Indie Bites

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 SEOGoing full timeWhen is the right time to quit your job?How much to pay yourselfLaunching before it's perfectPressure of growthHow to keep indie hacking enjoyableRecommendationsBook: The New New ThingPodcast: Postgres.fmIndie Hacker: Vetted Founders (tbc)Follow ElstonTwitterTiiny HostMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Patrick 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 to rank forPricing yearly vs monthlyGrowing fast and scaling backRecommendationsBook - Why We SleepPodcast - The Bootstrapped FounderIndie Hacker - tbcFollow PatrickTwitterMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

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 ClearbitStepping down as CEO of ClearbitBoostrapping ReflectWhy another note taking app?Building what you enjoyGrowing to 20k MRRGetting the first users for your productSailing around the worldRecommendationsBook: Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and SpacePodcast: In Our TimeIndie Hacker: Adam WathanFollow AlexTwitterMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Craig 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 marketing for CastosHis approach to podcastingCastos OriginalsBootstrapping vs raisingFounder Insights newsletterRecommendationsBook: Who Not How by Dan SullivanPodcast: Startups for the Rest of UsIndie Hacker: Moritz DausingerFollow CraigTwitterPersonal websiteMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Today 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 went all-in on Chekkit from the beginningHow he got his early customers from door to door salesHow to make cold email work at scaleBiggest growth channelsHow an early pivot lead to more growthWhy they stuck to their $99 p/m price for yearsWhat’s next for the businessRecommendationsBook: Shoe DogPodcast: The MoveIndie Hacker: Nathan BarryFollow DanTwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Tim 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 start a indie project for himself.Join the Indie Bites membership 👈What we covered in this episodeThe basics of SEO for a SaaS toolA mini SEO masterclass for indie SaaS toolsWhy credibility is important for SEOTim’s thoughts on AI contentHow “original work” is essentialWhat marketing channel is going to work in 2023Tim’s favourite marketing experiments for AhrefsDoes Tim have any indie hacker ambitious to run his own companyRecommendationsBook: Perennial Seller by Ryan HolidayPodcast: The PrinceIndie Hacker: Tim likes everyoneFollow TimTwitterPersonal siteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubePersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Today 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 strategy has led to his growth, what it’s like working with physical goods and why he put £10k of his own money to take the business to the next level.📹 Watch this episode on YouTube.What we discussed in this episode:Jared’s taco truckHow he started leathercraftingWhere he got his first leather fromHow to learn leathercraftingHow Beamhouse leather startedStarting on Etsy instead of his own websiteThe effect of the pandemic on hobbiesInvesting £12k for leather machineryInvesting personal moneyWanting to keep the business as a side projectRecommendationsBook: How to Win Friends and Influence PeoplePodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Chris OrramanFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Louis 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 subscriber?Sparkloop calculatorSparkloop growth from day 1How big is Sparkloop?How to start and grow a newsletterLouis’ favourite newslettersLenny’s NewsletterMorning BrewWhy We BuyRecommendationsBook: Wuthering HeightsPodcast: Default AliveIndie Hacker: Josh HoFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools

Kyle 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 afterDeciding to become a digital nomadStarting Gravity to solve his own problemWhat Gravity is for non-technical folksPricing, should you go cheap or upstream?Using Twitter and SEO for customer acquisitionKyle’s thoughts on single focus vs small betsKyle’s new AI projectRecommendationsBook: Zero to Sold by Arvid KahlPodcast: Indie Bites (how meta)Indie Hacker: Pieter LevelsFollow KyleTwitterPersonal siteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubePersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Sam 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 FlickAffiliate marketingBuilding an MVPHiring challengesRecommendationsBook: Shoe DogPodcast: Diary of a CEOIndie Hacker: BarettoFollowSam on TwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - FiguraOften great design makes products stand out in this day and age; stop trying to figure it out yourself. Figura offers vetted product designers for startups and fast-growing companies. Find your first designer or contractor, or land a helping hand for your product in less than 48hours. Save $199 and start your project for free, using code "INDIE199".Head to figura.digital to try it out.

Michele 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 Twitter debatesThe real reason Michele wrote her bookStarting with a newsletterHow to do customer researchHow to understand your customersChanging their podcast support modelMental health as a founderBeing a founder with ADHDRecommendationsBook: The Little Book that Builds Wealth; Charlie Wilson’s WarPodcast: The IndicatorIndie Hacker: Marie NgFollow MicheleTwitterPersonal siteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Macgill 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 down a business when it’s not doing wellSearching for a new idea and solving your own problemCreating a landing page and running some adsPicking a market to focus onTime tracking for productivityGetting traction through AppSumoCash up front with lifetime dealsRaising vs bootstrappingHow to be more productiveRecommendationsBook: Deep Work by Cal Newport, Atomic Habits by James ClearPodcast: The Rest is History/Revolutions, Masters of ScaleIndie Hacker: Tony Dinh, Arvid KahlFollowMacgill on TwitterWill on TwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - FiguraOften great design makes products stand out in this day and age; stop trying to figure it out yourself. Figura offers vetted product designers for startups and fast-growing companies. Find your first designer or contractor, or land a helping hand for your product in less than 48hours. Save $199 and start your project for free, using code "INDIE199".Head to figura.digital to try it out.

Milly 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 journeyGetting a customer in 12 hoursTesting your product before you launchWhy generalists aren’t valued in the worldGrowing to 850 community members in a few monthsHow to cultivate communityRecommendationsBook - Range by David EpsteinPodcast - Lennys PodcastIndie Hacker - Molly RetterFollow MillyTwitterLinkedInFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Today 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 during a hackathonValidation before building a productSide projects as marketingBuilding in a growing marketInvesting in SEORecommendationsBook: Start Small, Stay Small by Rob WallingPodcast: Indie HackersIndie Hacker: Minh-Phuc TranFollow DominikTwitterPersonal SiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - FiguraOften great design makes products stand out in this day and age; stop trying to figure it out yourself. Figura offers vetted product designers for startups and fast-growing companies. Find your first designer or contractor, or land a helping hand for your product in less than 48hours. Save $199 and start your project for free, using code "INDIE199".Head to figura.digital to try it out.

