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26 Comments

What's your top reason for being (or wanting to be) an indie hacker? #ask-ih

What's your top reason for being (or wanting to be) an indie hacker? #ask-ih

  1. 19

    I want to work on my own terms, doing the things that intrinsically motivate me.

    1. 1

      Same! I also believe that intrinsic motivators are typically strongest when they impact other people too.

    2. 1

      Pretty much this. The best part is, I learned that when running a business, very little of the feedback you get matters. It's better to just make your own mistakes and fix them. Nobody can learn for you, you can only learn for yourself.

    3. 1

      You expressed this better than I could have. That is exactly it.

  2. 7
    • Autonomy in choice
    • Income growth not limited by company pay scale
    • Financial freedom
  3. 4

    I come from a VC-funded background and realised I was spending most of my life making spreadsheets, getting screwed over by VCs and dealing with employee problems rather than focusing on what I love the most - making products.

  4. 3

    I love working on software products and being an indie hacker is the only way to satisfy my curiosity and need for creativity.

  5. 2

    Personal and financial freedom!

  6. 2

    Try to build products nobody else would even think to try to make.

  7. 2

    I'm an indiehacker because I failed in raising money for my last tech startup and I suffered extreme repetitive stress injuries in the ensuing year of working on it myself.

    Indiehacking is easier than building a startup and will hopefully lead to the resources to restart and self-fund the startup.

  8. 2
    1. Autonomy - carving the path I feel most happy in and the one where I can achieve the most for myself and family.

    2. Impact - finding a way to have the greatest positive impact through my work.

    3. Cumulative revenue - building projects that have recurring revenue.

  9. 1

    I love making products :) ! I hate it to work in a very big team in a corporate doing the same shit every day! Doing a product from scratch is really exciting, it makes you learn about the whole cycle, starting from choosing the name, theme, write code, market it, etc.

  10. 1

    Time freedom.

    I previously worked at an ad agency — where I had to track my 8-hour days in 15-minute increments so we could bill clients appropriately. I found this painfully literal case of trading time for money to be really exhausting and frustrating.

    I'd much rather be compensated for the value I generate, not the amount of time I spend "working."

    P.S. The ability to choose what I work on — and what I don't — is also a major perk.

  11. 1

    @csallen this is by far the best site for creators! I joined to help give and get feedback for my projucts.

  12. 1

    I am a hardware maker. My reason is the freedom to be able to make unique products that may be only useful to a handful of people if I wish to.

  13. 1

    My number one reason is to be able to practice a disciplined routine where I wake up early every day and work on writing or building product for 4 hours and doing so in a way that aligns with my personal values. If I can have a minimally viable life that affords me that opportunity, I'm confident that I will eventually build something that I can be proud of and that will support me and my family.

  14. 1

    I value control. Control over my time, control over who I work with, control over what I work on.

    No one person can stop me. That is freedom in the truest sense!

  15. 1

    Autonomy in my work and autonomy in my life.

    Currently, I cannot:

    • do anything without the permission of a product manager
    • bring my kids into the office at my big dumb corporate day job
    • work from home if I need to
    • hear myself think due to several loud speakerphone meetings going on in my open floorplan office
  16. 1

    I love indie hacking because I make according to my own rhythm. I build whenever I want/can and I 'm only responsible to myself of the results.

  17. 1

    Freedom is my main reason

  18. 1

    Over the last 30 years I have spent most of my career programming for startup companies. I know people from those companies that made millions of dollars but did not put in the time that myself and other people further down the food chain did.

    I do not want to look back and say to myself, "What if I had tried programming my own products?" Even if I fail I will be able to look at myself in the mirror and say, "I tried it."

    Failure sucks, having never tried is worse!

  19. 1

    I really like developing and building a product people love. The latter is hard to realize but hard things also motivate me!

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    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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    This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

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    This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

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    This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

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