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124 Comments

What are your indie goals for 2023?

Mine: Super boring I know, but it's to spend less time on admin tasks by outsourcing – and let go of the I must control everything mindset.
Hoping to free up between 7-10 hours per week. Now my business is profitable, I can calculate what my hourly rate is, and I'm wasting valuable time doing admin tasks when I could be working on the areas that generate revenue.

What are your IH goals for 2023?

posted to
Goal Setters
on December 22, 2022
  1. 21

    Mine are to just build for 12 months without any expectations. Hoping to gain a lot of new skills technically as I am only just building my first ever product. Even if I don't get any customers (which I probably wont), I will get better at development which means better at my day job, so its kind of a win win for me.

    1. 1

      This is similar to me in a sense that I don't have overarching financial goals. It's more about having fun and learning new things. I feel really greatful for being in a position to do so for a change.

    2. 1

      Similar to me. I have a full-time job and a baby, so not much time, but I want to finally execute on my idea instead of postpone it forever. I get to know a lot of new skills nowadays (GCP, docker, etc.) that we're just started to bring into the company and I could utilize it to build my joy project. If it'll be a side hustle or even more one day, that's just an addition.

    3. 1

      That's a really good approach! Best of luck :)

    4. 1

      That's nice, I'm doing the same thing

    5. 1

      Love this, you'll be amazing what you achieve and learn over 12 months :)

  2. 3

    For the first time I started building a commercial product. All the apps I've built before were completely free-to-use. I have a lot to learn on the way, commercial products are not just code :)

    1. 1

      Making a business out of a product is a big skill! But probably not as big as knowing how to code. So I have faith you'll smash this one

  3. 3

    I want to keep building MentionFunnel and hopefully grow the number of paying customers. Currently we have 1, so I guess a good goal would be to grow it to 25? Or maybe aim really high and go for 100? Let's see, I have 0 expectations 😄

    Other than that I want to learn a lot about SEO and marketing and launch more projects quicker than I did before. I like @tjdowd's comment about doing it to get better at development, but instead for me I'd also focus on getting better at the marketing side.

    1. 2

      great idea inside, briliant landing page outside.

    2. 2

      I saw this on Reddit! Gonna check out MentionFunnel tomorrow - looks like a great project, I’m excited to try it :)

      1. 1

        Cool 😁 Let me know if you have any feedback!

        1. 2

          Just reminded to try it out -- have set up an account and will let you know if I have any thoughts :D

          1. 1

            Amazing! Looking forward to it 😁

    3. 1

      Are you building this alone?

  4. 2

    For a lot of people and for me, I think just taking the first step and actually starting out before the end of the year is the best goal we can have :)

  5. 2

    As I am running a job board dedicated to visa sponsored jobs, I am hoping to:

    • monetize the board and get my first $
    • Get a sponsor to our newsletter of +1000 subscribers +4000 followers on Linkedin and twitter
  6. 2

    I went all-in betting on myself this month, a little scared but mostly confident, I have a great skill set when it comes to software engineering, and I just left my $120/hour beginning of this month.

    So short term my goal is to finish my first product, I will have an MVP by the end of this week!

    For the whole year I still didn't think about it. I want to say building as many apps as I can, but that's very vague. I honestly don't have a year goal yet, we'll see!

  7. 2

    I'm hoping to start my first indie SaaS during the next financial year - it's overdue, though I'm sure for me it will be a fun alternative to binge watching television.

    My main motivation is self-worth; just to prove to myself that I can swing to the music. 🕺💃

  8. 2

    Continue to push our product, DropsTab, reach new ATH traffic-wise, add valuable data and functionality based on clients needs

  9. 2

    1000 paying customers (currently at 110). At that scale, my wife can quit her job to join me on the project and we can be confident of building a sustainable business to support both of us.

    1. 1

      it's been 2 months- are you still on track do you think?

      1. 1

        So far so good- at 350 now. Hopefully 500 by summer, and 1000 by next summer 🚀

  10. 2

    In 2023, I want to launch my Invoicing app, Pronto Invoice, in both app stores and the Web. And get to my 1000th paying customer.

    1. 1

      for making invoices or scanning them in? the kitchen/ convenience store manager wants it to be scanning in since the big companies don't give small biz the EDI option and its impossible to raise and lower prices with each invoice to stay competitive and lucrative

  11. 2

    I hope that I can get better at marketing my product and hopefully can get a decent number of paid customers for it :D

  12. 2

    This year I spent growing personally & learning technical stuff like new technologies, writing backend & frontend with JavaScript, etc.