Joe Masilotti is the founder of RailsDevs a reverse job board for Ruby on Rails developers, which is over $4k MRR and on for $100k revenue. Joe also runs the monthly Hotwire Dev newsletter, which has over 2,000 subs. And then late last year, Joe sold his side-project Mugshot Bot, which he took from idea to sale in just 14 months.What we covered on this episode:How and why Joe sold Mugshot Bot at $200 MRRWhen to stop working on projectsHow RailsDevs started with a spreadsheetSolving a problem with a simple solutionWhy a reverse jobs board worksA unique approach to a marketplace businessGrowing RailsDevs (from both sides)Being an embedded entrepreneurWhy RailsDevs has a hiring fee and subscriptionDealing with high churnGrowing a newsletter to 2,300 subsRecommendationsBook: Obviously Awesome by April DunfordPodcast: The Business of AuthorityIndie Hacker: Colleen SchnettlerFollow JoeTwitterRead his blogFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Geoff Roberts is the co-founder of Outseta, a bootstrapped all-in-one platform to help manage and grow your recurring revenue business. Before Outseta, Geoff was Head of Marketing for Buildium, a product that went through the phases of bootstrapping, raising and exiting, that was started by current co-founder Dimitris.What we covered in this episode:Taking a big 15 year bet on your businessGoing into an established, durable marketWhy not raise for the company?Single focus vs portfolio of small betsWhy Outseta focused on brand building and not SEOMarketing trade-offsWhy freemium doesn’t work for everyoneBuilding a flat, self-managed organisationRecommendationsBook: Reinventing Organistations; Life ProfitabilityPodcast: Tim Ferris ShowIndie Hacker: Anthony CastrioFollow GeoffTwitterRead the Outseta BlogFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - FiguraOften great design makes products stand out in this day and age; stop trying to figure it out yourself. Figura offers vetted product designers for startups and fast-growing companies. Find your first designer or contractor, or land a helping hand for your product in less than 48hours. Save $199 and start your project for free, using code "INDIE199".Head to figura.digital to try it out.

David Kofoed Wind is the co-founder and CEO of Eduflow an education platform started in 2015 as Peergrade, which was a peer to peer feedback tool. David is the definition of technical, having studied for a degree in applied math and computer science, then a Ph.D in machine learning. This is where the idea for Peergrade was born, as he started teach a course in data science and solved his own problem.👉 Extended version of this episode.What we covered in this episode:How Peergrade started in 2015Scratching your own itchSelling to universitiesUsing your "unfair advantages"Why David took a Ph.DWhat it's like building a product with a Ph.DHaving a terrible productGoing for and ending the VC dreamPivoting Peergrade to EduflowWhy David resonates with Indie HackersRecommendationsBook: Rework by BasecampPodcast: Out of BetaIndie Hacker: Jon YongfookFollow DavidTwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

If you’re wanting to learn about building in public, Kevon Cheung is your guy. After not getting the fulfilment he desired from the VC funded startup dream, Kevon struck out on his own in 2020 to become an indie hacker. Since then he’s launched the Build in Public Mastery course, started a newsletter called Public Lab, wrote the Definitive Guide to Building in Public and then to top this all off, wrote a book called Find Joy in Chaos. What we covered in this episode:Building credibilityTaking a 6 month betStarting from scratch to learn a trendChoosing to build in publicAnyone can learn any topicIs building in public just sharing MRR numbers?What is building in public?False positives of building an audienceBuilding a creator businessHow to differentiate course content to blog contentInfo products vs SaaSRecommendations:Book: Life Is What You Make It by Peter Buffet, $100m Offers by Alex HormoziPodcast: Socialette, The Bootstrapped FounderIndie Hacker: Monica Lent, Jay Clouse, Marie NgFollow KevonTwitterPersonal websiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Marie Ng is the founder of Llama Life, a to-do-list app that helps you focus. As someone who struggles with focus myself, Marie’s app looked to be the perfect thing. Having taught herself how to code 2 years ago, after a career in branding, Marie did what everyone does when they learn to code, build a to do list app. But with her branding background and new quirky angle on a productivity app, she’s made it work. From a solo indie project to now raising a $690k pre-seed round, Marie is making her entrepreneurial dream happen.👉 Extended version of this episode.What we discussed in this episode:How Marie got into brandingWhat is branding?Why indie hackers should consider their “brand”How to create a brandBuilding a product to help with ADHDBuilding to solve your own problemHow to work with ADHDLlama Life’s brand impactWhy Marie raised fundingRecommendationsBook: Honest Guide to Indie Making by Kyleigh SmithPodcast: The Best One YetIndie Hacker: Carl PoppaFollow MarieTwitterFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Chris Frantz is the co-founder of Loops, YC backed email tool for startups. Chris is one of those people who just knows how to run a SaaS business, having founded and sold Snazzy AI, acquired by Unbounce last year. Chris has been living rent free in my brain after a conversation we had a few weeks ago about my multiple projects. A lot of you are going to have multiple projects too, and wondering why you’re not getting anywhere with them. In this episode, Chris is going to explain why.What we cover in this episodeSome of Chris previous bootstrapped projectsPH profileHow Chris started and sold Snazzy.aiSelling articleTackling email with Loops.soMaking the chef’s knife of emailWhy you should have a single focusWhy having a portfolio of small bets doesn’t workDoing the hard thingsHaving hobby projects vs a businessRecommendationsBook: Atomic HabitsPodcast: The VergecastIndie Hacker: Sahil BloomFollow ChrisTwitterPersonal siteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Grey Baker is the co-founder of Dependabot, which is a bot that makes it easy for developers to keep the third party dependencies up to date, which grew to $14k MRR before being acquired by Github in 2019. Grey’s story is a long an interesting one, so there is an extended version of this podcast available on the indie feast membership. But the best bits are here about he started out at McKinsey, before being a pivotal early employee at London FinTech GoCardless, to then cycling around the world and then coming back to accidentally launch Dependabot.👉 Extended version available on the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episodeLanding a gig at consulting firm, McKinseyLearning how to code in 6 monthsJoining VC-backed GoCardless as employee 6Growing GoCardless to 100 employeesWhy Grey left after 4.5 yearsCycling around the worldEating a petrol-ey snickers barStarting Dependabot as a side projectA failed launchDoing things that don't scaleThe growth inflection point - GitHub marketplaceAdvice for bootstrappersRecommendationsBook: The Design of Everyday ThingsPodcast: N/AIndie Hacker: Pete HamiltonFollow GreyTwitterFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Tiiny HostTiiny Host is the simplest way to host and share your web project online. It's loved by thousands of freelancers, agencies & developers across the world to quickly upload demos, landing pages or websites. Just drag & drop your web files or even a PDF to share it with the world in seconds. 👉 Try it here

