesLaunching a podcasting productized service in 2014Stair stepping to SaaSWhat is Stair Stepping?Acquiring Seriously Simple PodcastingProduct positioningGrowth and ma...
2023-03-0816 minThis Indie Life15: Staying positive and one-year deal for Indie BitesIn this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsStill sickJames updates/reflectionsIndie Bites sponsorship dealStarted tracking my timeLemon SqueezyAbout DagobertPreviously a mo...
2023-03-0723 minIndie BitesDaniel Fayle: from commercial banker to making millions in softwareToday I’m joined by Dan Fayle, who is the co-founder of Chekkit, a company that’s he bootstrapped to almost $2.5m ARR and 20 employees. There’s a few interesting things about Dan’s story I know you’re going to like. This is his first company and he quit his job to go all-in with 3 co-founders, he got his early customers through, and I’m not kidding, door to door sales and finally he’s not changed the price of the product since it’s launch 6 years ago.What we covered in this episode:Dan’s backgroundWhy he...
2023-03-0316 minIndie BitesHow Ahrefs Built A Best-In-Class SEO Strategy - Tim Soulo, AhrefsTim Soulo is the CMO at Ahrefs, one of the biggest and best SEO tools on the internet. Ahrefs are one of the clear success stories as a bootstrapped company, growing to be a an 8 figure brand over the past decade. Things really took off when Tim took over marketing for the company back in 2015, first focusing on growing the blog, before experimenting with different marketing channel to bring Ahrefs to its current size. In this episode Tim brings a mini SEO masterclass for SaaS founders, gives his thoughts on AI content and reveals if he has ambitions to...
2023-03-0115 minThis Indie Life14: Uncovering fears and getting rejectedIn this episode, Dago is still sick so records from bed and tries to find out his customer’s deepest darkest fears. Meanwhile, I’ve had a positive week having discussions about selling indie bites, or maybe finding an alternative solution to my short term money problems, but I do have to tackle a little bit of rejection along the way.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsStill sickWorking on landing page fears / problemsBought twitter blue check for conversion ratesJames updates/reflectionsConversations arou...
2023-02-2726 minThis Indie Life13: Getting sick and should James sell his podcast?In this episode, Dago talks about reinventing himself on Twitter, dealing with sickness as a founder and he attempts to find 50 shades of grey to wear. I meanwhile ponder just a single thing, is it worth selling my baby? (aka my podcast).Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsWrote tweets for 3 weeks instead of 1Got sick so can’t do logology 2 this weekFinally found my “lifetime” outfitJames updates/reflectionsDid Skiing Trip, got ill, now back to workConsidering selling Indie BitesFiguring out a cash injection and...
2023-02-1723 minThis Indie Life12: Dago gets into debtIn this episode Dago gets himself into debt, only works 19 hours in a week, and enjoys using AI. Will we get the old Dago back, who knows? Meanwhile I manage to publish an episode of Indie Bites with my leather man, increase my prices despite my reservations and am about to hit a big milestone for the month.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsDug into a.i for LogologyLogology customer researchI could literally not do anything else but tweet and we would be goodPreparing the move: buy...
2023-01-2025 minIndie BitesBootstrapping a leather supply business to $50k in sales - Jared Maddern, Beamhouse LeatherToday I’m joined by Jared Maddern, the founder of Beamhouse Leather, a leather supply business he’s grown to £45k in sales in the past 2 years. Some of you might know I run a handmade leather wallet business on the side, called Whitstable Craft Co, and so this is a little look into the other part of my life.Although Jared doesn’t run an indie SaaS, I wanted to bring slightly different perspective of being an indie entreprenuer. We discuss how building a business in a growing market has and selling pick axes to gold miners...
2023-01-1716 minThis Indie Life11: Burnout and bifoldsDago talks about his impromptu Twitter hiatus and shares some nuggets of wisdom from his course, James is back on his feet after a down period after selling some bi-fold wallets on Twitter and tries to convince Dago why he should exercise.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Podcast website 🎙️Dago updates/reflectionsTaken a break from tweetingNot feeling "in the game"Should you put links in your tweets?I don't understand why people exerciseJames updates/reflectionsStarted making and selling bi-fold walletsDifference in my mood with money vs witho...
2023-01-1623 minThis Indie Life10: Profit vs revenue and AI logo generatorsIn this episode Dago ponders how AI will affect his logo business and is thinking of moving to another part of the country to help his indie hacking. I have a battle with the UK postal service who decided not to ship wallets to customers and find out how much profit I made on the £5k of leather wallet sales in December.Watch us on YouTube 📹Dago's course 🐦Buy a leather wallet from James 💳Dago updates/reflectionsproduct update: A.I logo get me anxious / back in hardcore work modereflecting on the journey: audience first approach is 10x mor...
