Essential Resources for Indie Hackers and Entrepreneurs

Learn from profitable businesses and side projects. IndieHackers is probably the catalyst for this new wave of interest on making an independent income. It is a collection of interviews to successful developers about their products. IndieHackers has been especially interesting to follow since it's been an indie project itself. Courtland Allen has been very transparent about how he built it. The last news make one think that the forum/community will grow.

News for hackers, mostly technology and entrepreneurship. Not specific to indie devs but a must for everyone interested in computer science, creating products and making money. A lot of indie devs lurking around. Started by Paul Graham and maintained by the seed accelerator YCombinator.

Makerlog is a free community of makers shipping products together. There's discussions + a task management tracker that allows you to get a streak (to keep you motivated shipping).

ProductHunt is a place to discover new products. It's a great place to launch your product and get feedback. It's also a great place to find new products to use.

StartupGrinder is a place to discuss startups. It's a great place to ask questions and get feedback.

Bootstrapping as the better alternative to VC funded startups.

15 minutes filled with a lot of valuable information and insights where Tyler presents the concept of Micro-SaaS and tells us his story.

Probably one of the most known indie hackers of the last couple of years talks about how to turn our side-projects into profitable businesses. Very straight to the point, Pieter always provides a lot of insightful thoughts. By the way, don't get fooled by his lifestyle, his success is 500% work.

Lightning 7-minute talk by one of the most respected indie developers. The point Patrick is trying to make, is that solo developers can target way smaller and niche markets which might have low competition and be very profitable from a solo business point of view.

Talk on building a successful small solo business.

In this classic talk, AdSense/GMail/like button inventor explains how to listen to your users and why you should be critical of startup advice.

Sam Altman and Dustin Moskovitz give a crash course in how to start a startup, and talk about the role of the founder, how to get users and grow, how to do sales and marketing, how to hire, how to raise money, company culture, operations and management, business strategy, and more.

The challenge that started it all for Pieter. It inspired me to do something similar. What matters is to create and ship a lot, learning in the process, until something is worth pushing further.

Patrick has written over 500 posts and I have obviously not read all of them, but of the many I've read, I chose this one...

Some four years ago, I started Bingo Card Creator, a business which sells software to teachers. At the time, my big goal for the future was eventually making perhaps $200 a month ...

This is just an example of a business more than one would be happy with :-) Besides liking how Tyler shares his story building Storemapper, I think he always maximizes for valuable content.

This is the first of a series by Amy Hoy. I'll be honest, I don't even remember what this was about, just that I found it worth my time. Oh wait, yeah, Amy told me not to code, at least at first. I haven't still gotten there...

Another series on what solo bootstrapping is about, with an offensive twist.

Numbers with meaning. fpgaminer analyzed all the products featured on IndieHackers, extracted some statistics and got to some conclusions. Also worth reading for the approach.

A guide to the complex world of modern software business: everything from UX design to marketing and writing, with a list of resources to start with each topic.

Patrick McKenzie is a well-known figure in the indie hacker community. He has been running his own software business for years and has a lot of experience to share. In this blog post, he talks about the importance of understanding your customers and how to market to them.

Rob Walling is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Drip, a popular email marketing automation tool. In this blog post, he shares his thoughts on how to build a successful software business and the importance of focusing on your customers.

Pieter Levels is a well-known indie hacker who has built multiple successful businesses. In this blog post, he shares his thoughts on how to bootstrap side projects to profit and turn them into successful businesses.

Tyler Tringas is a successful indie hacker who has built and sold multiple businesses. In this blog post, he shares his thoughts on how to build a successful Micro-SaaS business and the benefits of the Micro-SaaS model.

Joel Spolsky is a well-known figure in the software development community. In this blog post, he shares his thoughts on how to build a successful software business and the importance of focusing on your customers.

Signal v. Noise is the official blog of Basecamp, a popular project management tool. In this blog post, the Basecamp team shares their thoughts on building a successful software business and the importance of focusing on your customers.

The Bootstrapped Founder is a blog by Arvid Kahl, a successful indie hacker who has built and sold multiple businesses. In this blog post, he shares his thoughts on how to build a successful software business and the benefits of the bootstrapping model.

Indie Hackers is a popular online community for indie hackers and bootstrappers. In this blog post, the Indie Hackers team shares their thoughts on how to build a successful software business and the benefits of the indie hacking model.

