Indie Hackers 2023 in Hindsight | 150K users acquired

Hey Indie hackers!

With the year coming to an end I wanted to ask the community to share their best and worst of 2023.

I'm super excited about what you all have to share, so feel free to promote your products in the comments and share your journeys.

I'll start.

I'm Justin Albertynas, and I am the founder of a travel-tech startup called Ratepunk, which is completely bootstrapped by me.

I launched Ratepunk in March 2022 and in 2023...

The W's:

• Acquired over 150K users on my extension who already made over 100K bookings through our extension
• Ratepunk got mentioned in the Daily Post (online and print!), CNN, Forbes, The Washington Post, and many more. Wrote a guide on how exactly to achieve that. Check it out here
• Started growing Ratepunk's TikTok presence and almost reached 1M organic likes on one account. If you're interested in how, check out another guide here
• Tested a ton of funnels, ads, creatives, everything
• Launched the Ratepunk app (woo, yeaa)
• Completely changed the business model for the entire startup.
• Added a ton of new features completely new to the industry; it seems like every month, we push the travel industry further and further toward the "golden age."
• I wrote a few posts that earned their place in the indie-hacker newsletter (thank you for reading and interacting with my posts!)
• Pitched Ratepunk in Websummit, Pitch Please, How to Web, Startup Olé Accelerator, Startup Fair Vilnius, MIT Global Startup Workshop (MIT GSW) and Digital Travel Connect.
• Big breakthrough with SEO too. Currently, we’re raking in around 250,000 impressions and 8,000 clicks/month for our blog

The L's:

• I still haven't figured out how to utilize Facebook, Instagram, and other social media effectively, except for TikTok.
• Even after a ton of testing, we're still yet to find a gold vein of a funnel.
• Our CPA is still under target.
• Unexpectedly, I stopped working with our main source of revenue, which resulted in me innovating and pivoting the entire startup towards a new business model (which is kind of working out, so I guess it was for the better).
• Currently lacking conversions for app and extension installs, but we'll get there.
• Not having a proper tracking system hindered my ability to know where the installs were coming from.

One of our biggest challenges was getting SEO right. For the longest time while learning SEO...

• We couldn’t get what the keyword system was.
• We didn’t try to change the headlines & notice the traffic tendencies after.
• We didn’t jump on trends on time - most often came in late.
• We wrote about any topic that came to mind & was travel-related.
• We relied too much on quality & not quantity. One blog post per day is not enough.

I've learned...

To be a more adaptable and resilient entrepreneur, understanding the importance of engaging with audiences on social media and experimenting with marketing strategies. I've developed habits like seeking advice and being open to feedback and established effective communication within the team through regular meetings. I've prevented burnout and made myself better prepared to tackle future challenges with confidence and determination.
This year has made me stronger and more determined than I ever was.

So, while not everything is perfect, the year has been very interesting and full of surprises and big lessons.
It's still not over, and a lot of new things are coming, especially from the app side since it's very new to me.

How did your 2023 look? Do you have any questions for me? Leave a comment, and let's talk!