Indie Hackers
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Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
#090 – Inventing the Company That's Right for You with Natalie Nagele of Wildbit
19 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Natalie Nagele (@natalienagele) is not a fan of following "the rules" when it comes to building her company. In the 18 years since she and her husband...
#089 – From Fireman to First-Time Founder with Matt Verlaque of UpLaunch
12 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Verlaque (@MattVerlaque) is no stranger to hard work. But when he decided to leave his job as a fireman to build a tech business, he embarked on ...
#088 – Sage Advice (and Reasons You Probably Won't Follow It) from Jason Cohen of WP Engine
31 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Not only has Jason Cohen (@asmartbear) bootstrapped a software company from $0 to over $1M in revenue, but he's done it four times! The stories behind...
#087 – Examining the Repeated Successes of a Product-Focused Solo Founder with AJ of Carrd
29 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The anonymous "AJ" (@ajlkn) is one of the most prolific and multi-talented creators I've ever had on the podcast. His rare combination of developer ex...
#086 – How to Build a Life You Love by Quitting Everything Else with Lynne Tye of Key Values
22 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After spending years pursuing a career in science, Lynne Tye (@lynnetye) shocked her family and colleagues by dropping out of grad school. Thus began ...
#085 – Building a Business Meant to Last with Peldi Guilizzoni of Balsamiq
14 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty pages into reading his first business book, Peldi Guilizzonni (@peldi) closed it for good and told himself, "This is not for me. I'm never goin...
#084 – Creating Better Products Through Marketing with Tim Soulo of Ahrefs
08 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"Whenever you work for a big company and they don't help you work on your ambitions, you start doing something on the side. That's what always happens...
#083 – The Trial-and-Error Path from $0 to $1 Million with Dominic Wells of Human Proof Designs
01 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"It doesn't necessarily feel that real at times." Dominic Wells (@human_proof) didn't initially set out to create a million-dollar business. However, ...
#082 – Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Bootstrapping with Rob Walling of Drip and TinySeed
22 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
At first, Rob Walling (@robwalling) didn't know what he wanted to create — he just knew that he was tired of working for other people. After he spen...
#081 – Bootstrapping to Millions in Revenue, Not Once, But Twice! with Ajay Goel of GMass
11 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ajay Goel (@PartTimeSnob) loves to code. He also loves to grow profitable Internet businesses. In 2003, Ajay transitioned from making websites for cli...
#080 – How to Accomplish Something Extraordinarily Great with Daniel Gross of Pioneer
04 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Gross (@danielgross) has a tendency to view pretty much everything in life as a game. So when it came time to start a new business after sellin...
#079 – Things Every Founder Should Know About Growth with Julian Shapiro of Bell Curve
25 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After helping dozens of Silicon Valley startups grow their businesses, Julian Shapiro (@Julian) knows a thing or two about growth. In this episode, he...
#078 – Taking on Google and Facebook as a Solo Open-Source Founder with Evan You of Vue.js
14 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Evan You (@youyuxi) decided to create his own front-end JavaScript framework, there were already mega-popular competitors in the market from no o...
#077 – Iterating Your Way to a Product That Customers Find Valuable with Andy Cook of Tettra
07 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Rather than jump immediately into writing code, Andy Cook (@AndyGCook) and his cofounder Nelson (@nelsonjoyce) began their journey by spending weeks t...
#076 – Becoming Better Leaders to Build Better Companies with Keegan and Cameron of Torch.io
30 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cameron Yarbrough (@yarbroughcam) and Keegan Walden (@keeganwalden) created a company that combines software and coaching to help leadership teams imp...
#075 – Escaping the 9-to-5 Grind to Create a $3 Million Business with Joel Hooks of egghead.io
16 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Hooks (@jhooks) never found it easy to spend his life working for other people. So when he came across an inspirational book that told him he cou...
#074 – How to Build a Complex Hardware Business by Starting Simple with David Rabie of Tovala
02 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
David Rabie (@davidrabie), the founder of Tovala, set out to build one of the most complex businesses imaginable: a hardware device, a software applic...
