What's New: Here's why you should be watching startup movies
(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)
When's the last time you watched a startup movie? If the answer is "Who knows 🤷," we 11/10 recommend you check some out. Here's what else you'll find in this issue:
- 77% of indie hackers skipped founder movies in 2024, which is a major missed opportunity.
- A copyright strike nearly sank this YouTuber, but quick action saved the day.
- $200K+ MRR. Yu-An Chan hit 7 figures in 2 years by building community.
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Here's why you should be watching startup movies 🍿
In a recent Indie Hackers poll, just 23.3% of respondents said they'd seen a startup movie in the last year.
Skipping these movies is a mistake; the neuroscience of movie watching suggests that watching startup stories can give founders a big boost in their effectiveness. But there's a catch: Your intent also matters.
Here's the case for watching startup movies, and a list to get you started.
A YouTuber's false copyright strike drama 👀
In a wild twist of events, popular math YouTuber Grant Sanderson (a.k.a. 3Blue1Brown) found that one of his own Bitcoin explainer videos had been nuked by YouTube... even though the video was 100% his original content.
Turns out, a company called ChainPatrol — which uses "advanced AI" for Web3 brand protection — flagged the video. Cue the dreaded YouTube copyright strike.
So, Grant took to X for help, and ChainPatrol's response was a master class in crisis management.
Hitting seven figures in ARR within two years 💰
Yu-An (Alan) Chan dropped out of school, built a product, rebuilt it, joined Y Combinator, launched, and then iterated like crazy.
Less than two years later, Heptabase is bringing in seven figures per year. Yu-An acquired his first users through Telegram and Discord, and grew through word-of-mouth. He focused on quality, and let the product speak for itself.
Channing's tweet pick 🐦
Both of these emotions are about closing the gap between you and someone you perceive as more successful than you.
Inspiration drives you to close the gap by pushing yourself forward. Envy drives you to close the gap by pulling them backwards.
Choose wisely!
We'd love your feedback! 🙃
Did you like today's stories? Did they suck? Which ones?
We're constantly changing things up to make this newsletter more useful, so let us know what you think by replying directly to this email. We read every reply!
Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Michal Kankowski and James Fleischmann for contributing posts.