Ch Daniel is the co-founder of Legit Check, an app that authenticates luxury items, that grew to $6k MRR in just a few weeks. He’s also building simple.ink, which is a simple way to make a website from Notion, it got #1 product of the day and got 1,300 users in the first month. He’s also got his finger in many SaaS pies, running the r/SaaS subreddit where he arranges AMAs and facilitates discussions with some of the biggest SaaS founders out there. As for podcasting, Daniel’s dipped in there too, with his show The Usual SaaSpects an extension of his brand. Most recently, Dan acquired Emojics.comWhat we covered in this episode:Making $200k with an authenticator businessHow does one fall into authenticating luxury items?How Legit Check became legitTurning a one-time purchase business to a subscriptionTaking over the r/SaaS community on RedditFavourite AMA with Sabba and Tim from VEEDThe real reason he started his podcast, The Usual SaaSpectsJames interview on The Usual SaaSpectsDoes the world need another Notion web builder?Pre-launching to build a list of 5,000Acuiring Emojics.comShould more indie hackers acquire businesses?RecommendationsBook: Power of NowPodcast: Prof G Show, Succession PodIndie Hacker: CH DavidFollow DanielTwitterPersonal siteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Tiiny HostTiiny Host is the simplest way to host and share your web project online. It's loved by thousands of freelancers, agencies & developers across the world to quickly upload demos, landing pages or websites. Just drag & drop your web files or even a PDF to share it with the world in seconds. 👉 Try it here

JR Farr is the co-founder of Make Lemonade, a product studio behind Lemon Squeezy (a platform to sell digital products), Dunked (to showcase your portfolio) and Iconic (a set of cracking looking apps). But this isn’t JR’s first foray into entrepreneurship. Back in 2008 he sold his first startup, College Connecting, before starting and selling another, MOJO marketplace back in 2012. From here he worked at the acquiring company for 5 years, before starting ANOTHER startup, called Weav, a product to help with customer retention. I could list out JR’s CV in more detail, but you can tell that this chap a seasoned entrepreneur.What we covered in this episode:JR's entrepreneurship backgroundBuilding Mojo (Wordpress marketplace)Mojo getting acquired in 2012Why JR stayed for 5 years in a big companyGetting a mini MBASpending $75k on a domain for a failed companyMeeting the Make Lemonade folksOrman ClarkGilbert PellegromJason SchullerShould more founders band together?Building Lemon SqueezyTaking on the digital products spaceGoing into a crowded marketAdvice for entreprenuersRecommendationsBook: The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Jon YonfookFollow JRTwitterPersonal siteMake Lemonade PodcastFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - Ramen ClubMy favourite community has just got a significant upgrade as it rebrands to Ramen Club, the best community to help you get to Ramen Profitability.Ramen club has 4 remote coworking sessions a week, masterminds, accountability calls, live AMAs, a fractional CFO, in-house VA, discounts and so much more. But most of all, the founder Charlie has done a wonderful job at cultivating a wonderfully friendly and supportive community.To join the world's most supportive community for bootstrapped founders to reach ramen profitable and beyond, head to ramenclub.so and use code "INDIEBITES" to let Charlie know I sent you and get 50% off your first month.

Dru Riley is the founder of Trends.vc which at its core helps people discover new ideas and markets through expertly researched reports. Trends is a bootstrapped company that makes money through it’s Trends Pro reports and community.In 2017, Dru took on a mini-retirement, sold a second home and set out with 3-5 years of savings to strike out on his own. After launching various newsletters, products and even book he eventually landed on Trends, which didn’t actually make any money for the first few months. But just 6 short months later, he was at over $20k MRR and growing fast.Now, Dru is working through the challenges of scaling a rapidly growing business and even hiring people to take over that juicy core. The reports. Here's a link to the Indie Hackers episode he did where he talks more about what went into that growth.What we covered in this episode:Hiring for the core competency of the business, the reportsWhat Dru’s day-to-day looks likeChallenges with context switchingStarting Trends for funThe idea behind framework based researchThe first Trends report on cloud kitchensHow does Dru decide on topics for TrendsChoosing to persevere with TrendsLaunching a communityHow comfort challenges led to Trends successWhen to stop projectsWhat Dru does for funRecommendationsBook: Sapiens, CastePodcast: FoundersIndie Hacker: Pat WallsFollow DruTwitterPersonal siteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Monica Lent is a founder running 3 profitable indie businesses after leaving her full time job 2 years ago. She runs Affilimate, a SaaS product which allows you to manage and track affiliate commissions, the Blogging for Devs newsletter and paid community for developers looking to grow an audience and finally, Not a Nomad, a travel blog that accounted for almost 50% of Monica’s revenue last year, as she grew her portfolio of projects from $30k to over $100k.What we covered in this episode:How Monica splits time between her projectsIs it detrimental having split attention?Delegating and outsourcing as an indie hackerHow content and SEO ties her projects togetherBenefits of a VAStarting a blog that makes thousandsHaving a travel blog during covidStarting a community for developersHow to start your own successful blogThe downsides of sharing revenue numbersIs Monica having fun?RecommendationsBook: Founding SalesPodcast: Tropical MBAIndie Hacker: Josh HoFollow MonicaTwitter2021 Retro on personal siteSEO CourseFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Pierre De Wulf is the co-founder of ScrapingBee a web scraping API that grew to $1M ARR in 2 years. Before starting ScrapingBee, Pierre and his co-founder Kevin had quit their jobs to follow the indie dream. 9 months later, their product PricingBot couldn’t generate the traction they were hoping for so they sold the business and pivoted to ScrapingBee.What we covered in this episode:Pierre's background; inspiration from his fatherRunning a business within World of WarcraftMeeting his co-founder, KevinStarting a project for his girlfriendLeaving his job to work on something for 9 monthsKnowing when to stop and move onStarting and selling PricingBotHow to sell a failed companyUsing SEO as a marketing channelHow to write SEO content effectivelyStarting ScrapingBeeHow ScrapingBee grew so quicklyTaking TinySeed fundingRecommendationsBook: Hello StartupPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Matt WensingFollow PierreTwitterPersonal siteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)Sponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Damon Chen, who is the founder of Testimonial, a product that collects video testimonials that he launched back in December 2020, and has grown it to $13k MRR since then. Damon quit his stable job of 8 years at Cisco to pursue his dream of building a better life for himself as an indie hacker. This didn’t come easily for Damon, as he launched several products which made 0 revenue before hitting big with Testimonial. He’s also built some other fantastic products, such as embed.so and channel.so, as well as acquiring Supportman off fellow Indie Hacker Noah Bragg.What we covered in this episode:Damon's failed startup attemptsWhy he builds for funQuitting his job and pivoting to TestimonialUsing code from other projectsHow he went from 0 to 3k in 3 daysDamon's approach to validationGrowth tactics used to get to $13k MRRHaving other projects for fun (Embed and Channel)Acquiring SupportmanGrowing his Twitter to 30kRecommendationsBook: Getting AcquiredPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Pieter LevelsFollow DamonTwitterDamon's blogFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - PodQueueThis podcast is brought to you by PodQueue. Don't you hate when you find something you just want to bookmark and listen to later as a podcast, but there's no easy way to do it? Try PodQueue, and you can save audio from anywhere around the web and easily listen to it later in the podcast app you already use. PodQueue works with links from YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, NPR, the BBC, and more! There’s a 15-day free trial, and it’s just $5 per month afterwards, with no credit card required at signup. Use promo code “INDIEBITES” at signup to get an extra month free!👉 Try it here