    And I've launched my first real SaaS.
    But it wasn't a great viral success.

    2023 I aim for getting the first paid users for my SaaS. I believe I will achieve that 100%, so see you in the new year!

  13. 2

    £10MRR would be nice 😅

    Much like @tjdowd, I'm just planning on building for 12 months.

    I worked mostly one one project this year and I don't feel like I progressed that much. Working on a few more projects will be good practice for getting reps in on identifying problems, designing solutions, and building apps.

  14. 2
    1. Marketing - creating guide on how to use my product. Add atleast 2 articles every week.
    2. Get 10 customers to use my product and provide feedback.
  15. 2

    I think I have two main goals for 2023:

    • My app has over 2k monthly active users in both the Play Store and App Store
    • The pro version of my app is released
    1. 1

      Nice, what's your app name btw ?

  16. 1

    i want to build and publish my first product. I'm a big fan of Google Firebase and Firestore. What i want to build is a tool that automatically gives you insights about the data in your firestore - like analytics with diagrams and a analysis of your data. Any thoughts? Would be glad to have some feedback!

  17. 1

    mine is to find and help people who are interested in starting a to build their store.

  18. 1

    going to help students for job preparation

  19. 1

    Building a product that will get traction and eventually makes money.
    That's all for 2023 :) If I achieve that, more doors and possibilities will be opened for me.

  20. 1

    I'm really trying to get to the point where my app has enough reviews that it shows up. I'm trying to figure out ads and everything. But yeah.

  21. 1

    Maybe this is not for this forum but: quitting alcohol and weed, and finally invest time into myself. In 2023 I want to:

    1. Learn a new technology stack to be able to quickly deliver full stack applications (Elixir with the Phoenix framework is my target currently)
    2. Getting into the habit of generating ideas every day, until I finally find something good
    3. Start building out an MVP

    For the next year: Start my first small business

  22. 1

    I started building my project https://openqr.io in 2023. Now my goals are:

    1. Acquiring the First Paid Customer: This will not only validate project value but also will start providing early revenue to reinvest in further development.

    2. Gathering Valuable Feedback: I aim to actively collect feedback from users and customers to continuously improve the product.

    By achieving these goals, I aspire to lay a solid foundation for the growth and success of my indie project in the coming years.

  23. 1

    Building an audience on social media :)

  24. 1

    Been working as a freelancer in the design and media space for 16 years. That whole time my business has really been reliant on other agencies subcontracting to me.

    Instead, for 2023 my aim is to reposition myself and my business to source more clients directly, to smooth out that high and low revenue curve, and finally tackle some side project ideas that I feel potentially could have a market.

  25. 1

    I recently joined IH and am currently working on a project that may become a company or product. For the rest of 2023, I want to get a MVP out the door so that I can iterate and continue improving it.

  26. 1

    I began my journey as an indie hacker exactly 6 months ago. So, by the end of the year, I hope to achieve my first 10 clients and launch 2 products

  27. 1

    Acquire 5 new clients by the end of this year for our Pursify product https://www.indiehackers.com/product/pursify

  28. 1

    Release my first project and get a few users, that enough will be really fulfilling to me haha

  29. 1

    I started my first side project a few months ago. Recently, I launched a newsletter.

    I am still strugguling to have visits on my website. So, my goals are:

    • Start to have revenue with my blog
    • Achieve 2000 subscribers on my newsletter for solopreneurs
  30. 1

    I am using this year as a growth opportunity:

    • Find a mentor that has accomplished some of the aspirations that I have a as technical co-founder.
    • Build a few side projects to get comfortable with shipping products and learning the process e2e.
    • Start building a social presence in the community of entrepreneurs.
    • Taking time to learn the basics of topics that I don't have experience in such as marketing and sales.

    If anyone has aligned goals, please let me know what your plan of attack is for this year.

  31. 1

    Launching as many cool free projects as possible and sharing them on my social media for free!

  32. 1

    My software has been downloaded by many people

  33. 1

    I launched my Design Studio a few months ago and have already managed to help a few business owners grow their business by building a polished and cohesive design package for them. My goal for this year is to get my first retainer client. I believe that is where the best value lies for both myself and my clients!

  34. 1

    I just launched my first Design agency called Butter Disco today!
    Of course, I want to meet and chat with like minded people on here and find potential clients. So, this is my 2023 year goal.

