The Code To Cracking the IH Top Product List
Question: How does a solo founder generate enough MRR to get to the top of the Indie Hackers product list?
Answer: The top ten products on the list - including Remote OK ($47.7K/MRR), CribFlyer ($7.4K/MRR), Nomad List ($24.8k/MRR), and others - help their customers (whether it be real estate agents, Poshmark sellers, or remote workers) to generate revenue.
Synopsis: Last year, Jordan O'Connor (@jdnoc) of Closet Tools found himself at the top of the list (when filtered by solo founders only). Closet Tools saw a rapid rise in revenue in just 7 months, increasing from $18k MRR in May 2020 to $38 MRR in December 2020.
Context: Closet Tools is a micro-niche browser extension that offers automation scripts to be used with Poshmark, a social marketplace for buying and selling fashion and style items.
The takeaway: Jordan aces the "true" indie hacker test: "How much value are you creating for others?"
Business strategy: While Poshmark explicitly prohibits "bots", Closet Tool's automation has proved to be a win for Poshmark's revenue generation as well. The product effectively enables the "power users" of Poshmark, by reducing the labor and time required to share large numbers of items for sale. After implementing Closet Tools, Jordan's clients saw their revenue rise significantly. Every month, their investment in Closet Tools (presently at $30 per month, unchanged from Day One), is returned many times over.
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Jordan suggests: Start your learning journey with a need in mind as the most effective way to identify and build core skills, and to provide added motivation for completion.
- Focus on what you're interested in. This should speak for itself.
- Build valuable skills while you create your products. Jordan's a strong proponent for adding to your knowledge base, and he enthusiastically recommends taking courses to fast-track your skills development.
- Help people. If you provide real and down-to-earth value to people, it will be returned, in one form or another. At a minimum, even if your business venture is ultimately unsuccessful, you'll still have learned and applied new skills and increased your own personal value to the marketplace.
Question: What skills does Jordan say were most valuable?
Answer: Top of his list includes HTML, CSS & JavaScript, and SEO Marketing.
Question: How can indie hackers emulate Jordan's success?
Answer: Jordan and Courtland Allen (@csallen) laid out a path during IH Podcast Episode # 187:
"To figure out a business idea, go to places where money is changing hands. If you're not sure what people think is valuable, look at what they're already paying money to do."
"Platforms are usually missing little tricks and tweaks that provide an opportunity to be more effective when using the site. Hang around, look at the available apps, and figure out where people are doing the most sharing of information - that can start as your distribution channel."
"Any long-term business that doesn't meet the criteria of 'a win for everyone' is ripe to be supplanted by others.
Closet Tools today: The MicroSaaS is a win for Jordan's family. With three kids (and counting), Jordan focuses on his work-related activities of learning, development, and support for Closet Tools for just a few hours each morning, leaving his afternoons free for family-friendly activities and adventures. Since Closet Tools requires fairly minimal support effort, Jordan has time available to spend preparing for his next venture.
Ultimately, anyone who's interacted with Closet Tools in some way has benefited. This ever-accelerating and self-sustaining "virtuous cycle" can be an ideal positioning for indie hackers looking to master the work-life balance.
