Share revenue and unique value proposition - and don't be surprised when you're copied
I have been seeing more and more Indiehackers bemoaning how they see fellow Indiehackers robbing them blind. Competition can benefit the customer but for those trying to build something that will let them do it fulltime, it's a race to the bottom.
I've suggested this before and few seem to agree, but when you share what people love about your product and also share financials (MRR, ARR, LTV, active customers - anything like this), you are asking to be copied.
Even worse, your numbers are probably both too high and also too low, whatever they are.
Why 50K MRR is too low
If they make their way to someone at a large company who would make the purchase decision or influence the purchase decision for your product, they see your 50K MRR as a reason to hold off. To them, you are circling the drain, limping along, might not pull through... They probably wont lose their job for paying for a year of something that dies in a month, but it will be a strike. It will get them closer to being fired.
Why 5K MRR is too high (That isn't a typo; $5,000 MRR)
If the guy lives in the third world, with a four-year degree in comp sci, he may be earning well under $1K/month, and for a 40-50 hr, 5~6 day week.
He sees that he cannot do everything you've done, but he doesn't need to. He has his own ideas, and has toiled fruitlessly with them for years. He would just like some easy money, enough to let him leave the soul-sucking job so he can focus on his project. And to do this, he gets to skip over all the iteration you've done, and just do the one killer thing in your current state product, offer it for half the price, knowing that even if that doesn't work out, he can blow it out on an AppSumo lifetime deal and, with his economic situation, be set for years.
I would love to see a shift in the mentality of those I admire the most, and in the one online community I like, IndieHackers.
You started it as a project. It became a product. You see that it could be the cornerstone of a company you develop, and go on to attract great minds who will empower your company to do far bigger things. I ask you to respect the opportunity you have, and rather than touting your achievements in financial terms, share with us what works, and the detailed how-to - this is what I wish I saw more of.
Every single piece of content posted here on IH can and will be copied... You can see it every day on the top-performing post.
At some point, it diminishes the whole value of the community since as stated by @osakasaul someone coming from another part of the world where it would cost less to operate your business idea, will find ways to generate that ramen profitability you're working towards to.
My core point is that we should think twice before touting the numbers that reveal too much.
What was a side project became your main project. And then it became your livelihood. And it could become something that outlives you, your heritage. Or, you could flaunt your MRR and the core differentiating factor.
You can notice the types of posts that reach the front page too. ;)
Lots of "copied" products (very blatantly too) end up getting a lot of traction. I'm all for competition, but if you're on IH in hopes of getting any sort of growth, you likely won't find it.
Unless your product is specifically for designers, devs, founders, etc. (and very graciously priced).
Well said. I would love to discuss MRR and get opinions on everything from finances to SEO. But, no way am I blasting that on here. I would gladly pay for a private group, where people have established businesses and are not looking to copy.
This seems a risk for anyone that starts to gain popularity on the web. For example, I know a few developers tha have their very popular developer blogs open sourced and how they've seen people fork their repo and setup a blog that looks exactly like theirs.
Are there any well known examples of Indie hackers getting copied + overtaken by a competitor(or fellow IHer?)
I see people writing that people steal everything. Their images, even. Everything. People don't tend to reveal who did it.
I'm just suggesting that IH is ALL WRONG in the call for "transparency. TOTALLY wrong.
We need to protect our growing businesses, not attempt to earn credibility by touting numbers.
We all take ideas from others, though hopefully not without some changes. (That said, copying someone's business verbatim is pretty lame.)
You make valid points and I think anyone that posts the keys to their business has to accept the likely possibility of being copied. It makes it extremely easy to do.
With my projects, I like to provide some insight to what I'm working on, but I don't see much upside to sharing MRR, etc. It's a good conversation for this community to have.
Exactly! It's a good conversation that we need to have.
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