Introductions
Greetings!
My name is Jon and I am a software engineer looking to start my own path in the indie hacker realm :)
I have a couple questions since I am rather new to all of this:
- Whats a good way to start networking? With covid, its made attending local meetups an impossibility, thus finding like-minded peeps a challenge.
- One of my biggest hang-ups right now is thinking of ideas for apps/services. How do you find a niche, or get a clue on if something would be well received?
- Since I’m specialized in web development, my skills in marketing are pretty lackluster. Is there a base level of marketing one should know, or do you typically hand it off to a 3rd party?
Feel free to ask any questions, I am quite eager to make some friends and start building once I find an idea!
Cheers,
Jon
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Hey Jon,
a couple of tips and ideas:
As I'm curious, what did you do before your IH journey?
Good luck, man!
Thank you so much for the links!
I’ve been a software engineer for a few years now. I was originally a front-end designer before that, but that led me to get into more development work. Eventually, I bit the bullet and went full stack. Throughout my career I’ve either been the project leader, or the principle engineer (for smaller projects).
I noticed you are based in Germany! I’m in France (been U.S. expat since 2012), nice to see some EU Indie Hackers here :)
Nice, man! That sounds like an awesome background to start indie hacking. :)
As for networking, really just read other people's posts on IH and help them out where you can. You'll make lots of cool connections that way. Given your background, you could for example help out with technical questions or give feedback on landing pages. It sounds counter-intuitive because you'll not be compensated for it (at least at first), but you'll meet so many cool people this way that it will be totally worth it. Doing this has completely changed my life and my approach to business.
Nice to see someone from France! There are a lot of European people on here. They might not just always mention where they are from. :)
Welcome Jon! I can talk a bit about #2. Others here are probably more qualified to speak on the others.
It sounds cliche but, I would "solve your own problem". Or think about a problem you have currently that you can't find a solution for.
Another way to frame this is: "what would I pay for?". You can even go and look through your credit card history to see where you're price-incencitive.
I think this is cliche is because it's true. If you're solving your own problem: it should be motivating because you want the problem solved, and at least you have an audience of one! And chances are other people have experienced this problem as well.
Hey, if you really can't find any ideas, I've got a list of ideas I can't build I'd be happy to share.
Cheers!
Thank you so much for the advice!
In the past, I’ve thought of some ideas that would solve my own problems, later to find out those ideas have already been created, hah! In that respect, I guess it’s still ok to build it anyways, provided that you’re confident in your ability to build a better alternative.
Your credit card history idea is great! I’m certainly going to go do some digging there.
From here, I’m going to try and network more (something I really need to get better at!), and get as much advice as I can.
Thanks again!
Welcome to the community Jon!
I don't have much insight to answer your questions. I'm sure others will though.
Thank you!