2023-01-1025 minThis Indie Life9: Maintaining momentumThis episode, Dago talks about how much he’s enjoying doing a podcast and his plans for maintaining momentum for his course. I’m also thinking about momentum in the new year after crossing £5k this month in leather wallet sales in the run up to Christmas. Dago's updates:product update: so happy to do this podreflecting on the journey: audience first approach is 10x more geniusmeme: quit software job to build a startup (december 5th) → how lucky we are as founders, can go back to a job anytimepersonal: winter / tired AF now that make moneyJames...
2022-12-1724 minThis Indie Life8: What happens when the sales slow down?This episode, we reflect on our black friday sales and how Dago made a full-year worth of sales i a weekend, I meanwhile have a found a new lease of life thanks to my the leather wallet business but question the potential for it becoming something I spend more time on, or if it’s just a distraction.Dago:reflecting on the journey: More money 1 month vs 1 year, but the real challenge is to do the same with a productproduct update: Recording bonus, difficult to switch context. (1 year marketing / 1 year building)meme: thanks giving, guilty for la...
2022-12-0625 minThis Indie Life7: $2k wallet sales; $5k course sales in a dayJames has had a massive week making £1,600 in a day selling leather wallets, Dago has success with black friday sales and we finally get to the bottom of how you pronounce niche.Get Dago's course here 👈What we covered in this episode:Dago took some time offHow to pronounce NicheBlack friday salesMeme of the weekJames’ £1,600 in one day in wallet salesHow to capitalise on growthJames' newspaper adNew Indie Bites artSponsor - StatamicStatamic is a content management system built on Laravel that is designed to make building, managing, and scaling content...
2022-11-2624 minIndie BitesHow to build a newsletter business - Louis Nicholls, SparkLoopLouis Nicholls is the co-founder of SparkLoop, a product that helps newsletter operators grow through referral partnerships. Indie hackers might know Louis from his Sales for Founders course which he ran a few years ago, as well as his many other projects.What we covered in this episode:How Sparkloop StartedHow Louis met his cofounder ManuelGoing Niche vs BroadPursuing a growing marketWhat is your unique competitive advantage?Avoiding shiny object syndromeSpeaking to your customersHow does a newsletter referral program work?Can you start a referral program from the beginning?What’s the value of a newsletter su...
2022-11-1616 minThis Indie Life6: Doubt and imposter syndromeThis episode, Dago talks about how he feels one week on from his course launch and some of the new ideas he has for keeping the momentum. I on the other hand was not having a good day when we recorded this, I was feeling a little down in the dumps and wasn’t even sure if we should record.But we want to be honest and truthful with this show, to give a real idea of what it’s like to be an indie founder, so decided to record and publish never the less. So you hear...
2022-11-1524 minIndie BitesNear death VC experience to $25k p/m bootstrapped - Kyle Gawley, GravityKyle Gawley is the founder of Gravity, which he’s bootstrapped to over $25k p/m. In 2012, he scaled a vc-backed company, called Get Invited, to $5m in sales, before a near-death experience made him rethink how he lived his life. Now, Kyle is travelling the world building his bootstrapped SaaS. Let’s find out how he did it.Join the Indie Bites membership 👈What we covered in this episodeStarting out on the VC pathWhat Kyle loved about working in VCHaving a near death experienceListen to Kyle on Indie HackersHow he changed his life af...
2022-11-0816 minThis Indie Life5: $16k course launch, but sad? Is going viral worth it?This episode Dago talks about how he made $16,000 launching his course and why he’s not feeling amazing about it, I go viral on Twitter and then make a promise I might not be able to keep.Get Dago's course here 👈What we covered in this episode:Dago's course launchPost launch-depressionIs Dago burnt out?Why James is in debtHow he can get out of itDago has NEVER been in debtJames' viral tweetWhy James deleted his viral tweetHow James can work more than 20 hours a weekSponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite commu...
2022-11-0425 minIndie BitesBootstrapping to $3.5m ARR from YouTuber to Founder - Sam King, FlickSam King is the founder of Flick, a tool for managing and growing your social media, doing over $3.5m ARR fully bootstrapped. Sam has taken a unique path into bootstrapping, first being a YouTuber, then running an agency before flipping it into a SaaS with Flick. There is an hour long extended version of this show available on the Indie Bites membership, head to indiebites.com/membership to sub.What we covered in this episode:Starting out as a YouTuberPivoting from YouTuber to starting an agencyPivoting the agency to start a SaaSMarketing Sam used to grow...