#073 – Building the Habits Necessary to Succeed as a Founder with James Clear
26 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
James Clear (@jamesclear), the author of Atomic Habits, knows a thing or two about forming successful habits as a founder. In this episode, he talks a...
#072 – Building a High-Growth Startup in an Emerging Market with Shola Akinlade of Paystack
19 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Shola Akinlade (@Shollsman) knew that the online payments process in Nigeria was broken, and that he was in the perfect position to help fix it. Howev...
#071 – Bootstrapping to $1 Million in Two Years as a Non-Technical Founder with Christy Laurence of Plann
05 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Christy Laurence started designing her mobile app, she knew nothing about building tech products or launching startups. In fact, she didn't even ...
#070 – Pivoting from Hard Times to Profitability with Christine Spang of Nylas
28 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After her co-founder left the company, Christine Spang (@spang) found herself in a difficult position: deciding what to do with a product that wasn't ...
#069 – How to Use Patience and Empathy to Reach Millions with Ben Halpern of Dev.to
14 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Ben Halpern (@bendhalpern) decided to start another business, he set a very unusual expectation: He gave himself 10 years to succeed. In this epi...
#068 – Finding Success as a First-Time Founder with Mathilde Collin of Front
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Mathilde Collin (@collinmathilde) started her first company, she knew she wanted to create a great place to work and to improve the lives of her ...
#067 – Creating a Massive Community and Making It Profitable with Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt
31 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) has always been a product person. In a few short years, Ryan built an audience of tech enthusiasts from scratch and grew it in...
#066 – Building a Tech Business Outside of the Tech Industry with Brian Jagger of Casting Calls America
24 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Brian Jagger (@briansjagger) became a casting director, spending hours copying and pasting and editing file names, he knew there had to be a bett...
#065 – From Blogging to Growing an Agency to $85,000 a Month with Nat Eliason of Growth Machine
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Nat Eliason (@NatEliason) knows exactly what he's good at. He puts SEO-focused content marketing at the center of every business he builds. When frien...
#064 – The Path from Minimum Viable Product to $50M a Year with Des Traynor of Intercom
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As Intercom's Chief Strategy Officer, Des Traynor (@DesTraynor) knows a thing or two about building a successful company. Over the past 7 years, he's ...
#063 – Turning Small Ideas into a $35,000 a Month Business with Katie Keith of Barn2 Media
03 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Keith (@Barn2Media) sees small ideas as big opportunities. In this episode, she explains how she and her husband left their full-time jobs to go...
#062 – Getting a Brand New SaaS Business Off the Ground with Mike Taber of Bluetick
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Taber (@SingleFounder) dives deep into the steps he took to develop a viable idea for a company, validate it with actual customers, secure thousa...
#061 – How to Bootstrap Your Way to $250,000,000/year with JT Marino of Tuft & Needle
20 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
JT Marino (@johnmarino) made the unusual journey from software engineer to mattress tycoon, and he did it without raising a dime from investors. In th...
#060 – The Psychological Challenges of Being a Founder with Dr. Sherry Walling of Zen Founder
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Psychologist and founder Dr. Sherry Walling (@zenfounder) might know more than anyone about the psychology of being a founder. In this episode she tal...
#059 – From Laid Off to Generating $25,000 in Monthly Revenue with John Doherty of Credo
06 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When John Doherty (@dohertyjf) got laid off from his job, his gut told him not to go out and get another regular job. In this episode, John talks abou...
#058 – Building the Company You Actually Want to Work at with Joel Gascoigne of Buffer
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Joel Gascoigne (@joelgascoigne) started Buffer, he had no intention of doing things "the way they've always been done." Learn how he helped lead ...
#057 – Wearing All the Hats as a Founder with Saron Yitbarek of CodeNewbie
22 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Saron Yitbarek (@saronyitbarek) runs three podcasts, gives dozens of talks every year, runs a blog, a weekly Twitter chat, a conference, an online res...