Dominic Monn is the founder of MentorCruise, a marketplace that connect mentors and mentees in Tech, which is currently doing $15k in monthly revenue and processed over $1m through the platform. Previously, Domm was a Machine Learning engineer at Doist, a job that he left in Feb '22 to pursue MentorCruise full time.What we covered in this episode:Why Dom left his full-time job at DoistHow going full-time has impacted MentorCruiseWhat Dom’s day-to-day looks likeNot feeling guilty about unproductive hobbiesHow Dom’s discovered mentorship through UdacityTaking 5 months to build an MVPWhy validation wouldn’t work for MentorCruiseHow it took 3 months to get his first paying customerWhy he decided to push through regardlessHow persistence pays offWhy building a business is like building a muscleHow programmatic SEO worksRecommendationsBook: Built to SellPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Julian CanlasFollow DomTwitterHire him as a mentorPersonal siteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Today I’m joined by Spencer Fry, founder of Podia, a platform helping creators make a living online through selling courses, digital downloads, webinars and more. 7 years in, they have a 35 person team and have an awesome product for creators. But this isn’t Spencer’s first rodeo, bootstrapping and exiting 3 businesses between 2003 and 2014, notably Carbonmade and TypeFrag. What’s interesting about Spencer is that he's actually raised funding for Podia, and I wanted to find out why a seasoned bootstrapper like Spencer went down this route, and if it’s a an option that more indie hackers should consider.👉 50 minute version of this conversation.What we covered in this episode:Why Spencer raised funding for PodiaWhy you should look at funding as a toolBeer ≠ funding3 interesting predictions on the creator economySpencer’s article with those predictionsBonus: Spencer’s famous vodka pasta dishOpportunities to build in the creator economyWhy entrepreneurs are different gravySolo founder vs co-founderRecommendationsBook: Ben Horowitz Book 1 / Book 2Podcast: Axios Today / All In PodIndie Hacker / entrepreneur: Tobi LutkeFollow SpencerTwitterPersonal BlogFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Dagobert Renouf is the founder of Logoloy, a logo and brand design service that he started with his wife, doing around $3k in monthly revenue. This is an awesome story. Dago started building Logoloy in September 2018, then completely failed the launch after building for almost 2 years. It wasn't until May 21 that Dago realised he actually needed to find a marketing channel that worked for him -which was Twitter. Dago went for 15 years chasing money, but then realised that wasn’t the course to happiness. So after a turbulent few years, he’s now in a place of fulfilment, with plenty of the journey to go.👉 Extended episode here.What we covered in this episode:Making his first internet money in high schoolGetting a cease and desist at 15 years oldThe dangers of being focused on moneyFinding the idea for LogologyTaking 1.5 years to launch his startupHaving a failed launch after 1.5 years of buildingMarketing when you don’t want to do marketingDiscovering a distribution channel that works - TwitterGrowing to $3k per monthRecommendationsBook: Zero to One by Peter ThielPodcast: Wannabe EntreprenuerIndie Hacker: Tony DihnFollow DagoTwitterLogologyFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Jim Raptis, an indie hacker from Greece who is working full-time on his portfolio of projects, including BrandBird and Magic Pattern, which are both doing $1,500 MRR. If you’ve seen those cool screenshots on Twitter with the nice drop shadow and gradient background, those are made with Brand Bird. What we covered in this episodeQuitting running a funded startup for indie hackingEarning that first dollarLearning design as an engineerLaunching a product with less than 300 followersChoosing to do a portfolio of small betsSplitting time between multiple projectsHow Jim went grew from 300 to 9k Twitter followersWhat do to do when things aren’t going so wellRecommendationsBook: Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin MaresPodcast: Flow StateIndie Hacker: Peter LevelsFollow JimTwitterPersonal SiteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - TestimonialTestimonial allows you to easily collect testimonials from your customers and automatically embeds them on your landing page.You might have seen a wall of love with a bunch of supportive Tweets and videos on various products you’ve signed up for. That wall is created using Damon Chen’s product Testimonial. All you have to do is sign up, paste the nice things people have said about you and it will generate a beautiful set of testimonials that you can easily embed on your site or share online.Head to Testimonial.to o to create your Twitter wall of love for free. If you want to sign up for a paid plan, get a whopping 25% off for 12 months with the code “INDIEBITES” at checkout.

