Episode 659 | Indie Hackers' Newfound Independence + The SaaS Playbook with Courtland and Channing
In episode 659, Rob Walling speaks with Courtland Allen and Channing Allen, the co-founders of Indie Hackers, to talk about their newfound independence since they are no longer owned by Stripe.
For the first half of the episode, they turn the tables and interview Rob about his new book, The SaaS Playbook.
They also share a bunch of theories about entrepreneurship and investing.
Topics we cover:
4:46 - About Rob’s new book - The SaaS Playbook
6:47 - Why did Rob hire a writing coach?
12:35 - Rob’s decision to launch a Kickstarter for his book
20:39- Rob’s thought process for what to include in his book
28:31 - Startup positioning
31:07 - Founder mindset
35:51 - Is it possible to find a business idea that both makes money and aligns with the things you enjoy doing?
42:38 - What motivates Rob these days?
48:18 - Courtland and Channing’s approach to going indie again with Indie Hackers
53:46 - Did Courtland and Channing have hesitations about going independent again?
57:44 - What does Rob want to see Courtland and Channing do next?
1:01:07 - Indie hackers investing in other indie hackers
Links from the Show:
Courtland Allen (@csallen) I Twitter
Channing Allen (@channingallen) I Twitter
Indie Hackers
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
The War of Art
Lifting the Veil: The Data Behind Successful Product Launches - Ryan Delk - MicroConf 2014
MicroConf Upcoming Events
MicroConf Mastermind Matching
MicroConf Youtube Channel
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you.
Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
Episode 588 | In Which Courtland Allen and I Cover a Lot of Startups Topics
In Episode 588, Rob Walling chats with Courtland Allen about a wide range of bootstrapper and indie hacker topics including the struggles with motivation/depression, bootstrapping today, fighting the urge to quit, and frameworks for getting your first dollar.
The topics we cover
[3:43] Hiring a podcast producer
[6:21] Letting go in business
[7:09] Invite-only experiment on Indie Hackers
[16:03] Thinking about the future
[20:47] Financial freedom and starting a business
[25:05] Depression as a founder and rediscovering purpose
[37:10] Fighting the urge to quit
[41:10] Getting your first dollar
[52:35] The bootstrapper scene in 2010 and the relevance of bootstrapping
Links from the show
Rob Walling on Twitter
The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life
Courtland Allen (@csallen) | Twitter
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!
Also, if you haven't seen, applications are open for TinySeed's Spring 2022 programs. TinySeed is a year-long remote accelerator program is designed to help founders with a revenue-generating SaaS optimize product-market fit and grow faster. Read about the program and how to apply here.
Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
“Early-stage startups we love right now” with Indie Hackers’ Courtland Allen & Pioneer’s Daniel Gross | E1162
Angel investor Jason Calacanis (Uber, Calm, Robinhood) interviews the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors and innovators. Get an insider’s look into venture capital, learn how to start and scale your own startup, and ride the cutting edge of technology in today's headlines and beyond.
Special: Acquired x Indie Hackers
As regular listeners know, we typically cover some of the biggest companies who often receive the most media attention (see Airbnb and DoorDash). But today's episode is a little different. In our conversation with Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers, the largest community of startup founders, we dive into the stories of underdogs. What happens when there are millions of people doing small business entrepreneurship? How does anyone having access to the globally addressable market of 3 billion internet users open the door for the niche-est of products? We tell the story of Courtland’s own “Indie Hacker” journey, how he came to found Indie Hackers itself, and the lessons learned along the way.
Sponsors:
Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
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WorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedPlaying Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK)
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26
More Acquired!
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Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-acquired-x-indie-hackers
Links:
Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com
Episode 527 | From Agency to SaaS, Equity Splits, and More Listener Questions with Courtland Allen
In today's episode, Rob is joined by Courtland Allen as they answer listener questions. They talk about equity splits, the best cities for bootstrappers, splitting brands, and where to look for business ideas.
The topics we cover
[2:03] Splitting brands between agency and SaaS
[10:55] What percent equity split when co-founding an app
[18:52] Where to look for ideas
[31:02] Best city for bootstrappers
Links from the show
From $0 to $5M Without Writing Any Code with Tara Reed of Apps Without Code
Bootstrapping to $1 Million in Two Years as a Non-Technical Founder with Christy Laurence of Plann
Cities and Ambition
Tropical MBA podcast
If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.
Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!
Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
E1143: Indie Hackers Founder Courtland Allen is creating a community for the next generation of builders to chase the “new American Dream”
Check out Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com
FOLLOW Courtland: https://twitter.com/csallen
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
What not to do as a maker with Courtland Allen
On this episode Abadesi talks to Courtland Allen. He is a super talented designer and developer. In 2016 he founded Indie Hackers, an awesome community of bootstrappers and makers sharing their stories. Nine months later Stripe acquired the company. Courtland is also a Y Combinator alumnus and an MIT graduate with a degree in Computer Science. In this episode they talk about how to avoid making the most common maker mistakes.
They discuss...
How and why Courtland became an Indie Hacker
“I spent a while following the traditional startup route. I started a startup, I got into Y Combinator, we raised money, but we never really had a business model. Eventually we did charge money for our product, and a couple hundred people signed up right off the bat. I was enchanted by this idea that I don't have to raise money from investors, I don't have to hope that there's some sort of exit opportunity in the future, I could build something and put a price tag on it and sell it to people directly and feasibly pay my rent.”
Courtland explains his path to becoming a self-sufficient bootstrapper. He got his start in the very early days of indie hacking, even before Stripe had launched. He says that it was the Stripe beta that allowed him to go independent.
How to figure out whether you have a good idea on your hands
“A lot of people think a business is an invention. But an invention needs to be this entirely novel thing. A business is more of a process. It doesn’t need to be completely unique. A lot of people get frustrated and blocked by their inability to come up with something that’s completely novel. The number one thing you should do is not put that constraint on yourself.”
He explains how to “sanity check” your idea and runs through the common mistakes he sees people making when they are validating their ideas.
Finding beta testers for your product and what to avoid when bootstrapping
“You’re trying to from no one using your app to five or ten people. You can easily do that. Talk to five relatives or five friends or coworkers. Go online and find people who you think would be good users of your product and send them a heartfelt personalized email. A lot of founders I have talked to have done this non-scalable approach at the beginning.”
Courtland explains why, as a one-person operation, you shouldn’t be copying what big, successful companies are doing. He says that a landing page is not a good way to test your product and instead recommends that you go the old-fashioned route and talk to people about it.
“These companies are doing things that you can’t do, and that you probably shouldn’t do. You’re much smaller. You wouldn’t go to the gym and try to bench press five hundred pounds because the biggest guy in the gym is doing that. One of the most troubling things for early Indie Hackers is the most obvious examples to copy are these big companies who are the worst people to copy.”
How to know whether to go full-time on your idea once demand picks up
“The barometer I use is: Do I like the customers I’m serving? Are the people who are paying for what I’m building people I would want to talk to and be friends with and hang out with? Because that’s what you’re probably going to be doing for the next few years, so you probably don’t want to quit your job and go full-time into something you don’t like working on.”
He provides some excellent advice on launching, dealing with the ups-and-downs of being a maker, and once you’ve made it to a place where you’re getting some traction, how to figure out whether to quit your day job and go full-steam ahead on your side project. He says that he saved up a year’s rent before going full-time on his idea and points out that even when you are full-time on your project, there will always be more to do than you can manage.
We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Companies and Products Mentioned In This Episode
Flippa — The #1 place to buy and sell websites, domains and apps.
Notion — The all-in-one workspace - notes, tasks, wikis, & databases.
Side Hustles with Courtland Allen from Indie Hackers
In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk all about side hustles with special guest Courtland Allen, from Indie Hackers! They talk about the story behind Indie Hackers, how to start your own side hustle, where to find ideas, listener questions, and more.
LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at LogRocket.
Freshbooks - Sponsor Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at Freshbooks and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section.
Show Notes 1:05 - What’s the back story behind Indie Hackers?
5:30 - What is a side hustle?
11:21 - How do you validate your idea?
13:15 - What are some different types of side hustles?
31:55 - What about people who don’t like marketing?
33:57 - What are some important pieces of side hustles?
39:04 - How do you sell a business?
42:40 - Listener Questions:
Q: How do you stop the side hustle from affecting your main job in regards to things like overtime, sleep and commitment?
Q: Should you frame yourself as a one-man-band or as a company?
Q: Have you heard stories of people living in cheap places, making bank? Are there any white whales you have been chasing to interview?