#056 – Following Your Passion to Build an Impactful Business with Quincy Larson of freeCodeCamp
15 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Quincy Larson (@ossia) explains how he's built freeCodeCamp into a community that helps millions of people learn to code every month by engaging in st...
#055 – Blazing New Trails with a Small Team with Claire Lew of Know Your Company
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
From the very beginning, nothing has been ordinary about Claire Lew's (@cjlew23) company, its business model, or the way she came to lead it. Learn ho...
#054 – Getting Help from the Community to Build a Profitable Game with Vicky Hsu of Habitica
01 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Vicky Hsu (@caffeinatedvee) began volunteering her time to help with HabitRPG as part of its community, she never imagined that she would one day...
#053 – The Path to Improving as a Founder and Generating Millions in Revenue with Steli Efti of Close.com
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Steli Efti (@steli) has always had something to prove. After starting numerous successful businesses in Germany as a young entrepreneur, he moved to S...
#052 – Creating a Popular Product and Selling It to Governments with Tiffany and Danny of Remix
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When the founders of Remix released a side project that unexpectedly went viral, they put their heads together and decided to turn it into a startup. ...
#051 – Finding Your Way as a Founder with Rand Fishkin of Moz and SparkToro
27 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Rand Fishkin (@randfish) was $500,000 in debt, he decided to save his company and the relationships within his family by… starting a blog. He w...
#050 – Creating a New Product Category with Katelyn Gleason of Eligible
19 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Katelyn Gleason (@katgleason) has been never satisfied with working for somebody else, and she's never been afraid to break into a new field and aim s...
#049 – Everything You Need to Know About Business with Josh Kaufman of The Personal MBA
13 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Josh Kaufman (@joshkaufman) has read a lot of business books. He also happens to be the author of The Personal MBA, easily one of the best business bo...
#048 – Publishing Wildly Successful Content Online with David Smooke of Hacker Noon
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
David Smooke (@DavidSmooke) has been working with content since he got a job as a teenager at the local newspaper. In this episode we discuss the prog...
#047 – The Value of Being Interesting and Persistent with Joel Runyon of Impossible
30 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Runyon (@joelrunyon) didn't start out with a whole lot. He couldn't get a job. He had no business skills. He didn't know how to code. In fact, al...
#046 – Building a Life-Changing Business with Austen Allred of Lambda School
23 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Austen Allred (@austenallred) was in debt after watching his company implode. Learn how he used his entrepreneurial experience to turn things around, ...
#045 – Turning a Vision Into a Massively Profitable Business with Max Lytvyn of Grammarly
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Isn't having a vision just fluff? Doesn't every business need to start with the practical realities first? Max Lytvyn doesn't think so. In this episod...
#044 – From Fledgling Founder to 7-Figure Deals with Stephanie Hurlburt of Binomial
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stephanie Hurlburt (@sehurlburt) shares the story of how she went from being an employee to being half of a 2-person startup that sells software to ga...
#043 – Confronting Your Fears and Taking a Leap with Pieter Levels of Nomad List
17 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Starting an online business is scary. You're putting yourself out there and risking failure in front of thousands or even millions of people. Learn ho...
#042 – Bootstrapping in a Crowded Market with Gareth and Jonathan Bull
04 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There's some stiff competition in the email marketing space, but that didn't stop brothers Gareth and Jonathan Bull. Learn how they overcame some sign...
#041 – An Optimistic Nihilist's Take on Building a $2M Business with Vincent Woo
21 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Even as a programmer, Vincent Woo never loved school or working at big companies. But he was enthusiastic in growing his side project, CoderPad, into ...
#040 – Learning How to Be a Successful Founder with Spenser Skates
14 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#039 – Success Ten Years in the Making with Amir Salihefendic of Doist
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#038 – When Your Side Project Blows Up with Dawson Whitfield of Logojoy
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 lon...
#037 – The Story of WorkFlowy: From $0 to $800,000 a Year with Jesse Patel
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 disp...
