Chapter 1: From Idea to Product in 72 Hours

Hey Indie Hackers,

I'm Jakub, founder of Entrepreneur List, and this is the very first edition of my build in public entrepreneurship story.

So it's only fitting to give it some context.

Although I've been in business and freelancing since the age of 18, which is about fifteen years now, I was a complete newbie in the world of indie hackers, solopreneurs, and creators at the end of 2021.

I didn't even know the term "indie hacker" or platforms like Product Hunt or Indie Hackers.

I wasn't active on Twitter.

All of that began to change when I celebrated my thirtieth birthday. At that time, a man probably starts to re-evaluate their priorities and change their perspective on the world. That's what happened to me.

I started feeling tired of freelancing and constant work with clients. I needed a change - a new zest and passion for work.

And that came with discovering the world of indie builders.

It's September 2021, and for several days in a row, I've been scrolling through new products published on Product Hunt.

I only discovered the website a few days ago, but it completely absorbed me.

I was fascinated by all those successful founders who launched their online businesses and manage them from all over the world. They are location-independent, don't have to go to the office every day, listen to bosses, or deal with complaints and stupid client questions.

Pieter Levels, Daniel Vassallo, Marc Köhlbrugge, Jim Raptis, Arvid Kahl, and many others.

I was obsessed with the idea of being like them.

Having a successful online business that I can build from anywhere in the world.

That's when I decided to try it too.

However, there was one catch.

I didn't know how to code.

However, I was able to create websites on WordPress. I had already built dozens of websites on this probably first-ever no-code platform.

It was easy for me to buy a domain, hosting, and build my online project with WordPress.

Now there was only one question left. What would it be?

Because I had decided to use WordPress, I knew the end product couldn't be too complicated.

And because I've always enjoyed learning from the best and most successful in the field since I was young, I came up with the idea of creating an online database of interesting and successful entrepreneurs, marketers, investors, and other professionals worth following and learning from.

I always had trouble finding the right person to learn from at the right time.

For example, one day you decide you want to learn how to properly manage growth in your company and how to get more users for your product.

But suddenly you don't know where to look. Who are the best growth marketers to learn from?

I never found such a place.

And so Entrepreneur List was born.

A simple database of professionals from different business fields who had a successful career and published interesting content on Twitter, a blog, newsletter, or podcast.

From idea to MVP, it only took 72 hours.

The whole idea was stupidly simple.

I had absolutely no plan on how to monetize the website (we'll talk about that in future issues), how to get traffic and users, but I didn't care at all.

The only thing I craved was to launch my own project on Product Hunt.

And that's what we'll talk about in the next issue.

How I managed to launch a product on Product Hunt and get the badge for the 4th most successful product of the day.
How I got the first 200 users.
How I received feedback that led me to switch to another no-code platform.
And how this feedback led to the first iteration of the product.

##Key takeaways:##

If you want to start your own project, don't spend too much time overthinking it. Your first version won't be perfect, so the most important thing is to just start.
If you don't know how to code, it will be more challenging, but not impossible!
Choose the platform you understand the most and get to work.
Get feedback on your project as soon as possible.
Evaluate the feedback according to your plan and incorporate the most valuable suggestions.

Thanks for reading!

If you want to follow my journey of building Entrepreneur List from scratch to a profitable online business, subscribe to my newsletter.

See ya next time,