Share something valuable you've discovered recently!
What's something valuable that you've read, learned, or discovered recently that you want to pass on to other indie hackers?
Share it in the comments below!
What's something valuable that you've read, learned, or discovered recently that you want to pass on to other indie hackers?
Share it in the comments below!
"Try and help people where they already are" - @adamwathan (on IH podcast)
For instance on Twitter don't redirect people to a Medium article. Summarise the article in a Twitter thread. In action:
Steve Schogers tweets two different ways about how to design a basic landing page. Exact same content in both.
1st Tweet: Image on Twitter - 107 Retweets
2nd Tweet: Redirects to Codepen - 6 Retweets
What do you think of this thread @harrydry - I plan to keep adding to it throughout the rest of the day - https://twitter.com/IndieHackers/status/1163455930220105730
As a concept I really like it. Nice idea.
Depends a little on your intentions. If you want to showcase indie hackers i think it works. If you want to grow the account I think it can be improved. When you're looking at growing an account the big questions are:
Are the tweets valuable enough in the thread? Are they good enough to be shared themselves? That's what grows an account. So my tweak on your idea would be:
Pull out 5 things from the forum each day which are actually really valuable. The best hidden gems. Perhaps call it "Best of Indie Hackers " ... or " 🔥Indie Hackers Top 5"
Or another idea is just to zone in on the best comments. 5 best comments. Every day. As a thread. For Hacker news, a daily thread of the best comments would take off for sure.
Either way, picture the weekly email full of the best stuff. But instead, on twitter form and as a thread. The thread has to be so good that it is mandatory reading.
Unreadit takes the best of Reddit and puts it in your inbox every week. You want to take the best of Indie Hackers and put it in a twitter thread every day / week.
I'd experiment with different titles until you nail it. And then you can repeat it every day. People like consistency. And it can become a thing itself. A massive thing on Twitter is making something a thing. Steve Schoger's design tips were a thing. I'm trying to make my marketing examples threads a thing. When something becomes a thing people starting waiting for the next one, anticipating it, talking about it.
One good thing about threads is you don't piss many people off. Because most of the time the twitter algo will only show the first and last two tweets. So that's why that first tweet is the important one. It has to be the retweetable one. Perhaps experiment with / without the #indiehackers. i think that might reduce RT's. I'd also add an emoji and keep it the same emoji each time. So people know it's a thing.
Anyway, I've rambled on too long!
Good advice, I’ll keep experimenting.
I think this is part to do with the algorithm.
It's similar on LinkedIn too.
Content with no links on social just seem to general get more engagement/views.
Yeah that's a big one. It's amazing how many people just post a link to their blog post and expect everyone to abandon the site they're on and click through!
Another example: I tweeted about a Product Hunt article I wrote recently.
1st Tweet: Twitter Thread summary - 25 Retweets
2nd Tweet: Redirect to article on my website - 1 Retweet
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As a bootstrapped engineer, this one became apparent to me as I am training a new dev for the team: the value of the code that your SaaS company is built on is very small. The actual value lies in the knowledge that was gained when the code was written.
Code and other tech artifacts are mere snapshots or the state of your knowledge. But it completely lacks the transformational knowledge until that is documented consciously.
Did you build a feature? And then changed it a few dozen times? The final code will reflect only the last state, but NONE of the learnings along the way (why version 3, 6 and 7 were not working out while v4 and v8 improved it significantly) are visible there. Just the final result. Unless you take a few minutes to note down these things, they will be lost - or have to be extracted much later, at a much higher cost.
My suggestion: document as much as possible, particularly if you're a solo founder/engineer. That will make building a team much smoother - and it will allow you to externalize that value easily.
I'm working on a web app (I don't code) and am suffering my way through learning. Searching for articles/videos that can help guide me through a particular problem. I like to learn by doing and I'm happy to say that the first version works!
It's basic and messy, but what I envisioned. Now that it's live, I'm going back and slowly tweaking things. Adding stuff , fixing things and making it better.
I guess what I'm trying to say is...keep at it. Put in the work. Learn by doing and pull back your grand vision to a bare bones version that works, but gets the idea across.
Listening to tech / business podcasts from 10 years ago is significantly more enlightening than listening to current ones.
Not only do I learn from the hosts, but there's also continuous feedback on how insightful they are and how much their understand of trends aligned with what actually happened.
A secondary benefit is that 10 years ago, there was a smaller percentage of podcasters who were in it for purely as a way to make money and as a result, the content tends to be a bit more genuine.
Is there one you would recommend?
I like Techzing (especially interviews with Travis Kalanick, Patrick Collision, Gabriel Weinberg and Amy Hoy) and the old Stack Overflow podcast, especially the one where they interviewed Jason Calacanis and pretty much anytime Joel answers a listener question.
Google Ads + others (LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.) are great for prospecting and getting intent based leads (not necessarily good for CAC).
Partner that with a FB pixel and retargeting Ads and you'll have a cheaper funnel, and a much easier time converting that warm traffic into a customer.
cc. @julian via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0ZbOk3ZnI
The recent podcast with Hostifi founder @rchase in which he said to put your company in your forum signatures and just interact with your potential customers is key. No sales, just provide value.
As a frontend developer, I just discovered the Intersection Observer API. It is a cool feature, which helps you to decide what to do with an element which is outside of the viewport. I don't have to use a third party library for this feature anymore.
I discovered indiehackers
Making history with my first IH comment! I've been motivated by reading all your comments over the past few months. Getting here hasn't been easy. Talk about bootstrapping, I'm working off a very very basic laptop that typically crashes 6 times a day and a non existent budget. But I've learned to be really patient and to never give up, even how hard and demotivating it can get sometimes.
Today I decided I needed a break from my main project while I build it out and slowly develop my brand. I did this little side hustle, https://bizmail.carrd.co/ I know it's just a landing page but the concept is much much more. While doing it I had an idea that brought me joy...why not give Indie Hackers the opportunity to include a link to their product in my training tutorials. Well it's just an idea but let me know what you think.
So the takeaway is have a break do something that's quick and fun and you might just come up with an idea that can help others.
If you are trying to build a SaaS hack, apply to be a part of the Segment's Startup Program.
They offer some unbeatable perks if you get in!
https://business.facebook.com is not https://facebook.com. Use the former when you want to run ads for your business. If you see "Facebook blue" you are not in the right place.
If you're selling to businesses, your big advantage as an Indie Hacker is your flexibility and customer service.
Many businesses will love to work with you if they know that you can iterate fast, are open to accommodate their needs, and that they have someone to talk to – you.
Show up. Don't give up.
IH Podcasts :)
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