Adventures of a solopreneur

First shot at entrepreneurship: build a product, do zero marketing, get zero customers.

Second shot: build a product, then do marketing, find moderate success.

Third shot: do marketing first, then build a product, get lots of customers.

I can really relate to the first takeaway: "The product is only the tip of the iceberg, when it's functional is when the real work of marketing, sales, and iteration begins." - it seems obvious at first glance but I think a lot of people would be surprised to know how many developers I've spoken to who fell into the trap of underrating the importance of marketing, assuming they can do it all themselves, and taking the demand for their "amazing" product for granted. You can have a close-to-perfect product in a technical sense and watch it "sit on the shelf" for the rest of its life because no one else cares.

I always appreciate when the ih journey takes people face-to-face with their own arrogance, lol. People say indie hacking is one of the quickest paths to enlightenment. (Hah, I'm sure someone has said that!). But really, I have heard many indie hackers say that this path has been the biggest catalyst in their walk with self development, and just generally evolving into a deeper, more aware version of themselves. I know that is 100 percent true for me. I am a much more humble, grounded, curious, and compassionate person because of my choice to take this route.

Mistake #1: I was convinced that if you build it, the people will come. I assure you, no matter what you are building, they will not.

This is an important part of his share. But I do think he's flip flopping too far to the other side. Because the truth is, if you build it sometimes people will come! It doesn't always take as much blood, sweat and tears as people think.

I've had a few projects that felt like, the second they were finished, people were knocking my door down for access. (So much so actually, that one project imploded on itself because it didn't have the infrastructure) I know part of that was luck, but a big part of it is building something that the people in your sphere genuinely need.

What a great story, I’ve never felt more seen since I’ve joined this community. Thank you for sharing!

He had around one year's worth of savings before he needed a new job? I'm curious - how much did bootstrapped founders on IH save up before they "braved" going solo? (assuming the product they founded was their full-time gig).

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People tend to overlook #5 - I'm guilty of that as well. Great post!

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I can really relate to the first takeaway: "The product is only the tip of the iceberg, when it's functional is when the real work of marketing, sales, and iteration begins." - it seems obvious at first glance but I think a lot of people would be surprised to know how many developers I've spoken to who fell into the trap of underrating the importance of marketing, assuming they can do it all themselves, and taking the demand for their "amazing" product for granted. You can have a close-to-perfect product in a technical sense and watch it "sit on the shelf" for the rest of its life because no one else cares.

I think many founders should just get this tattooed on their forearms:

"The product is only the tip of the iceberg, when it's functional is when the real work of marketing, sales, and iteration begins."

This is where so many founders struggle. It's also where a lot of friction occurs between founders and marketers. It can be confounding and create anger and resentment.

As he states: sales and marketing are incredibly important and nuanced professions, do not underestimate their value. Sometimes it's worth paying for that professional perspective. Other times, it makes sense to cultivate your own skills in that arena.

It's up to you to decide but you can almost certainly not be successful without it.

Great read - thanks for sharing.

It's so cool to see successful solopreneurs living the good life.

I'm curious, what percentage of your work is building vs marketing/distribution?

I'm on the adventure. Thanks for the retro

nice info

I love the story and it's funny that the mistakes you made are also mistakes I have made and a lot of the wbe members made too. I have podcast where I interview people about their entrepreneurial journey. Would love to have you as a guest. Send me a DM in case you are interested.

Great article Jason, saving for the futre... Just fyi your servers are bit slow to load in Denmark. Not sure if that's expected but figured I'd share.