Blog
Insights, guides, and stories from the frontlines of shipping.
Affiliate programs sound like passive income but most indie makers set them up too early, pay too much, and attract the wrong affiliates. Here's how to do it right.
Funded startups have bigger teams, bigger budgets, and more features. Solo founders still beat them regularly. Here's the honest breakdown of where you actually have the advantage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Startup Failure Is Normal. Domain Neglect Is Optional. Don't let your old domains rot turn them into traffic for your current project.
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.
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.
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.
Stop chasing vanity metrics and start building trust. In an era of AI-generated everything, verified revenue is your only real moat.