Indie hackers selling to other indie hackers is a good thing
Hear me out.
Imagine in a parallel universe where indie hackers aren't selling to other indie hackers.
How would it look like?
Do we receive less cold outreach? Probably not.
Do people post less insight porn? I don't think so.
Do we have good discussions here between indie hackers, or it would be filled with marketing content from "outsiders"? Likely the latter because "they" targeting us (whoever "they" are)
I agree it's tiring to see some Twitter accounts that take "building an audience" to the extreme... but it's all about the people who doing it badly. It's not because of the community as a whole.
If anything, I wish more indie hackers building products for other indie hackers. Just make sure those products solve real problems.
The end result is a world where us indie hackers have access to more solutions, and probably at a better price. What not to love?
What is your opinion? Let us know in the comments :-)
Honestly, the entire conversation I've seen around this topic lately is silly. People create products to help various segments. Any product designed to help a business (with marketing, sales cycles, organization, etc.) would naturally apply to IHers since they have businesses.
Not sure why that's even remotely controversial.
Totally agree on this.
There's a place for "all" types of messages. Some people need the encouragement to do something, others need help with reaching the next step in their evolution. When you limit the info, you limit the opportunity to help - which is kind of the point of a "community".
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"just make sure those products solve real problems." -- That is when selling becomes helping and we do need more of that I think.
I am new to this community but have been hacking my way through freelancing and other businesses since 2013.
Hated sales for years because I told myself I sucked at it - but I love helping others. In the end, if you're selling something that's not helpful you won't have a business for long.
Selling to other members in your community, no matter if that's indie hackers, in the WordPress space (where I come from) or anywhere else isn't the problem.
Selling stuff that doesn't work, is.
Appreciate your perspective on making the world a better place by building more useful stuff!
This is really what it is all about. Agreed, Jan.
Can I sell you my screenshot API? Jokes aside.
That’s what I think: "I agree with you and understand your point. I think many people who have been for enough time in that bubble do understand the rules of the game.
Perceive it as a sandbox for entrepreneurs like real ones for kids. Or call it creator economy. There is no wrong or right. It doesn't matter if people don't cheat, don't scam, and don't steal. I mean, until it is not a real Ponzi scheme, who cares?
I wouldn't say it is a closed system. Selling to other indie hackers is B2B. Some sell only inside "the bubble," and some sell outside of "the bubble".
You build a Twitter tool that helps a person to develop and manage an audience in his area of expertise, and that area might be outside of "the indie bubble". That's how the bubble sucks money from the outside.
By the way, isn't the overall economy a Ponzi scheme on a grander scale? I believe you can find such bubbles in many industries, including the overall economy.
We are just monkeys exchanging products and services with printed money by governments.
While your post is good and helped me to perceive the industry from one additional angle, life is too short. So, let's build a screenshot editing app!"
I like the 'Sandbox for entrepreneur' Dmytro! As long as, IHers know that selling to that audience is the easier mode of the game. I think He/she will be less disappointed if things don't go the his/her way.
Love this part as well: "We are just monkeys exchanging products and services with printed money by governments."
One way to look at it is the IH community as beta testers and early-stage donators. Purchases from hackers help but don't predict the success of the product, as they aren't evidence of real demand.
cool did not know about it. not gonna need right now but i'm saving it
Not alot of argument here. IH'ers are also people, they need products to become successful.
Please subscribe to birdy.so
Birdy looks cool! I see you have a lot of other projects too - how has the experience been?
I'm sold :D
There is too much "Do this and don't do that" in the Indie world. Do marketing, don't build product, etc. and a bunch of other stuff
Most of it comes from a good place, but the #1 rule of entrepreneurship is that there is no rule. You define what works for you
Of course you can make money selling to indie hackers. You would just have to find a problem that appeals to many of them since they're willing to pay less (not too diff from say selling to Shopify store owners)
I hope it's still OK, since the service I'm working on is specifically targeted at people starting new companies or products.
Specifically, helping people create names for their new venture. I've looked at the existing tools, and they range from pathetic to only lukewarm at best.
I'm trying to combine my background in machine learning, and my old degree in cognitive science (with a dash of linguistics) to create some really novel approaches to coining new names. AND...it doesn't work well enough yet.
But if I ever do get something working, I'll probably run it by the community here for feedback. At least I know there's a hefty barrier to entry at this point.
Love this, Daniel. I did not even plan to create https://geeksandexperts.com/ for indie hackers initially. It just turns out that a lot of interest is coming from this community because need-based advice via micro-consulting gigs is a quick way to get the help you need without breaking the bank!
I agree, people helping people by building tools to make each others lives easier isn't a bad thing in my opinion.
That's the main reason I'm building madepublic.io - building in public isn't as easy as it should be. I see no negative for this sort of tool-space and don't understand the controversy I've seen on here lately.
Made public looks cool, Chris. How can I get https://geeksandexperts.com/ featured? Is there an application process and do you charge for expedite features?
I’m actually currently building that process! I’ll send you a message when it’s ready with a discount code!
IH is great to get early feedback and early customers. The IH community actually has a quite wide spectrum of products if you segment it by MRR. So it is a great place to start if you build B2C or dev tools. Probably there are other categories as well
Makes sense and for sure early feedback is so crucial and it's more or less easier to do outreach to such an engaged community.
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Right. I think that’s the problem of a community when it gets bigger.
People who have “made it” are too busy with their businesses that they rarely post. Which left the place filled with noobs and “gurus”.
I saw this happened to a lot of other communities (look at /r/entrepreneurs and /r/realentrepreneur)
I’m not sure what could be the solution to all this though.
Not sure if there is a solution. I've "made it" in the sense that I'm now full time living my indie hacker dream, and I've not been on here for months. Today I had a serious case of the Fridays so I got on and participated, posted several things, but I will probably disappear again for another stretch.
There isn't another community I'm in. I'm just busy running my business.
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Yeah. I tend to agree with you. Twitter is a social network and it’s influenced a lot by the algorithm. And indeed it could be just a popularity game.
Someone can game it and gain a lot of followers, using every tricks they can find.
But there are also other accounts that are genuinely having some fun on Twitter and maybe, got some rewards out of it as a result.
At least, that is what I see from my bubble.
This comment was deleted a year ago.