#036 – From Two Failed Startups to $10,000,000 in Revenue with David Darmanin
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 fai...
#035 – "Definitely Not Trying to Fit In" with Tobias van Schneider
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 tr...
#034 – Making $125,000 a Month as a Solo Founder with Mike Carson of Park.io
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#033 – Finding Your Next Idea with Philippe Lehoux of MissiveApp.com
18 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
#032 – Before and After Product-Market Fit with Peter and Calvin from Segment
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 S...
#031 – How Kevin McArdle Quit His Job and Bought 28 Businesses in Two Years
05 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
#030 – Pivoting Your Way to Three Million Users with Vivek Ravisankar
28 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#029 – How to Win by Refusing to Quit with Tracy Osborn of Hello Web Design
20 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ho...
#028 – How Wes Bos Teaches 100,000 Programmers as a One-Man Operation
08 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#027 – The Do's and Don'ts of Selling Your Company with Thomas Smale
01 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#026 – Building a Mission-Driven Company with Reuben Pressman of Presence
25 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ice...
#025 – Becoming the Internet's Most Prolific Maker with Mubashar Iqbal
11 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 episo...
#024 – From Side Projects to Serial Entrepreneur with Moritz Dausinger
04 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Moritz Dausinger started off like so many of us, releasing and then abandoning project after project. But when he launched Mailparser, something chang...
#023 – Building Habit-Forming Products with Nir Eyal, the Author of "Hooked"
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 proc...
#022 – Going Full-Time on Your Side Project with Dave DeSandro of Metafizzy
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#021 – Starting a Mission-Driven Company with Rachel Carpenter of Intrinio
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#020 – Building a Million Dollar Mailing List with Scott of Scott's Cheap Flights
28 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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
21 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 st...
#018 – Finding Your First Paying Customers with Wade Foster of Zapier
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 behin...
#017 – How to Grow Your Business with Julian Shapiro of Bell Curve
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 an...
#016 – Building a $1 Million Business Solo with Mike Perham of Sidekiq
31 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 tec...
#014 – Delivering More Value and Charging More Money with Brennan Dunn of DoubleYourFreelancing.com
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 fr...
#013 – How to overcome the biggest challenges to your online business with patio11
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick McKenzie divulges his wisdom around how to develop promising business ideas, find your first customers, convince smart people to work with you...
#012 – Traveling, Learning to Code, and Bootstrapping to $25k/mo with Tyler Tringas of Storemapper
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#011 – How Ryan Bednar Went from SEO Consulting to Building an SEO Product That Makes $80,000/mo
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#010 – Growing Your Social Media Presence and Building an Audience with Laura Roeder of MeetEdgar
12 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#009 – Breaking Into Bootstrapping Your Own SaaS Business with Clifford Oravec of Tamboo
05 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 Cli...
#008 – Growing a $600,000/mo Business by Starting with Direct Sales with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit
22 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 treati...
#007 – Building an Open-Source Publishing Platform That Makes $63,000/mo with John O'Nolan of Ghost
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
#006 – Launching Your Product and Finding Customers Immediately with Josh Pigford of Baremetrics
08 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 episod...
#005 – How the VC Business Model Co-Opts Entrepreneurs' Visions with Bryce Roberts of Indie.vc
28 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 beginn...
#004 – Succeeding in a Crowded Market by Building a Niche Business with Garrett Dimon of Sifter
22 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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 Sift...
#003 – Bootstrapping a SaaS Business to $30,000,000/year with David Hauser of Grasshopper
13 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
David Hauser explains how prioritizing selling early on, talking to customers, and rigorously testing marketing channels helped him bootstrap to $30M/...
#002 – Fueling Growth with SEO and Content Marketing with Chris Chen of Instapainting
10 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#001 – Building an Audience and Being Scrappy with Jason Grishkoff of SubmitHub
09 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Grishkoff, the founder of SubmitHub, proves that being scrappy and doing things that don't scale (like sending 1000 emails) can lead to explosiv...