12
10 Comments

Bootcamp for bootstrappers & indie hackers?

Coding bootcamps are pretty common these days, but I have this wild idea for a product bootcamp for hackers and bootstrappers.

Basically, a 1-week camp that would cover idea validation, design, coding, marketing, and end with you launching something (a landing page, a feature, or even your actual product).

I know doing all this in one week sounds a bit crazy, but I think it could be the trigger a lot of us need to finally take that last step towards launch.

Anyway, I was wondering if there are any similar camps out there already? If so, has anybody done something like this before?

  1. 3

    It's not a in-person bootcamp, but 30x500 (https://30x500.com/academy/) is an on-line course topically close to what you described

    1. 1

      Good point, I forgot about 30x500! What I have in mind is something similar, except shorter and in-person. And probably cheaper, too!

      1. 1

        That sounds cool. But in person would leave out a lot of people who are interested.

        By the way, are you still using meteor? Or only focus on Vulcan.js now?

        1. 1

          Oh, we're thinking about live streaming as much of the lessons as we can. And I only use VulcanJS, but it's itself built on top of Meteor so in a way I'm still using Meteor ;)

  2. 2

    This sounds kind of like Startup Weekend (https://startupweekend.org/) but obviously more involved with a full week.

    1. 3

      The one thing I don't like about Startup Weekends (at least the one I've been to) is that they focus on the idea/pitch stage exclusively and don't really make you actually built something. I've seen a lot of teams basically spend a week-end on coming up with an elaborate pitch deck, when they could've used that time to build a simple prototype.

      1. 2

        Agreed. You could get a lot more serious and in-depth over the course of a week. The tradeoff is that you're narrowing down your customer base quite a bit because not a lot people (with jobs, kids, etc.) can dedicate a full week to something. It might work well with the student and newly graduated crowd?

    2. 1

      I actually thought of this initially as well. I think in person would be tricky, maybe a hybrid of in person and online?

      You could try validating this idea with a series of meetups initially.

  3. 1

    A guided hackathon?