Before I Launch Anything, I Test It on Indie Hackers (Here’s How)
Hey IH 👋
I’m Julien, founder of Linkeme, an AI tool that automates social media content for solo founders and small teams.
A few months ago, I started using Indie Hackers for more than just “community.”
I started using it as a testing lab.
Not for my product.
For my positioning.
For my copy.
For my ideas.
Here’s what I mean:
I wanted to write an onboarding email.
But instead of starting in my CRM…
I wrote a post on IH with the same hook.
✅ If it got ignored → bad angle.
✅ If it got comments → strong curiosity.
✅ If someone quoted my wording → I had my subject line.
I’ve done this for:
Landing page phrases
Feature prioritization
Value prop clarity
Trial conversion framing
Even pricing language
It’s not always about traffic.
It’s about resonance.
If other builders feel what I’m writing, chances are the right users will too.
Why it works:
No pressure to sell
Fast signal: silence = feedback
Comments → raw objections
I write more naturally, which improves everything else (emails, product, demo)
My process:
I write the core idea as an Indie Hackers post
If it clicks → I reuse the phrasing in product or email
If it flops → I rethink the angle (not just the format)
I treat this like a public copy sandbox.
What I’d love to know:
Do you use Indie Hackers this way?
Have you validated an idea, hook, or feature before writing code — just by posting about it?
Drop your approach. I’d love to learn from others doing the same.
Julien
Love this approach, Julien turning IH into a live feedback sandbox is super smart.
Curious have you ever had something flop here but still work well with your actual audience? Trying to figure out when silence means “bad angle” vs. “wrong crowd.”
Agreed, love the live sandbox approach. So appreciate your transparency, this is relevant to a lot of us!
thanks !, in fact, if it's flop here, I don't really push on production !!
love this great idea! seems like building and growing products is all about finding ways to test and experiment wherever you can.
guessing no hard and fast rule but curious if you typically wait a certain amount of time before calling something a 'flop'?
thanks for your message, yes usually around 10 days !
Would love to hear an example of how you got silence and then changed the angle to something that resonated with people!
good idea for a next post !
What a great idea and thanks for sharing!
Nice
thanks for sharing your approach, hadn't thought of it this way before. Do you have specific quantitative "targets" (no. of likes/comments) to hit in order to proceed with the idea, or is it more qualitative?
it's more qualitative !
I’m also building solo and your “public copy sandbox” idea really clicked with me. I’ve done something kind of similar testing headlines or value props on Twitter but never this intentionally. The way you’re using IH as a litmus test for resonance, not just reach, is super smart.
I’ve definitely written features or even whole flows based on reactions to little posts or comments. Sometimes a random question sparks more clarity than a week of building. I’ve also noticed I write way better when I don’t feel like I’m selling, just sharing. And that shift shows up everywhere: onboarding, modals, even update emails.
Anyway, this was refreshing. Gonna start treating IH more like a lab than a feed. Appreciate you sharing the process.
Interesting point, hadn’t thought about it that way
Thanks for this, Julien. Really appreciate the clarity of your process — it's one of those “obvious in hindsight” insights that hits hard.
I’m building a B2B partnership management platform (focused initially on AI-powered market & partner research), and this made me realize I’ve been over-relying on tech instead of real human reactions.
This post made me shift perspective — I’ll start testing positioning and value props directly here, even though I've already written a line of code.
thanks Denis, testing is part of the process, we most of the time always write a bite of code to see if the idea is "buildable" on a reasonable time frame vs functionality !
So we are just guinea pigs for you?)
kind of ;)
That's a great approach
Did you already had an audience within the community (or some time using it)? I feel like silence can be also due to the lack of visibility that an account without an audience may have, and not due to the lack of interest
So smart. “Silence = feedback” might be my favorite takeaway from this 🔥
I laughed out loud at the "silence = feedback" line too. So true
tanks !
Really interesting approach!
Interesting approach, Julien. I'm inclined to try this but out of curiosity: how many rounds of iteration did it take you to nail a hook that really resonates?
it's really depend, 1 to 5 I would say ...