In this episode I’ve got my first ever returning guest with Dianna Allen and first ever double act as we’re joined by her fiance Jeremy Blalock. I spoke to Dianna about a year ago after growing her handmade candle business from $100 to $50k in that year. Since then Dianna is still running TERRA and doubled the revenue in 2021, but has also co-founded Inventora which has just hit $5k MRR. Inventora is inventory tracking system for handmade businesses, solving Dianna’s own problem with TERRA.👉 Join the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episode:How TERRA is goingHandmade business vs SaaS business. Which is better?Solving her own problem with TERRA to build InventoraSpreadsheet to SaaSAsking Jeremy (Dianna’s partner) to build the productGrowing without paying for adsLeveraging existing relationshipsChoosing to raise a small funding roundWhy raise money if you’re an indie hacker?Spending $25,000 on a domainTactics for growing to $5k MRRHiring a videographer to make a documentaryRecommendationsBooks: The Innovation Stack, The Gardeners AlmanackPodcasts: Acquired, The Product BossIndie Hackers: Elon Musk, Jon YongfookFollow Dianna & JeremyDianna's TwitterJeremy's TwitterInventora InstagramTERRA InstagramFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Sahil Lavingia is the founder of Gumroad, the platform that allows creators to sell products online. The beating heart of the creator economy. You'll likely have heard Sahil's story about his failure to build a billion dollar company with an article that went viral, but let me summarise for those that haven't.Sahil founded Gumroad in 2011, aiming to build the next unicorn, leaving Pinterest where he was employee #2. He raised $1.1m from angels, then $7m more in 2012. Things started growing, then they didn't. Sahil laid off 75% of the company to keep the product alive, moved to Provo, Utah to figure where to take Gumroad from that point. Almost a decade later Gumroad is growing quicker than ever, making millions in revenue and helping creators make a living online.Sahil has just launched his book, The Minimalist Entrepreneur, where he shares a decade of learnings on how to build a profitable, sustainable business and how entrepreneurs can do more with less to make more impact on the world.👉 I'm giving away 5 copies of Sahil's book on Twitter, enter here.What we covered on this episode:Sahil’s approach to fundingBootstrapping vs VCWhy Gumroad runs so differently to most companiesWhy longevity has helped GumroadSahil’s book: The Minimalist EntrepreneurBuilding a project in a weekend: Verification LettersLivestream of building Verification LettersThe framework for starting a businessWhy you should start and then learnBarriers people have to starting their businessFear of failureImportance of writingRecommendationsBook: Predictably Irrational by Dan ArielyPodcast: All-In PodcastIndie Hacker: NavalFollow SahilTwitterWebsiteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - ilo AnalyticsSahil has 280k followers on Twitter and he sure knows the tweets that will engage his audience. If you too want to get a deeper understanding of what engages your followers on Twitter, you should check out ilo Analytics.ilo helps you easily see which kind of tweets get more impressions, likes, profile clicks and more so you can get grow your Twitter audience. ilo's has beautiful graphs for the most important metrics for both tweets and threads will be sure to help you build your following.Head to ilo.so or hit the link in the show notes and use the code INDIEBITES to get 25% off your ilo subscription for life.

Brett Williams is the founder of Designjoy, a one-man productised design service that is doing over $130k MRR, charging clients up to $5k a month for unlimited design. You indeed hear that right, Brett is running a million dollar business solo with over 40 clients.What we covered in this episode:$50k per year with a Tumblr blogDropping out of college and getting a regular jobHow Brett started DesignjoyBeing inspired by Design PickleLaunching DesignjoyTaking 3 years to get to $10k MRRNon-traditional marketing and growth methodsLaunching Scribbles, a side projectWhat does into a good landing page?Different routes to successWaiting till $80k to quit his jobShould entrepreneurs be more risk-adverse?How run a successful 1-man productised service?RecommendationsBook: Company of OnePodcast: The Dave Ramsey ShowIndie Hacker: SuhailFollow BrettTwitterInstagramFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Val Hinov is the founder of Thankbox an online group card tool that grew to $20k p/m throughout lockdown. Now Val is facing the challenges of what to do when your product scales, what to do when the wave that brought you success starts to slow and when your product has one-time purchase pricing model.What we covered in this episode:Where the idea for Thankbox came from?Lessons learned from a failed startupHow he built Thankbox in 2 monthsHow he got his first users for ThankboxBuilding a virality modelUsing Google Ads to grow quicklyAdvice for people apprehensive of using adsWhy social ads didn’t workThe effect of a one-off purchase pricing modelHaving a big drop in usersIndie Hackers PodThe seasonality of online cardsOutsourcing vs soloWhen to go full-timeRecommendationsBook: Atomic HabitsPodcast: The Revolutions PodcastIndie Hacker: Andrea BosoniFollow ValTwitterPersonalSiteThankboxFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - 4dayweek.ioAs indie hackers we’re always trying to squeeze extra hours in our day to work on our side projects. What about if you had a whole extra day to work on your projects, while still getting a full-time salary?4dayweek.io is the place to get a Software Job with a better work-life balance. All jobs have a 4 day work week contract and most are only 32 hours per week. Find the best remote tech jobs from companies with a great work-life balance at 4dayweek.io or hit the link in the show notes.👉 Try it here.

Che Sampat is an 18 year old Indie Hacker who built SuperPay in 2019 when he was 15 years old, an app that lets you generate easy payment links through Stripe and Square. Since then he's grown it to 5k users, $6k in revenue and processed a whopping $15m in payments. Che has also been working at some cool companies since he was young, recently joining the payments startup Fast to focus on his career, therefore stepping back from SuperPay.What we covered in this episodeHow Che got into codingBuilding his first app in year 9 computer scienceHow Che learnt to code with YouTubeThe story of building SuperPayStarting his first company at 15Balancing indie hacking and schoolSuccess without idea validationLaunching on Product Hunt with no planHow did Che get his first usersGrowing to $15m GMVDid Che buy himself anything nice?Getting in trouble with Stripe building SuperPortalChallenges of being an 18yr old indie hackerWhy Che got himself an engineering job instead of pursuing SuperPayRecommendationsBook: Clean CodePodcast: Software Engineering DailyIndie Hacker: Peter GrilletFollow CheTwitterFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Reel.soReel lets you create these short teaser videos (called audiograms), with animated subtitles, waveforms and a ton of beautiful templates to choose from. Save time and set your podcast clips aside from the rest by creating these sharable snippets that grab your audience's attention as they scroll through their feed. even without sound.I've used Reel myself for Indie Bites and it's been a game changer for me. If you want to give it a go for yourself, head to reel.so or click the link in your show notes and use the code INDIEBITES for 20% off.👉 Try it here.