Reddit is a place to discuss anything. The /r/Entrepreneur subreddit is a place to discuss entrepreneurship. It's a great place to ask questions and get feedback.

Reddit is a place to discuss anything. The /r/IndieDev subreddit is a place to discuss indie development. It's a great place to ask questions and get feedback.

Reddit is a place to discuss anything. The /r/Startups subreddit is a place to discuss startups. It's a great place to ask questions and get feedback.

Reddit is a place to discuss anything. The /r/Programming subreddit is a place to discuss programming. It's a great place to ask questions and get feedback.

This subreddit is a community for sharing and receiving feedback on side projects. It's an excellent resource for indie developers who are looking to showcase or get opinions on their projects.

This subreddit is dedicated to discussions around running small businesses. It's a place where entrepreneurs can share experiences, advice, and resources.

For entrepreneurs and indie developers who travel and work, this subreddit provides tips, tools, and discussions on living a nomadic lifestyle while running a business.

This subreddit offers advice, resources, and strategies for growing a business. It’s a great place for entrepreneurs looking for practical growth tactics and peer feedback.

This unique subreddit is focused on documenting the entrepreneurial journey. Users share their progress, setbacks, and learnings, making it a real-time resource for motivation and guidance.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the internet. This subreddit is dedicated to discussions around SaaS businesses, strategies, and tools.

Marketing is a critical aspect of any business. This subreddit is a place to discuss marketing strategies, tools, and tactics. It’s a great resource for entrepreneurs looking to improve their marketing efforts and reach new customers.

This subreddit is a place for sharing ideas and concepts for products, services, or projects that users would like to see developed. It’s a great place to brainstorm and collaborate with other creative minds.

Maker of Nomad List, Remote OK, Hoodmaps, and many more. Building in public since 2014.

The official account for the Indie Hackers platform. A place to meet other entrepreneurs, learn from their experiences, and share your own.

Founder of Indie Hackers, part of the Stripe team. Shares insights about starting and running successful online businesses.

Founder of Backstage Capital, Arlan's insights are invaluable for anyone looking to understand venture capital and bootstrap funding in tech.

Founder of Starter Story, Pat shares insights about building and growing online businesses.

Former Amazon engineer turned indie maker. Shares insights about building profitable online businesses.

Growth marketer, developer, and writer. Shares actionable advice on digital products, remote work, and more

Founder of BetaList and WIP among various other startups. Marc is a prolific maker and shares lots of useful tips on product development and marketing.

Founder of Makerpad, a platform teaching how to build tools without coding. Shares insights on no-code tools and building businesses.

Community manager and founder of Ministry of Testing, Rosie now focuses on community building and is a Community Manager at Orbit.

Founder of shipfa.st and maker of various other projects. Shares insights on building and growing online businesses.

MAKE is a book about bootstrapping startups by Pieter Levels. It covers everything from idea validation to marketing and sales.

Zero to Sold is a book about bootstrapping startups by Arvid Kahl. It covers everything from idea validation to marketing and sales.

In Company of One, Jarvis explains how you can find the right pathway to do the same, including planning how to set up your shop, determining your desired revenues, dealing with unexpected crises, keeping your key clients happy, and of course, doing all of this on your own.

The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want.

Start Small, Stay Small is a step-by-step guide to launching a self-funded startup. If you’re a desktop, mobile, or web developer, this book is your blueprint to getting your startup off the ground with no outside investment.

The SaaS Playbook is a book about bootstrapping startups by Rob Walling. It covers everything from idea validation to marketing and sales.

The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak. They say you shouldn’t ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn’t ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It’s a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a little.

Today every skill for building a product can be learnt online — coding, design, marketing — besides one: generating new product ideas. With this book, you will learn 17 actionable techniques for finding ideas to start your next profitable SaaS, physical, digital, services or content business.

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you’re looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

Getting an MBA is an expensive choice-one almost impossible to justify regardless of the state of the economy. Even the elite schools like Harvard and Wharton offer outdated, assembly-line programs that teach you more about PowerPoint presentations and unnecessary financial models than what it takes to run a real business. You can get better results (and save hundreds of thousands of dollars) by skipping business school altogether.

In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau shows you how to lead a life of adventure, meaning and purpose – and earn a good living.

Now is the best time in history for entrepreneurship. More than ever, the world needs new businesses and it’s cheaper than ever to create them.