RamenHire week 1: what I fixed, and what I'm still stuck on
Hey Indie Hackers 👋
Quick follow-up to my launch post from last week (RamenHire 🍜, the bootstrapped-only job board). Here's where things actually stand, and where I'm stuck.
What happened this week
Most of the week wasn't growth; it was trust-building infrastructure I didn't expect to need this early: real Privacy Policy + Terms (audited what the app actually does with data, not templated), rate limiting and bot protection on every form, and — genuinely useful — a reader publicly found a real security gap in my Supabase setup, which I fixed and wrote up. Public scrutiny turned out to be more valuable than I expected.
The honest numbers
- Registered companies: 0
- Real job seeker applications: 0
- Product Hunt: launched, got a few good comments (mostly about verification, which pushed me to think harder about it)
The actual pivot
Originally, I was going to pre-list companies and invite them to "claim" a profile. I killed that — felt dishonest to imply a relationship that didn't exist. Now it's pure self-registration, admin-approved. Slower, but I can defend it if anyone asks how it works.
Two honest gaps right now, not hidden
- There's no "Register your company" button on the site yet — the page exists (link below) but isn't linked from navigation yet, since I'd rather not advertise an empty directory.
- Right now, anyone can submit a job post request without registering a company first. No gate between the two. That's an open question, not an oversight — see #2 below.
What I'm stuck on
- Getting the first real companies to register — cold outreach starts now. If you run a bootstrapped company, would you actually register, or is there a specific thing stopping you?
- Should posting a job require a registered company profile first, or should they stay separate (post a job freely, profile is optional/separate)? Forcing registration adds friction but also means every listing has an accountable, verifiable company behind it.
- Is "verified bootstrapped" still the right hook, or does it need sharper proof (financials, public revenue numbers, something) before a company takes the badge seriously?
- Anyone here hired through a niche/values-based job board before — employer or job seeker side? What actually made you post or apply there instead of LinkedIn?
Appreciate any honest pushback — that's basically why I'm still posting these.