In this episode we’re joined by Tom Ross, who is the founder of Design Cuts, a marketplace and community for creatives which he’s grown to a team of 20 over the past decade. Tom is also a seasoned podcaster, co-hosting The Honest Designer's Show and Biz Buds which have been downloaded millions of times.It's not all been plain sailing for Tom as he ran into severe burnout working 18 hour days, 7 days a week for 18 months, leading to him being hospitalised. In this episode we're going to find out more about Tom's story, some of his successes and failures in business, along advice he'd give to founders from his experiences.👉 Get the extended version of this podcast on membership, available for £4 a month.What we covered in this episode:Tom’s backstoryLink to pod episodeStarting an Interpol forumEarning more money at home at 16 than in his jobGrowing a design blog to 15 million visitorsGrowing Design Cuts in the early days10 years later, 20 employees, millions of revenueMental health and burnout as a founderLink to Tom’s burnout storyHow to build good routines to avoid burnoutHow community can help with your mental healthWhy community is so importantHow to build a communityRecommendationsBook: Thank You Economy by Gary VeePodcast: Diary of a CEOIndie Hacker: Rosie SherryFollow TomTwitterInstagramLinkedInWebsiteFollow Me👉 Listen to my new podcast, No More Mondays.TwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Marie Martens the co-founder of Tally, an easy way to create forms online. She left her stable marketing job to start Tally with her partner in crime Filip and became an indie hacker. Since then they've grown Tally to over 16,000 users almost $10k MRR as they work towards becoming default alive. Through a mix of manual prospecting, a successful product hunt launch and product-led growth, they’ve turned Tally into an exceptional indie success story.-> Subscribe to my brand new podcast, No More Mondays, co-hosted with Dan Rowden here.What we covered in this episode:The origin story of TallyIndie Hackers episodeA failed startup, HotspotHow COVID crushed their first startupHow Tally got their first few usersDoing things that don’t scaleHow I became Tally’s first paying customerBiggest source of sign ups for tallyThe benefits of product-led growthHow to do an effective PH launchGoing from 3,000 - 12,000 users without paid adsWhy Marie quit her job to bootstrapWould she ever go back to a jobWhat it’s like building your dream startupRecommendationsBook: Intercom on MarketingPodcast: Indie HackersIndie Hacker: Davis BaerFollow MarieTwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Matt Ronge is the co-founder and CEO at Astropad, a product that turns your iPad into a second screen both on Windows and Mac, started back in 2015. Back in 2019, their business was almost destroyed when Apple launched a feature that almost made Astropad defunct. What did this lead Matt and his team to do? Pivot and find a new idea? Lay off the team? Absolutely not. They doubled down on their product. Through challenges with big tech, raising kickstarter funding and building physical products, Matt has been on quite the journey with Astropad and we’re going to dive into all of that today, along with a mini-masterclass on PR.What we covered in this episode:Origins of AstropadHaving two technical co-foundersHow they tackled marketing with no prior knowledgeMost useful books to learn the basics22 Immutable Laws of MarketingBurned Out Blogger's Guide to PRHow Matt leveraged PR in the early daysHow indie hackers can use PR for their projectsSize of Astropad in 2022Why they built a hardware productHow to get into building hardwareThe benefits of hardware productsHow Apple stole their productHow they saved their business after being crushed by AppleRecommendationsBook: Radical Candour, The Making of a ManagerPodcast: DitheringIndie Hacker: Monica LentFollow MattTwitterAstropad PodcastFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - AhrefsThank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.If you want to get more traffic from Google on your side-project, I’d recommend first trying out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free. You’ll see what keywords your pages are ranking for, understand how Google sees your content and discover what changes you need to improve your search ranking. You should also check out their YouTube channel to understand both the basics of SEO and some more advanced techniques.To try out Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, head to ahrefs.com/awt.

Ben Orenstein is the founder of Tuple, a tool for remote pair programmers that has been steadily growing for the past few years. Now, Ben runs Tuple with a small team and is delving into what happens when your SaaS starts to hit scale. You might have also heard Ben's voice on the Art of Product podcast, which he co-hosts with Derrick Reimer, founder of SavvyCal, talking about the behind the scenes of running their respective SaaS companies.What we covered in this episode:Why Tuple is the most successful product he’s madeHow Ben’s approach to enterprise sales has changedHow much revenue comes from enterprise salesHow the enterprise product is differentiatedHow indie hackers can sell to bigger companiesWhere Tuple gets it’s customers fromWhat does Ben’s day-to-day look like?Has he just built himself a job?The benefits of making a podcastSome of Ben’s favourite previous productsRecommendationsBook: The Mom TestPodcast: Bootstrapped WebIndie Hacker: Adam WathanFollow BenTwitterBlogFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Today I’m joined by Kenneth Cassel the founder of Pointer.gg a product he pivoted from Slip.so, a course platform making it easy for developers to make high-quality interactive courses. He got inspiration for Slip when he built vim.so, a course made $10k in just one month with - his first internet money. It's not all been plain sailing for Kenneth, as he struggled with failing his way to eventual success, with 4 years building products with no revenue. Now with Slip, he's quit his job, been accepted to YC and gets to build a company he’s always wanted to have.What we covered in this episode:How buying a Raspberry Pi changed Kenneth's lifeGoing from maintenance man for a gas station to software engineerThe inspiration Kenneth took from his DadHow he learned programmingMaking $100 in 4 years of side projectsHow to stay motivated when things aren't going so wellGoing from 0-20k Twitter followersHow building in public impacted KennethEarning $10k in one month with Vim.soWhy he started Slip.soDealing with imposter syndromeRecommendationsBook: Hell Yeah or No by Derek SiversPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: The Builder JRFollow KennethTwitterFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Peter Suhm is the co-founder of Reform, a tool that lets you easily create simple, brandable forms. Peter is also part of the Tiny Seed 1st batch, where he was working on a product called branch Branch. After that didn't work out, he went through a period of testing and validating ideas.One of those ideas was a investor update tool, where Peter discovered how convoluted creating a form with existing tools was. Using Twitter and a very early stage MVP, he validated the idea for Reform and got to work building.Since then he's had #1 Product of the Week on Product Hunt and is now working through the challenges of building features and growing revenue. You might have also heard Peter on the Out of Beta podcast, which he co-hosts with Matt Wensing.➡️ Get the uncut, 30 minute conversation with Peter on the Indie Bites membership here.What we covered in this episode:Coming up with the idea for ReformValidating the idea for ReformWhy build a product in such a competitive marketWhere form builders keep messing upGetting to #1 Product Hunt of the weekWhen is the right time to launch on PHMarketing and growth tests for Reform going forwardContinuing to try things that don't scaleWhere should founders start with marketing?Peter's approach to product developmentThe feedback loop of TwitterThe upsides of raising Tiny Seed moneyRecommendationsBook: Traction by Gabriel WeinbergPodcast: Tropical MBAIndie Hacker: Derrick ReimerFollow PeterTwitterPersonal SiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Brian Casel is a veteran of the bootstrapping game, having left his full-time job back in 2008. You might have heard him on the Boostrapped Web podcast where he shares his journey starting and building software products. Over the years Brian has pretty much done it all, built software businesses, courses, productized services and even sold some along the way. Most recently, Brian has been working on ZipMessage, a new way to communicate asynchronously.➡️ Get the uncut, 60 minute recording with Brian on the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episode:Where did the idea of ZipMessage come from?How Brian validated ZipMessageBrian's unconventional approach to validationWhy Brian raised funding from Calm Company FundHow can people go from freelancer to productized serviceThe importance of building processes in productized servicesWhy Brian didn't follow his passion for musicRecommendationsBook: Shoe Dog by Phil KnightPodcast: SmartlessIndie Hacker: James McKinven (errm...)Follow BrianTwitterPersonal SiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

