Another month flew by. Here's your @closettools September stats!

MRR: $13475.49 (+6.90%)
Organic: 4633 (+7.47%)
Trials: 237 (+21.54%)
New Customers: 146 (+5.0%)

If you're just getting started Indie-hacking, this thread is for you.

I'll tell you how to get here.

THREAD 🔥👇

Market 💹

The market you chose is the most important facet of your Indiehacker journey. It doesn't have to be the best market, it just has to be right for the thing you want to build.

Pick a market that is growing, has needs that are paid for, and has demand for your product.
Product 👚

Start with your MVP and iterate slowly and intentionally. Introduce features at a good clip, but don't sacrifice quality.

Do your testing. Ship excellence. Write your documentation. Design with the user in mind.

Your customers will trust you.
Ideas 💡

It's true, ideas are worth nothing. Execution is all that matters.

However, your product idea(s) should solve problems.

It should make your customers more money, save them time, or both.

Make things that give them more of what they care about.
Patience 🧘‍♂️

It has taken me 3 years to learn the skills I needed to make this product (business). And another 1.5 years to get the product to the revenue it's at now.

This is a long-term game. Build valuable skills. Put your head down and execute.
Marketing ✍

SEO is the best way for an Indiehacker to scale their time. Once SEO drives traffic, you can focus on product iteration, customer service, and other things that don't scale. SEO scales. Paid ads also scale.

Everything you can do to scale beyond yourself is a win.
Customers 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦

Not everyone is your customer. Be specific about your messaging. Attract the people you want.

Great customer service is hard to execute but pays dividends in the end.

Find out where they hang out (online) and meet them there.
Pricing 💳

Price high enough so that people who are cheap complain, and low enough so people who understand it's value think it's a steal.

This filters out bad customers.

Price high enough so you don't need 1 million customers to survive. You want more like 1000.
Journey 🗺

No two Indiehackers will have the same story.

You need to make the product that you were built to make.

You need to do it in the way that sits right with you.

You call the shots. Make something you're proud of. Do your best work.
Conviction 💖

It's good to have a chip on your shoulder.

Why are you doing this? What is driving you? What makes you get out of bed every morning to work on this?

Figure it out. Nail it. Remind yourself daily.

I had $200k in debt. I'm destroying it. Changing my family tree.
Productivity 👷‍♀️

Productivity is about eliminating distractions (people, places, things) that keep you from doing the work you need to do.

Turn everything off. Get into a flow state. Work your face off for a few hours every day.

Consistent work will product great wealth.
Health 🥗

If you're not healthy, you can't work. If you can't work, you won't be able to achieve your goals and dreams.

Get 8 hours of sleep.

Don't over-consume food.

Get up and walk every few hours.

Simple healthy actions will take you far in life.
Growth 📈

Consistent action over the long-term is what drives growth.

It's not a single feature. It's not a marketing plan. It's not a growth hack.

It's the actions you do everyday that determines whether or not the thing you're building grows.
Document 📃

Write down your journey. Talk about the things that happen to you. Leave a trace.

This will help you reflect and move forward successfully.

It's not about the fame. It's not about growing an audience.

If no one writes down your story, who will?
Communication 📣

Communicate to your family and friends clear expectations around the thing you are doing.

Say no to things that don't line up with your vision.

Talk to your customers, often. Listen to what they really need, not just what they say.
Generosity 🎁

Your product should help people. Your marketing should help people. Your feedback should help people. Your comments should help people.

Make your life about helping people, and you'll get your reward. Be patient and think about others first.
Value 💲

The person who provides the most value and obtains the most responsibility gets paid the most.

Everything is a value exchange.

The more value you provide, the more you can extract. Give a lot, ask a little. They'll keep coming back for more
Economics 💱

Every single day trillions of dollars are transacted in the world.

Luckily, you don't need trillions of dollars to live.

There's more than enough money out there. Build something valuable and people will pay you for it.

There's no upper limit.
Niches ✨

Find a group of people who resonate with a common want or need. Solve their problem successfully, and you have yourself some customers.

People in communities talk. WOM is powerful. Provide the best experience, and serve your niche. People will love you and pay you.

More from Jordan O'Connor

More from Startups

.@zapier built a $140M ARR business on $1.4M in VC that has become the logic layer of the no-code industry.

But it has the potential to be something even bigger: the Netflix of productivity.

Our report and a thread 👉

We believe @seqouia and @steadfast got a good deal buying into Zapier at $5B.

We value Zapier at $7B based on:

- 30-50% YoY growth over the next five years
- Zapier’s monopoly status in the solopreneur/SMB market
- 30-40% YoY growth of no-code TAM

No-code is huge and growing, but as @edavidpeterson has written, no-code is about more than tools: it’s about a philosophy that emphasizes interoperability and customizing your software to your needs.

https://t.co/UJY6BRtXwl


.@zapier enabled interoperability by building a solution to one of the intractable problems in SaaS: APIs that don’t talk to each other.

The product took off and hit $100M ARR in just 9 years, comparable to companies that have raised 100x as much money.

https://t.co/0Thk42eRpJ


Zapier was riding an explosion in APIs that started the same year they were founded—2011.

Suddenly, every SaaS business wanted to offer its users extensibility, but not spend time figuring out what integrations to build or building them.

That’s where Zapier came in handy.
From day 1, I intended to build @shoutoutso_ in public, and part of it is to be transparent with numbers, talk openly about our highs and lows, and share lessons as we grow!

I have been doing individual posts on numbers every week so wanted to one big thread with all updates 👇🏽

Week


Week


Week


Week
I gathered the best design tools for startups.

Save 100+ hours researching.

A thread 🧵👇️

1.
https://t.co/JuO4PMIkK6

Checklist Design is a collection of best UI and UX practices to provide a complete, honest and rewarding experience for your users.

Price: Free

{ 1 / 12 }

2. https://t.co/pBbmgt6ITD

Coolors is a super fast color schemes generator for designers. Create, save and share perfect palettes in seconds!

Price: Free

{ 2 / 12 }

3. https://t.co/GYboviE1yX

Blush makes it easy for anyone to add stunning illustrations to their work with a huge collection of designs from artists around globe.

Price: Free + Paid

{ 3 / 12 }

4. https://t.co/eLsLkLAyNm

Feather is a collection of simply beautiful open source icons. Each icon is designed on a 24x24 grid with an emphasis on simplicity, consistency and readability.

Price: Free

{ 4 / 12 }

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