Links Carrd
Balsamiq Mockups
Flickity
Nomad List
Evan You
Evan You Patreon
Park.io
Making $125,000 a Month as a Solo Founder with Mike Carson of Park.io
Patreon
Drift
Stripe
××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Courtland: Post-it Notes and Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
Scott: Akimbo
Wes: Elastic Wallet
Shameless Plugs Courtland: IndieHackers Podcast
Scott: Animating React
Wes: CSS Grid Course
Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram
LevelUpTutorials Instagram
Wes’ Instagram
Wes’ Twitter
Wes’ Facebook
Scott’s Twitter
Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets
VC vs. bootstrapping and how to build big things with a small team
Today I'm visiting Stripe's office in San Francisco to chat with Patrick Collison and Courtland Allen, shortly after they announced their latest round of funding, valuing the company at a whopping $20B.
Patrick Collison is the CEO and co-founder of Stripe, an ambitious company aiming to increase the GDP of the internet. The now 1,300 person company was started in 2010 by Patrick and his brother, John Collison, at the age of 23 and 21, respectively. While young, this isn't their first startup. Prior to founding Stripe, Patrick and his brother started and sold Auctomatic for $5M in 2008.
Courtland Allen is a super talented designer and developer. In 2016 he founded Indie Hackers, an awesome community of bootstrappers and makers sharing their stories. Nine months later Stripe acquired the company. Courtland is also a Y Combinator alumnus and an MIT graduate with a degree in Computer Science.
In this episode we talk about:
Who Patrick and Courtland's role models were when they were building their businesses, and how the right role models today can help build a more inclusive tech ecosystem.
The influence of Indie Hackers on Stripe and why even with the great tech for online communication today, some of the best interactions between its community members happen at meetups.
If there's too much or too little funding in tech and how the investor-founder dynamic changes when you move outside of Silicon Valley.
Why Stripe started a book publishing business (in 2018) and the reading habits of Patrick, Courtland, and others at Stripe.
We of course also talk about some of their favorite products including a product to tell you how you sleep, helpful tools for building your next app, and some “oldies-but-goodies” that you might have forgotten about.
We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to our sponsors, Airtable, GE Ventures, Intercom and Stripe for their support. 😸
Quotes from This Episode
“How do we help increase the number of successful companies that get started in the world? The number of companies that get started is not some sort of cosmological constant, and if it can be increased then I think it's incredibly valuable to go and do that.” — Patrick
“Indie Hackers the movement wouldn’t have been as possible ten years ago, because there's so much more knowledge being exchanged now and so many more tools to help you build things — it's just easier to do with a small team than it ever has been.” — Courtland
“People are subject to extremely strong Girardian herd effects, so I don’t think investors are unique in this regard — they index on this popular conception of things. I think startups outside of the popular hubs are less popular than they ought to be and that people update too slowly based on changing trends.” — Patrick
“There should be more funding in the world, but more spread out and distributed more evenly.” — Courtland
“It all comes back to this idea of, 'how do we grow the GDP of the internet?'” — Patrick
Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode
Airtable — Realtime spreadsheet-database hybrid.
Firebase — App success made simple by Google.
JUMP — Electrified, dockless bike rentals.
Emfit — Contactless sleep sensing solutions.
Pocket — Save and read news, articles and videos that fuel your mind.
Retool — Build custom internal tools in minutes.
Uber — Get a ride in minutes.
WhatsApp — Fast, cross-platform messenger.
Yelp — Crowd-sourced reviews for local businesses.
S5:E7 - What's an Indie Hacker? (Courtland Allen)
Courtland Allen has built up a community of Indie Hackers, people who want to make money by selling products they build themselves. But how do you become an Indie Hacker? And how good of a coder do you need to be to become an Indie Hacker full time? Courtland shares lessons he's gathered over the years on what it takes to live off of your own product and how you can do it too. He also gives us his take on some popular tech business topics.
Show Links
Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor)
MicroConf
Indie Hackers
Indie Hackers Podcast
Making $125,000 a Month as a Solo Founder with Mike Carson of Park.io (podcast episode)
Codeland Conf
Codeland 2019
Courtland Allen
Courtland Allen is a software engineer, designer, podcast host, MIT graduate, and Y Combinator alum. In 2016, he created IndieHackers.com, a community of developers who've come together to help each other build successful businesses.
