I Survived 1 Year of Solo Dev. Thanks, Stripe. Screw You, .js File.
This Sunday marks exactly one year to the day since I wrote the first line of code for SocialRally.
I told myself:
"It'll take what… a month? Two, tops." 😅
(Yeah, no.)
The day I started, a hurricane was approaching Mexico.
And now, almost like a cosmic joke, another one is expected next week.
The circle might just be closing.
💥 After 12 months of solo dev, sleepless nights, high highs, low lows, exploding features, and ghost bugs (looking at you, .js file 👻),
I’m about to launch the Beta.
(Not a real Beta… but not a fake one either. Beta-but-not-Beta-Beta, you get it 😂)
I haven’t posted here in two weeks.
Not because I quit.
Because I was shipping. Relentlessly.
💥 Integrated the full Stripe payment system
💥 Carefully structured pricing plans (with names true to the “hop” universe)
💥 Built features for agencies: multi-rally under aliases + custom URLs
💥 Gave Hopa (my built-in AI) a huge upgrade
💥 Real-time point tracking bar
💥 Two new landing pages
💥 Cleaned hundreds of lines of code
💥 Spent $65 on Opus to tell me… I was editing the wrong file 👻
💥 And then, Stripe. Oh Stripe.
I went back and forth:
Should I custom-code my own subscription logic? Or trust Stripe’s customer portal?
Eventually I told myself:
👉 Let everyone do their job. Stripe knows theirs.
Let Stripe handle it.
Did it spare me the pain? Not exactly 😅
But I had learned a few things from building the booking system of my other business
(shameless plug for Adorable Sailing 🛥️).
True story:
While building SocialRally, a travel agency asked for a booking link.
Stripe was already open, so I whipped one up in 2 minutes and sent it.
An hour later, they replied:
“Wait… did you really rename Adorable Sailing to SocialRally?”
Oops.
I’d sent the payment link… from the wrong Stripe account 😅
(Which explains why my product page says $200/month by the way 😂)
Two lessons:
Always double-check your payment links.
Yes, Stripe and Indie Hackers do play nicely together.
So… if everything goes right:
One year + three days after that first line of code, SocialRally opens its doors — Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025.
But shhh 🤫
I haven’t officially told anyone.
Just here.
To you, IndieHackers.
(Still haven’t met any of you. Still floating in the void.)
But hey — you had the scoop.
Even if you never knew it 😉