In 2019 Daniel Vassallo left his $500k salaried job at Amazon to go indie. In the 2 years since he left Daniel has placed many small bets, something he's become known for. In particular Daniel has seen success from his Info Products and building his audience on Twitter, which has grown from 0 to 91k. He wrote a short book on the good parts of AWS, which has made $126,000, then following the Twitter growth, wrote a book called Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience, which has made $244,000. He shares all of his revenue reports in his Profit and Loss community, which in itself has made over $30k in the past year. In total, and in just over 2 years, Daniel has made $570k in revenue and $306k in profit since leaving his job at Amazon. But he's gained something he didn't have while working for someone else, freedom.➡️ Get the uncut, 80 minute recording with Daniel on the Indie Feast membership here.What we covered in this episode:Leaving a $500k job at Amazon to go IndieThe trap of judging your life based on financial valueWhy the initial focusing on one product didn't work out for DanielWhere the small bets mindset originatedHow to deal with context switching with small betsDealing with an uncertain incomeWhy info products work well for a small bets strategyHow book publishers work and how we can apply their methodsThe importance of the "small" in small betsHow you can build a twitter audience like DanielWhy Daniel started making wooden cutting boardsHow he made $2,600 from one tweetRecommendationsBook: Anti Fragile by Nassim TalebPodcast: Indie HackersIndie Hacker: Peter AskewMore on DanielTwitterOn the IH podHis most popular articlesFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A Wallet2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - Fathom AnalyticsFor the longest time, website analytics software was seriously bad. It was hard to understand, time-consuming to use, and worse, it exploited visitor data for big tech to profit. I've spent countless hours in Google Analytics dashboards trying to figure even out the most basic metrics.This is exactly why I signed up for Fathom as soon as I heard Paul Jarvis and Jack Ellis were building it.Fathom is simple website analytics that doesn't suck. It's easy to use and respectful of privacy laws, with no cookies following your users around the web. They're also a bootstrapped, sustainable business so I love supporting them. Yes, it might feel strange paying for analytics at first, but once you realise the real cost of free Google Analytics and realising how easy to use Fathom is, you won't go back. You can install the lightweight code on as many websites as you want and quickly see the performance of all your sites.Link → https://usefathom.com/bites

Harry Morton is the founder of Lower Street Media, a podcast production agency that specialises in premium podcasts for ambitious companies. Lower Street are the agency behind top shows such as Secret Leaders, Technology Untangled and WFH Daily. Harry's business has skyrocketed since COVID, doubling in size of revenue and headcount in the last 6-months as more companies start to realise how effective podcasting can be. Harry also runs Single Track Conf, a 3-day mountain-biking founder retreat.➡️ Here's my course on starting a podcast in 2 hours or less (use "bites" for $10 off)What we covered in this episode:Why start an agency? it's not exactly a dream business to start.How Harry grew Lowerstreet through cold outreach1st client, Ultimate Leadership PodcastWhy the productising model didn't work out for LowerstreetWhat Harry did in the early days for growthHow losing 30% of revenue was a catalyst for growthDoubling the agency revenue in 6 monthsQuitting his job with no savings to start LowersteetNot knowing what to do when starting the companyAddressing shiny object syndromeWhy focus vs portfolio of projects argument is BSThe secret sauce for making a sh*t hot podcastHow to make a show that stands outStarting a mountain bike communityRecommendationsBook: Out on The Wire by Jessica AbelPodcast: StartupIndie Hacker: Andrew WilkinsonFollow HarryTwitterLinkedInFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletSponsor - 2 Hour PodcastYes, that's right, I'm sponsoring my own show 🤯After producing hundreds of podcasts for myself and clients, I've been pouring all of my knowledge into my new course, 2 Hour Podcast, which shows you how to start, grow and monetize a podcast that takes you less than 2 hours per week.I know lots of people who want to start a pod and reap the rewards, but struggle to find the time, which is exactly why I made this course.I've taken a three-pronged approach to making a podcast efficiently. The first is a step-by-step video guide to creating your show, covering everything from branding, to editing to hosting. The second part is a 90 minute tutorial where I make a my own podcast completely from scratch, recording the first episode with Arvid Kahl, using the tips from part 1. The final prong is my full Notion system for creating my show, including my episode CRM, guest and outreach templates, plus an episode briefing doc.Head to 2hourpodcast.com to get the full course and get $10 off with the code "bites" at checkout.

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, started with Paul Jarvis in 2019. Jack handles the technical side of the business, but isn't afraid to get on the mic on their podcast, Above Board, or send out some spicy tweets. Jack also runs the Serverless Laravel course, which he launched back in 2020. After this conversation Jack has turned into a true friend, speaking with me for several hours after, a genuinely nice chap. You’re going to want the same thing after listening to this pod. Jack talks with great wisdom on how to approach bootstrapping a SaaS company and taking on a huge incumbent.➡️ Here's my course on starting a podcast in 2 hours or less (use "bites" for $10 off)What we covered in this episode:What is Fathom AnalyticsJoining as a co-founder after the company was foundedHow Fathom startedHow did they know Fathom was going to workWhat growth tactics did Fathom use to grow?How did they convince people to pay for analytics?The trade-off of free softwareHow do you compete in a market with a huge incumbentStarting a medium competitor, PicoBenefits of having a co-founderQuitting a job for Jack's first side-projectStarting a course (Serverless Laravel) that made $150,000RecommendationsBook: 7 Habits of Highly Effective PeoplePodcast: Huberman LabIndie Hacker: N/AFollow JackSpicy TweetsPersonal WebsiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletSponsor - Part Time Tech JobsThank you to my friend Charlie from Weekend Club for sponsoring this episode, with his new project Part Time Tech Jobs, which is a fantastic site for finding and posting, you guessed it, part time tech jobs If you’re looking to transistion from a full-time role to indie hacking, finding a part time role might be just the thing for you to de-risk that transition. And on the other side, if you’re looking to hire great entrepreneurial talent without breaking the bank, this is where you should post.So if you’re looking for a part time tech job, head to parttimetechjobs.co or if you’re looking for tech talent, use the code INDIEBITES for 80% off all featured posts.