    • Have at least 5 clients subscribed to my service.
    • Produce how to design with Ai videos on YouTube.
    • Create entertaining post and videos to grow my social media channels.
    • Work 14 hours per week.

    Hopefully when I look back at the end of this year, this list will motivate me to help others to do the same!

  35. 1

    This is my year.

    • I build my first product called Roomfi, a place to find rooms in the Netherlands.
    • 4 months building, time to start my career as a developer and Indie Hacker.
    • Now, adjust my launch strategy = 0 customers. :(
    • Since the end of 2023, I will launch more 1 or 2 products, I hope that in 2024 to receive a bunch of money to stay focused on my passion.
    1. 1

      Roomfi sounds like a great business, especially in the Netherlands! It is hard to find rooms or apartments here in general so, I admire that you focus on problem-solving business. Keep going!!

  36. 1

    I am learning to code, I want to work with some senior developer/founder who can teach me the industry. I don't want money, I just want to prepare myself for the future.

  37. 1

    My goal is to get my first ever paying customer (who's not a friend/family) with an app I launch in 2023. 😊

  38. 1

    My goal this year is to scale my newsletter and launch a no-code product this year on ProductHunt.

  39. 1

    As a founder, a lot of your time gets cluttered with admin tasks and it gets really difficult to focus on growth tasks. I've been trying my best to come up with 50-50 of split on admin and core revenue generation activities. I'll try to improve this ratio along with a faster execution speed and a more organized work life.

  40. 1

    My indie goals for 2023 are to improve my gardening skills and knowledge, and to cultivate a beautiful and sustainable garden using natural and eco-friendly practices.

  41. 1

    My goal for 2023 is to launch 2 new products! Pily and Pageful (still an idea)

    Pily: Pily is here to help you solve the problem of generic customer service and lack of team information management by providing an intelligent AI-powered chatbot that is trained on your business and clients.

    Pageful: Helps you create professional and beautiful Help center, documentation, and knowledge base web pages using notion as a CMS.

    (Oh and build the founding team too)

  42. 1

    ship ship and ship, I think that's the only thing I'm always missing, shipping and pushing forward my projects, but now will not leave this until IO get at least 1 sell.

  43. 1

    Actually get started lol

  44. 1

    Product market fit! But isn't that everyone's goal?

    I guess more specifically focusing more on user interviews/research than building. It's really easy to make assumptions and believe you have a model of reality when it's actually all in your head.

  45. 1

    Love the connection between profitability and hourly rate, and how that triggered a review of how you spend your time. Using your time efficiently in high leverage ways is the only way you'll hit your goals!

    My goals for 2023 are to be launching my new product (will share more on Re-View in the coming days) and start making decent side income to support my family and hopefully allow me to take a few more risks financially.

  46. 1

    Keeping it simple: I'd like to build and put something out there. My measure of success will be the learning in the process. At this point, a "failed" product that teaches me why it failed would feel more like success than a "successful" product that doesn't tell me anything about what I did right.

  47. 1

    It's great that you have a specific goal in mind, Ryan! Outsourcing can definitely help free up time and allow you to focus on revenue-generating tasks. As for my IH goals for 2023, I'm hoping to launch and grow my own SaaS product, as well as continue to build my personal brand and network within the indie hacker community. I also want to focus on improving my time management and prioritization skills to make the most of my work hours. Best of luck to us both in achieving our goals!

    aouaichia naim

  48. 1

    Build up a community and get our first 1000 users. We're building an AI search engine for product teams.

  49. 1

    Grow my newsletter to 1k subs

  50. 1

    My goals this year are to grow my domains SEO ranking and authority, reach an organic clicks of >1500 a month, and reach MRR of $1000

  51. 1

    Realize my website / app, I've been working on now for quite some time.

    First half year will be beta testing, then marketing, then reaching out to venture capital etc., in case it works out & people start to use the app.

    Otherwise, step one step back, analyse and correct.

    Crucial: The core idea makes sense, is important & people will most likely use it.

  52. 1

    I finally launched a course on Programmatic SEO that I've been working on for about 6 months and got my first handful of sales. The first hard part is over (launching) so my goal for 2023 is to work on the second hard part (marketing).

  53. 1

    My goal is to become profit-generating for Geeks and Experts. We are still getting sign ups but not many paid users so I want to focus on converting users.

