Indie Hackers
290 episodes — Page 6 of 6
#040 – Learning How to Be a Successful Founder with Spenser Skates
Spenser Skates, the CEO of Amplitude, took a very deliberate approach to becoming a founder and left as little to chance as possible. Learn about the steps he took to prepare himself, and how he went on to build a multi-million dollar analytics business with 100 employees.Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/040-spenser-skates-of-amplitude
#039 – Success Ten Years in the Making with Amir Salihefendic of Doist
When he wrote the first lines of code in his dorm room for his personal to-do list app, Todoist, Amir had no idea that it would eventually become one of the most popular apps of all time. Learn about his winding path to building a successful company, and how he got there by doing things he loved.
#038 – When Your Side Project Blows Up with Dawson Whitfield of Logojoy
What would you do if your side project made $30,000 in its first month? This is the exact situation that Dawson Whitfield found himself in after a long history of launching projects that didn't make it very far. The conventional wisdom is that it takes years to build a successful business, but in this episode we discuss why that wasn't the case with Dawson's business Logojoy.
#037 – The Story of WorkFlowy: From $0 to $800,000 a Year with Jesse Patel
Jesse Patel and his cofounder Mike built a product good enough to attract 20k users a month with no marketing. But it's not all roses. Co-founder disputes, competitors and clones, money problems, and real-life responsibilities have kept them on their toes. Jesse doesn't shy away from describing any of the ups and downs that come with building a rocketship product.
#036 – From Two Failed Startups to $10,000,000 in Revenue with David Darmanin
When he started Hotjar two and a half years ago, David Darmanin never expected it to grow so quickly. In this episode, we explore how David's past failures, learnings, and jobs as a marketer contributed to the incredible success of his business today.
#035 – "Definitely Not Trying to Fit In" with Tobias van Schneider
How do you get people to notice what you're doing and sign up in droves? If Tobias van Schneider is any indication, the last thing you should do is try to fit in. Learn how his history of counterintuitive decisions, going against the grain, and having zero expectations has led to a string of successful products, and some pretty spectacular failures as well.
#034 – Making $125,000 a Month as a Solo Founder with Mike Carson of Park.io
After a lifetime of hacking, Mike Carson hit on a very big opportunity selling .io domain names. Learn about the forces that made his massive success possible, the threats that almost killed his business, and how his life has changed.
#033 – Finding Your Next Idea with Philippe Lehoux of MissiveApp.com
Ever since he launched a profitable website as a teenager, Philippe Lehoux has had an uncanny ability to find something bigger and better to work on. Learn how a lifetime of experience as an entrepreneur has given him the confidence to move on from a business that brings in over $50,000/month.
#032 – Before and After Product-Market Fit with Peter and Calvin from Segment
Why is it so difficult to recognize product-market fit before you find it? And how do you find it, anyway? Learn about the struggles the team behind Segment faced, and how everything changed after they built a product that people wanted.
#031 – How Kevin McArdle Quit His Job and Bought 28 Businesses in Two Years
Most aspiring entepreneurs assume they have to start from scratch. But when Kevin McArdle left his job at 38 with a wife, a mortgage, and 4 kids, he wanted to get a head start. Learn how Kevin and his partners at SureSwift Capital bought almost 30 companies in two years, and how they're helping to change founders' lives through 6- and 7-figure exits.
#030 – Pivoting Your Way to Three Million Users with Vivek Ravisankar
The founder of HackerRank tells the story of how he and his cofounder went from multiple failed businesses as brand new founders working from India to the creators of one of the most influential websites for programmers and tech companies.
#029 – How to Win by Refusing to Quit with Tracy Osborn of Hello Web Design
Tracy Osborn once asked herself, "Should I learn how to code, or quit my startup?" You can guess which answer she chose, time and time again. Learn how relentless perseverance over time can help build a successful business.
#028 – How Wes Bos Teaches 100,000 Programmers as a One-Man Operation
What goes into creating a collection of online courses that reaches hundreds of thousand of people? Wes Bos explains everything from how he's built an audience and grown his massive email list, to his work habits and schedule, and a step-by-step walkthrough of how he created and launched his most popular course.
#027 – The Do's and Don'ts of Selling Your Company with Thomas Smale
Few people have seen as many companies bought and sold online as Thomas Smale has. Hear the founder of FE International explain how he started his M&A firm and share the lessons he's learned about selling your business for as much as possible.
#026 – Building a Mission-Driven Company with Reuben Pressman of Presence
Reuben Pressman has succeeded at doing some very difficult things as an entrepreneur, and building a mission-driven company is just the tip of the iceberg.
#025 – Becoming the Internet's Most Prolific Maker with Mubashar Iqbal
In 2016, Mubashar Iqbal was named as Product Hunt's Maker of the Year for launching more products and better products than anyone else. In this episodes, Mubs shares his thoughts on what allows him to be uniquely prolific.
#024 – From Side Projects to Serial Entrepreneur with Moritz Dausinger
Moritz Dausinger started off like so many of us, releasing and then abandoning project after project. But when he launched Mailparser, something changed. Listen to the story of how he built, grew, and sold a profitable business as a solo founder.
#023 – Building Habit-Forming Products with Nir Eyal, the Author of "Hooked"
Why do some products become habits? What keeps people coming back to apps like Facebook and Pinterest every day? Nir Eyal breaks the step-by-step process any product can use to to become a habit, and we also dive into the ethical implications of this new super power.