Pete runs No CS Degree, among other things, sharing stories of people who have made it as a developer, without going down the traditional route of getting a computer science degree, showing how it's possible to earn a nice salary without going to university. He has also started High Signal, a community for revenue verified entrepreneurs, a site for finding fully remote companies (sold) and finally made 2 courses where you'll learn how to both monetize and grow your newsletter.➡️ Here's my course on starting a podcast in 2 hours or less.What we covered in this episodePete's crazy backstoryHow he got into entreprenuershipMost inspiring story from No CS DegreeHow does Pete get revenueGetting a sponsor for a courseHow do you grow a newsletterLaunching a monetize your newsletter courseDoing a bundle deal with other indie hackersStarting the High Signal communityWhy some paid communities are badPete's nifty pricing trickLaunching a job boardRecommendationsBook: Mindset by Carol DweckPodcast: Indie HackersIndie Hacker: Lachlan KirkwoodFollow PeteTwitterWebsiteFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletThanks to this episode's sponsor, ChurnkeyIt can be a huge challenge to keep churn down when your SaaS product starts to see traction. The founders of Churnkey know exactly how much of a challenge this can be, having collectively grown three SaaS companies to over $4m in ARR.They realized that they were thinking about cancellations all wrong. A relationship with a customer doesn’t stop with the “Cancel” button. So they built Churnkey, which reduces churn by up to 42% with custom cancellation flows. For every customer who clicks “Cancel,” Churnkey offers up dynamic offers that encourage customers to stay subscribed.Just connect Stripe and plug in a small bit of code. In minutes, you’ll be reducing churn by immediately unlocking subscription pauses, dynamic offers, and cancellation insights. See how much revenue Churnkey can recover for you. Visit churnkey.co to start your free trial.

Mike Slaats is the founder of Upvoty, an instant feedback software which has recently hit $17k MRR. Mike also runs the SaaS pirates community, where he talks all about running a SaaS company. Previously, he scaled Vindy, an only marketplace for home development to 1m ARR in 5 years.What we covered in this episodeWhy did you start Upvoty?Stopping a $1m business to start from scratchWhy your work should be fulfillingShould you be passionate about your audience?How to validate your ideaHow Mike got his first customers for UpvotyThe value of an MVP and a landing pageWhy you should build runway or have an alternative income sourceHow you can make your own luckWhy indie hackers should build a personal brandMike's one bit of advice for founders; validateHow to build an MVP with the BML frameworkRecommendationsBook: Intercom on MarketingPodcast: How I Built ThisIndie Hacker: Arvid KahlFollow MikeTwitterYouTubeSaaS PiratesUpvotyFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletThanks to Weekend Club for sponsoring Indie Bites.‘I absolutely love being part of Weekend Club.’‘Huge fan of Weekend Club and I love being part of it.’‘Absolutely love this community.’These are real testimonials for Weekend Club - the internet’s most helpful community for bootstrappers. If you’ve ever struggled meeting other solo founders and staying accountable, then this is for you.We offer weekly Saturday deep working sessions with up to 30 bootstrappers, such as the founders of Simple Poll and VEED, an active Slack community and over 100 software discounts.Go to weekendclub.co and enter a very limited promo code ‘Indie Bites’ for 50% off your first month.

Noah Bragg is an indie hacker in its truest form. Building in public hacking away on his project, Potion, which is a a way to host your Notion pages as websites behind a custom domain. He's also the co-host of the Product Journey podcast, where he speaks with his co-host Ben about their progress on their respective side projects.What we covered:The goal of building a huge businessProject: Coffee PassWhen to decide to stop a projectFailing after 2 years working on somethingFirst project as an indie hacker: SupportmanSelling SupportmanStarting Potion$250 to $3,000 MRR in 4 monthsHow to do a successful product hunt launchHow to get a product hunt maker grantFocusing on product instead of marketingFinding the right market / a growing marketDealing with competitionRecommendationsBook: ReWorkPodcast: My First MillionIndie Hacker: Kenneth CasselFollow NoahTwitterPotionWebsiteProduct Journey PodcastFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletSponsor - UpvotyDo you want to build the best product possible? Then listening to user feedback is one of the best ways to do so. Because by listening to the problems of your users, you can build a real problem-solver that they'll love.Upvoty is a user feedback tool that gives your user's a voice and makes it really easy at the same time for you to prioritize what to build next. By installing Upvoty's feedback boards, you'll have all of your user feedback in one central place and it will really help you connect with your customers and understand their needs. On top of that, you can close the feedback loop by setting up your Changelog and Product Roadmap. Your users will be actively involved in building new features and will love you for that.Try Upvoty 14-days for free and with the code 'INDIEBITES' you'll get a 10% discount on any of their plans.Sign up here.

Andy Cloke is the founder of Data Fetcher, a platform for running API requests in Airtable, which is currently doing around $3k MRR. Andy has started many projects in the past, his most recent one, Influence Grid, was sold for $55k back in mid-2020, having only started it 7 months before. In this episode we talk about his framework for finding trending ideas, building a product and being successful with marketing as a developer. We also talk about the process of selling your product and how to make that go smoothly.What we coveredAndy's backgroundKabooshiWhy Andy started Influence GridHow to leverage Exploding Topics to find trending ideasGetting validation for your ideaUsing cold outreach to grow a platformRocket ReachDoing SEO from the startHow he grew Influence Grid to $3k MRRWhy decide to sell Influence Grid?Should you go through a platform for an acquisition?How to best prepare for a small acquisitionWhat Andy bought himself after selling for $55kWhat he did after the acquisitionThe process of finding a new ideaSoftware Ideas by Kevin ContiMicro SaaS by Tyler TringasWhy Andy started Data FetcherHow Data Fetcher has grown to $3k MRRAndy's framework for finding a successful ideaHow to push through when things aren't going so wellRecommendationsBook: Blue Ocean StrategyPodcast: Startup to LastIndie Hacker: Jon YongfookFollow AndyTwitterData FetcherFollow MeTwitterIndie Bites TwitterPersonal WebsiteBuy A WalletSponsor - UpvotyDo you want to build the best product possible? Then listening to user feedback is one of the best ways to do so. Because by listening to the problems of your users, you can build a real problem-solver that they'll love.Upvoty is a user feedback tool that gives your user's a voice and makes it really easy at the same time for you to prioritize what to build next. By installing Upvoty's feedback boards, you'll have all of your user feedback in one central place and it will really help you connect with your customers and understand their needs. On top of that, you can close the feedback loop by setting up your Changelog and Product Roadmap. Your users will be actively involved in building new features and will love you for that.Try Upvoty 14-days for free and with the code 'INDIEBITES' you'll get a 10% discount on any of their plans.Sign up here.