  54. 1

    Getting my first paying customer! But I would need to expand functionality of my project in order to be beneficial for the user. So I want to finish 3 big milestones this years for https://quickg.eu

  55. 1

    my goals are to continue to learn in the software development field. I have about 5 years of professional Java experience but I want to continue learning other programming tools and start to create some small micro saas businesses to generate side income.

  56. 1

    Our main target is to develop and launch 5 products across 3 different platforms to enable e-commerce store owners to track every data and conversion without any hassle.

  57. 1

    Proof of profit.
    Have people that dig the app today.
    But will they pay for more functionality... ?
    Goal is to start driving revenue and make this a business!

  58. 1

    My first goal right now is to learn to code. Right now I am able of using Javascript with DOM and create pages with CSS and HTML. My next steps are learning to use AJAX and then PHP.

    I have a list of ideas that once I have the technical knowledge required I am going to start implementing.

  59. 1

    Last year I spend all my time checking out IH on a daily basis. Checking out succes stories and potential pitfalls while brainstorming ideas in my head. 2023 will be the year that I finally put it all on paper, pick my best idea and start building and reaching my audience. It might be too ambitious but my goal in 2023 is to have my first paying customer.

  60. 1

    Don't want to make the mistake of "I don't have enough skills", "The markets are crowded", "I don't know what to build" that I did 10 years ago. Now is the time when I finally will build my first business - even if it won't make enough to replace my dayjob, the goal now is to enjoy the journey and learn as much as I can and get to know the indiehacker community as much as I can. :)

  61. 1

    In 2023, I'm hoping to launch and grow my startup Cybrelle and get to atleast 1,000 customers in the first month. I think I've developed a good marketing strategy on social media (Reddit, Twitter, and Discord servers). I want to see if I can also learn more about machine learning in order to develop a second product as well.

  62. 1

    Building an app to have an income for college and getting more into the startup-thinking.

  63. 1

    More sales for our products... And stability. We've worked hard to create a platform for typographers so I also wish for more collaborations.

  64. 1

    I want to spend time ( >= 30 minutes) working on my projects every day.

  65. 1

    start side project and #100DaysOfCode

  66. 1

    Mine is to build my platform in less than 2 months, hopefully by February (more or less) it will be ready. I also want to learn about marketing and management.Controlling money is important.

  67. 1

    Launch a side project every quarter. I have my main startup - Oddience - but I feel like 2023 will be a great year to start spinning my side hustle creative wheel again. Focus is important to me and it's always what held me back from experimenting with ideas but I want to attempt creating the most basic version of a solution to a problem, without putting a lot of weight on operations, distribution etc like I do for my primary company. I'll write a post at some point documenting my journey.

  68. 1

    Just starting out, so my goal for 2023 is to earn $1 from something I built from scratch!

  69. 1

    Start a SaaS side hustle and acquire 100 customers

  70. 1

    I want to start and experience with my first SaaS project.

  71. 1

    I want to break my record for creating projects and of course record profits for these projects. I hope I will be able to do it, of course I will have to try

  72. 1

    Grow my MOOD WEEKLY newsletter, translate it into English since it is in the Latin American market, emigrate to Europe and become a solopreneur

    Learn AI specifically chatGPT and related things

  73. 1

    Building my-self El warrior for the next 12 months.To gain new skills that will help me build my products and help create more warriors

  74. 1

    fail and fail faster :)

  75. 1
    1. Commence my journey as an Indie Hacker while working a full time job.
    2. Build a product that makes me $5k MRR by the end of the year.
    3. Think about leaving my full time position when I reach > $20k MRR.
    1. 1

      My goals are similar to yours except I would not like to leave my corporate job because I want to see how far I can get by doing both activities simultaneously.

      1. 1

        I think simultaneous work would be super super ideal - I actually love my day job. I am, however, yearning for freedom. Best of luck for your journey!

  76. 1

    I'm a college student and I'm setting time aside to work on Pluto. It's a problem that I've been personally dealing with for years and I'm now discovering through validation that I'm not alone. I believe Pluto's mission is bigger than me and it makes me really obsessive about it.

  77. 1

    **Two goals: **

    1. To shorten my time from idea to implementation of small-niche saas from two month to one week.
    2. Make at least 150,000$AMM (with my saas empire) - > currently just had my system up with few dollars.
  78. 1

    I’d like to get my first MMR on my current project and also build a indie mobile app. I think both should be achievable!