#022 – Going Full-Time on Your Side Project with Dave DeSandro of Metafizzy
Not everybody gets to work for the internet, floating from project to project and doing creative work that they love, but Dave DeSandro does just that. Learn how he's made a career for himself by building and designing widgets that tens of thousands of other developers have used on their websites.
#021 – Starting a Mission-Driven Company with Rachel Carpenter of Intrinio
The early team behind Intrinio got off to a very challenging start. In this episode, Rachel explains how being dedicated to their mission helped them stay scrappy and persevere through the hard times.
#020 – Building a Million Dollar Mailing List with Scott of Scott's Cheap Flights
Learn how Scott Keyes grew his mailing list from 300 to 600,000 subscribers and $4M in revenue in two years.
#019 – Solving Your Own Problem with Todd Garland of BuySellAds
Todd Garland went from being a blogger who published ads on his website to creating one of the leading advertising platforms on the web. Here's his story.
#018 – Finding Your First Paying Customers with Wade Foster of Zapier
How did a company that nobody'd ever heard of find hundreds of beta users, and even convince them to pay for access? Wade Foster tells the story behind user acquisition at Zapier.
#017 – How to Grow Your Business with Julian Shapiro of Bell Curve
Growth consultant Julian Shapiro joins me for an extra long episode in which he shares a wealth of knowledge and stories about making numbers go up and to the right.
#016 – Building a $1 Million Business Solo with Mike Perham of Sidekiq
Learn how Mike Perham turned his open-source side project into a business, quit his job, and grew revenue to $80,000/mo without making a single hire.
#015 – Data-Driven Marketing and Sales with Alex MacCaw of Clearbit
Alex MacCaw started Clearbit.com as a solo founder, and he's since grown it to millions of dollars in annual profit. Learn the marketing and sales techniques he's used to reach over 1000 customers.
#014 – Delivering More Value and Charging More Money with Brennan Dunn of DoubleYourFreelancing.com
Brennan Dunn has earned $20k/week as a freelancer, grown an agency to millions in revenue, started and sold a SaaS product, and makes over $100k/mo from his online courses. Learn how he thinks about business.
#013 – How to overcome the biggest challenges to your online business with patio11
Patrick McKenzie divulges his wisdom around how to develop promising business ideas, find your first customers, convince smart people to work with you, generate more revenue, and stay happy while doing it.
#012 – Traveling, Learning to Code, and Bootstrapping to $25k/mo with Tyler Tringas of Storemapper
Tyler Tringas talks about the difference between good and bad ideas, launching new products in days not months, finding your first customers one at a time, hiring effectively, and more.
#011 – How Ryan Bednar Went from SEO Consulting to Building an SEO Product That Makes $80,000/mo
Turning your skillset into a product that solves customers' problems is one of the best ways to start a business. Learn how Ryan Bedndar came up with an idea, iterated on his product, and found his first customers.
#010 – Growing Your Social Media Presence and Building an Audience with Laura Roeder of MeetEdgar
The point of marketing is to draw new people in to your business every day, but how exactly do you go about doing that? Laura Roeder, who bootstrapped her business to $4M/year, explains how to build an audience.
#009 – Breaking Into Bootstrapping Your Own SaaS Business with Clifford Oravec of Tamboo
Thinking about becoming an indie hacker? Learn how to start, what skills you need, and the biggest pitfalls to avoid in this discussion I had with Clifford Oravec, author of The Epic Guide to Bootstrapping a SaaS Startup.
#008 – Growing a $600,000/mo Business by Starting with Direct Sales with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit
Learn how Nathan Barry grew his business by teaching what he knew, taking advantage of big competitors, showing up every day for two years, and treating direct sales as the answer to everything. Brought to you by Vettery.
#007 – Building an Open-Source Publishing Platform That Makes $63,000/mo with John O'Nolan of Ghost
John O'Nolan explains how he used his industry experience to come up with a simple idea, built a landing page that converted 30,000 email subscribers, and raised $300,000 on Kickstarter. Brought to you by SparkPost.
#006 – Launching Your Product and Finding Customers Immediately with Josh Pigford of Baremetrics
Josh Pigford went from having an idea to having paying customers in eight days. Less than six months later he was making $14,000/month. In this episode, you'll learn exactly how he did it. Brought to you by SparkPost.
#005 – How the VC Business Model Co-Opts Entrepreneurs' Visions with Bryce Roberts of Indie.vc
Why is the VC narrative so dominant? Bryce Roberts, partner at Indie.vc, talks about why it's important to focus on generating revenue from the beginning. Brought to you by DixonAndMoe.com.
#004 – Succeeding in a Crowded Market by Building a Niche Business with Garrett Dimon of Sifter
How do you cut through the noise and stand out among the competition so you can start landing your first customers? Garrett Dimon, the creator of Sifter, explains how he did it. Brought to you by SparkPost.
#003 – Bootstrapping a SaaS Business to $30,000,000/year with David Hauser of Grasshopper
David Hauser explains how prioritizing selling early on, talking to customers, and rigorously testing marketing channels helped him bootstrap to $30M/year. Brought to you by DixonAndMoe.com.
#002 – Fueling Growth with SEO and Content Marketing with Chris Chen of Instapainting
Learn how Instapainting founder Chris Chen used a combination of SEO and content marketing to grow his business to $32k/month in sales. Brought to you by ProductManagerHQ.com.
#001 – Building an Audience and Being Scrappy with Jason Grishkoff of SubmitHub
Jason Grishkoff, the founder of SubmitHub, proves that being scrappy and doing things that don't scale (like sending 1000 emails) can lead to explosive growth. Brought to you by SparkPost.