2022-11-0214 minThis Indie Life4: Deadlines, disagreements and launchesThis episode Dago talks about why he had to delay the launch of his course, we both discuss some of the disagreements we’ve had in the past few weeks and I think about how I can grow Indie Bites.Dago's Twitter course is launched! 🎉 Grab your copy here.What we covered in this episode:Dago updates:Struggling to launch his coursePerfectionism and all-nightersWhy you can’t launch on the same day as going viralAre deadlines pointless? “Deadlines are not absolute”Meme of the weekDisagreeing with a co-founderJames updates:Sold his motorbikeIndie Bites with Michele Han...
2022-11-0124 minIndie BitesA masterclass in customer research as a founder - Michele Hansen, Deploy EmpathyMichele Hansen is the co-founder of Geocodio, a SaaS business that provides geocoding and data matching for addresses, co-host of the fantastic podcast Software Social and author of the book Deploy Empathy, which is all about how to do great customer interviews. We cover a lot of ground in this short episode, including how to write a book, building in public and mental health as a founder. Along with some concrete tips on how exactly you can do customer research.What we covered in this episode:Michele’s podcast tourBuilding in publicWhy context is important for Tw...
2022-10-2616 minThis Indie Life3: Burnout, course launch and AI toolsThis episode Dago is in full-prep mode for his Twitter course launch and talks about how the early access has helped them. Both of us are no stranger to burnout, so we discuss both our approaches to avoiding it, including revealing how many hours we both work each week. I think you’ll be surprised by our answers here.👉 Follow the pod on Twitter💸 Sponsor the showWhat we covered in this episode:What we think about AI toolsJames updatesCars dying, frustrated with life problemsJames' thoughts on New YorkSlippery slope of falling behind on workD...
2022-10-2525 minThis Indie Life2: Disagreeing on sponsors, clients and false validationThis episode is a little meta, because Dago and I discuss the launch of the show and if we should accept sponsors. So I said we’d be open and honest and sometimes we may even disagree, but I thought it might take longer than the second episode. We both have kinda different approaches to monetizing the show so we hash out our thoughts in this episode We do then go into our updates, where I talk about some exciting new client developments and Dago has a rollercoaster of a beta-launch for his course.Follow the pod on...
2022-10-1425 minThis Indie Life1: Intros, dollars and insomniaIn this episode, both Dago and I introduce ourselves, from there we head into our usual updates as Dago’s talks about his new Twitter course, why his most viral meme of all time is to keep him in check and we both had some deep realisations about our physical health might be more closely related to our startups than we think.Follow the pod on TwitterTalking points:Intro to the foundersJames construction podcasting mishapDagobert updatesprogress on twitter course and impostor syndromefeeling like i’m in danger building my startup and not sleeping / rand...
2022-10-0725 minIndie BitesBootstrapping, AppSumo deals and productivity tools - Macgill Davis / Will Goto, Rize.ioMacgill Davis and Will Goto are the founders of Rize, a time-tracking platform that helps you increase your productivity, started in August 2020. Will and Macgill met at a company called Peer, which then got acquired by Twitter, they then left Twitter and founded a company called Humble Dot, which they raised for but unfortunately had to shut down.Join the membership for extended conversations 👈What we covered in this episode:Working on a side project while at TwitterRaising funding then leaving their jobsCo-founders with the same technical backgroundA different approach to finding a co-founderShutting dow...
2022-10-0416 minIndie BitesBuilding a community of generalists on a remote island - Milly Tamati, Generalist WorldMilly Tamati is not your usual founder. She lives on an remote island off Scotland with a population of just 170 people, previously co-owned a hostel in Thailand, co-founded a wine-tour in Australia and founded an illustration-agency in the UK. Now she’s working on a community called generalist.world, where’s she’s helping generalists like us indie hackers, find like minded individuals and jobs that fit us well.What we covered in this episode:Living on a remote island with 170 peopleRemote life vs city lifeBeing isolated when not in a cityEmbracing communitiesMilly’s crazy career journeyG...
2022-09-2716 minIndie BitesBootstrapping Helpkit to $4.5k MRR - Dominik Sobe, HelpkitToday I’m joined by Dominik Sobe, the founder of Helpkit, a product he started last year that turns Notion pages into a professional help center, doing $4.5k MRR. In this episode we talk about Dom’s many failed projects, how he finally found something that worked with Helpkit and how he went from wanting to be a management consultant to being an indie hacker.What we covered in this episode:Dom’s previous projectsWanting to become a management consultantManagement consultant to indie hackerMaking his first internet moneyBeing embarrassed about your first productOverengineering your first productBuilding an MVP...
2022-09-2615 min