Author
Alex Cloudstar
Founder, Makers Page
Indie maker and solo founder. Built Makers Page to give builders a public home for their projects and verified revenue. Writing about getting first customers, building in public, and growing bootstrapped products.
26 Articles
From First Dollar to $1K MRR: How Indie Makers Grow Without Paid Ads
Paid ads don't work the way most first-time SaaS founders expect them to. Here's the organic growth playbook that actually gets indie makers from their first paying customer to $1K MRR.
How to Write a SaaS Landing Page That Converts Visitors Into Customers
Most SaaS landing pages describe the product instead of selling it. Here's how to write copy that speaks to the specific person who has the problem you solve and gives them a clear reason to take the next step.
How Micro-SaaS Founders Actually Discovered Their Ideas
Everyone who built a successful micro-SaaS has a story about how the idea showed up. The stories are different on the surface, but underneath them there are a handful of patterns that keep repeating. Here's what the discovery process actually looks like.
Why You Keep Undercharging: The Psychology of Pricing Fear for Freelancers and Indie Makers
Most freelancers and indie makers don't undercharge because they don't know better. They undercharge because of specific psychological patterns that feel completely rational in the moment. Here's what those patterns are and how to actually break them.
How to Get Traffic to Your Side Project When No One Knows It Exists
You built the thing. You launched it. You waited. And almost nothing happened. Here's the honest guide to getting real, sustained traffic to your side project without a big following, a big budget, or a lucky viral moment.
How to Reduce Churn in Your Indie SaaS Before It Kills Your Growth
Churn is the quiet killer of indie SaaS products. You add five customers a month and lose four. The math never works out. Here's how to find out why users are leaving and actually stop it.
How to Build an Email List From Zero as an Indie Maker
Social media platforms change their algorithms, shut down, or just stop sending you traffic. Your email list can't be taken away. Here's how to build one from zero, before you have a product, before you have a following, and before anyone knows your name.
How to Get Your First 10 Customers as a Solo Founder (Without Ads, Without Luck)
Every guide tells you to 'post on Twitter' and 'build in public.' Here's the version that actually explains where your first paying customers come from, what to say to them, and how to turn 10 into 100.
How to Launch on Product Hunt Without Wasting Your Only Shot
Product Hunt can be a turning point for an indie product. Or it can give you a traffic spike that disappears in 48 hours. The difference comes down to what you do in the weeks before and after the launch.
Cold Outreach for Indie Makers: How to Get Your First 10 Paying Customers Without an Audience
Building in public is great advice, but only once you have an audience. Before that, cold outreach is the most reliable way to get from zero to your first ten paying customers. Here's how to do it without feeling like a spammer.
How to Find a Micro-SaaS Idea Worth Building
Most founders wait for a brilliant idea. The ones who actually ship something start with a specific problem and work backwards. Here's how to find the kind of micro-SaaS idea that's small enough to build alone and real enough to sell.
From Side Project to Full-Time Income: What the Transition Actually Looks Like for Indie Makers
Everyone talks about quitting their day job for their side project. Almost nobody talks about what the months before and after that decision actually look like. Here's the honest version.
Build Your Audience Before You Launch: Why Pre-Launch Attention Is the Only Marketing That Matters
Launching to nobody is optional. Here's how indie makers build audiences before their product exists - and why those audiences convert at rates no cold traffic can match.
Your First 100 Customers: How Indie Makers Build Early Traction Without a Marketing Budget
The growth playbooks assume you already have traction. Here's what nobody tells you about building it from scratch - before the channels kick in, before the SEO works, before anyone knows your name.
The One-Person Business Playbook: How Solo Founders Build, Launch, and Grow Without Hiring Anyone
Hiring isn't the answer. Systems are. Here's how solo founders run real, revenue-generating businesses without a team - by multiplying themselves instead of adding people.
Your Landing Page Has 8 Seconds: The Anatomy of Pages That Actually Convert
Most indie landing pages fail in the first scroll. Here's a section-by-section breakdown of what makes visitors stay, trust you, and click the button.
The 90-Day Wall: Why Most Indie Products Die After Launch (And How to Push Through)
The launch was the easy part. What kills most indie products isn't competition or bad ideas. It's the quiet, unglamorous three months that come right after.
You're Not Charging Enough: The Indie Maker's Guide to Pricing Without Fear
Undercharging isn't generosity, it's a signal that you don't believe in what you built. Here's how to set prices that reflect real value and stop leaving money on the table.
Building in Public Without Burning Out: What to Share, What to Keep, and When to Go Silent
Transparency is a superpower, but it can also become a trap. Here's how to build in public without turning your startup into a performance.
The 5-Hour Validation Sprint: How to Test 3 Ideas Before You Write a Single Line of Code
Most founders waste months building the wrong thing. Here's a step-by-step framework to validate three ideas in a single afternoon using nothing but a timer and the internet.
Your First $1 MRR > Your First 1000 Followers: Why Revenue Validation Beats Social Proof
Stop optimizing for applause and start optimizing for dollars. The first person who pays you teaches you more than a thousand people who just watch.
What to Do With All Those Startup Domains You Bought and Never Use
Startup Failure Is Normal. Domain Neglect Is Optional. Don't let your old domains rot turn them into traffic for your current project.
The Only Asset You Actually Own: Why Every Maker is a Newsletter Creator in Disguise
Don't build your house on rented land. If you're not building an email list, you're one algorithm update away from losing everything.
Stop Building in the Dark: Why Your First Feature Should Be a 'Launch Soon' Badge
The biggest waste of time in indie hacking is building something no one wants. Here is how to use curiosity to validate your next big idea without code.
The Indie Manifesto: Why Building for Humans is the Only Distribution Strategy Left
Algorithms are failing us. Ads are too expensive. The only way to win as a solo founder is to forget 'marketing' and start making friends.
The Death of the Flex: Why Proof of Work is the Only Metric That Matters in 2026
Stop chasing vanity metrics and start building trust. In an era of AI-generated everything, verified revenue is your only real moat.