  79. 1

    I have a journaling iOS app that I've been working on for the last couple of years after learning to code. My 2023 goals include:

    1. Launching on Product Hunt in January. Will be sharing my prep & results, and would love your support! (PH Upcoming Page: http://bit.ly/3vl76Es).
    2. Hone in on target market (still uneasy about this 🫣)
    3. Optimize product positioning / ASO / Paid keywords
    4. Release two major feature requests from existing users
    5. Experiment with pricing
  80. 1

    My main goal is to add huge value to the developer community. There will be a lot of innovation in the coming years and I want to help developers benefit from it!

  81. 1

    I want to make my AI-powered essay generator app, http://essay.bar, profitable by the middle of 2023.

  82. 1

    To make my SaaS profitable before my graduation from the university in May

  83. 1

    Grow on Twitter and meet more people!

    Just started a Twitter and got 30 followers, but already spoke with so many interesting people!

  84. 1

    I want to fully dedicate myself to developing products to simply reach more people and give them the opportunity to build their skills, and rely less on individual services.

  85. 1

    I want to launch one end to end SaaS product with at least 1 paying customer.

  86. 1

    Finally get the income growing in a meaningful way...

  87. 1

    Continue this path. Growing the SaaS I launched in 2022 in terms of customers and features. And move my other on into a public beta.

    Overall keep a balanced live. Visit amazing places. Meet good people.

  88. 1

    Launch my Three products by Quarter year (End of march)
    Start making a considerable amount of Money via these projects
    Get some big ass clients for my Marketing/Design Agency

  89. 1
    1. Get deep users for our product: appflow.ai
    2. Start gaining profit
  90. 1
    1. Make $10,000 a month from www.unlimiteddesignz.com
    2. Get 10,000 subscribers for my newsletter www.foundrshub.com
  91. 1
    1. Get 10k followers on Twitter.
    2. Launch the product we have been working on.
    3. Be a part of the indie makers community.
  92. 1
    • Get 1000+ subscribers for my newsletter
    • Launch a new SaaS product
    • Build a community of indie makers
  93. 1

    1.Get 10,000 followers on LinkedIn, twitter, instagram and youtube
    2.Build six pack abs
    3. Help more people be aware about indie-making
    4. Supporting my parents from my income.

  94. 1

    I want to invest myself in a really good business idea. I already work as a senior software dev but would love to work on my "free time" in a project that really solves a problem/need that many people experience. I have thought about so many things but haven't made a decision as to what to select. Hopefully I can decide on one and start my 2023 tackling down that problem from a tech perspective.

  95. 1

    Here are mine:
    • Build better workflows to achieve similar tasks faster
    • Update and maintain my first app on the playstore for another 6 months (venu.arnavdewan.dev)
    • Build more apps and setup a decent passive income :)

  96. 1

    Improve my marketing skills and start selling my product. I don't have huge expectations on the income, any amount would make me happy.
    If I could cover hosting bills ($200 / month) from subscriptions, that would be awesome! Anything above that - super awesome!
    But most of all, keep learning about online businesses, marketing & selling. Coding I know already :)
    Similar to what @tjdowd said: keep learning and improving, even if you don't make money, you earn knowledge. Either way, you win!

  97. 1

    My goal is to find enjoyment in b2b marketing and get my product off the ground. Other than that, just want to focus on the full process of building a business instead of the coding and revenue part.

  98. 1

    This perfectly sums up what being an IH is like. Our goals can often be small and boring. It's these small tweaks and incremental progress that get us to where we want to be.

    For me: I want to keep growing my podcast. I'll be doing this by reaching out to more potential guests on social media. Currently, I contact between 5-10 people per week via Twitter, mainly, and I want to double this for the first quarter of 2023. I don't want to compromise on research though. I don't just contact people randomly. I take my time to research them, and this shouldn't be something that suffers. This means I need to create more time in my schedule. I'll do this by cutting out 2-3 hours of TV per week.

  99. 0

    I also struggled with relinquishing control in the beginning. You just have to find the right person. If you find someone who doesn't do the job properly then you are just confirming your own biases that 'if you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself'. Once, I found a good PA, it made a huge difference. And because she became involved in so many areas of the business, it was easy to pass on more work to her, so she really has saved me so much time over the years.

    2023 goals: Honestly, mine are more personal. Take more time off work to spend with family etc. It's one of the reasons we choose to work for ourselves, yet many of us end up working more hours than we did as an employee. I'm limiting my working hours to 30 pw in 2023.

  100. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

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