Show IH: TinyPDF — Compress a PDF to an exact target size in MB (designer scratching own itch)

Hey indie hackers,

I'm a designer, not a full-time dev. I built this because every job site I applied to had a different portfolio-size limit (2MB here, 5MB there, 10MB somewhere else), and every online PDF compressor I tried either overshot the limit or trashed the image quality trying to hit it.

TinyPDF → https://tinypdf.cn/?utm_source=indiehackers&utm_medium=forum&utm_campaign=showih_launch&utm_content=ih_showih_2026-07-15

The one thing it does that others don't: you type the exact target size in MB, and it compresses to that size while preserving page count, page size, and layout — only dropping image quality as much as it has to.

Current scope:

• Desktop web only (no mobile yet)
• One file at a time, up to 100 MB
• No account, no watermarks, no page-count limits
• Free, no ads

What I got right / wrong so far:

• ✅ Precision size input hits the target 95%+ of the time
• ✅ Solo project, front-end only, cheap to run
• ❌ No mobile — losing ~40% of potential portfolio uploaders
• ❌ No batch — pro designers submit 3-5 PDFs at once

What I'd love feedback on:

1. Platform size presets — LinkedIn 2MB, Behance 10MB, some ATS 3MB. Should I build a preset dropdown? Which platforms matter most?
2. Pricing — currently 100% free. Is there a paid tier that would NOT annoy the free users (batch mode? API? mobile app?)
3. Distribution — as a designer with zero dev network, where would you start after Show IH?

Grateful for any thoughts 🙏