Bootstrapping to $8k/Month Revenue & Interviewing 500+ Founders (Courtland Allen, Indie Hackers)
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
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Courtland Allen is a software engineer, designer, MIT grad, Y Combinator alum, and the founder of Indie Hackers (indiehackers.com), a community of tech entrepreneurs. In this interview, he explains how he bootstrapped Indie Hackers to $8k/month revenue before selling the company to Stripe in 2017, and what he's learned from interviewing over 500 startup founders.
Links:
15:04 - Courtland's podcast episode with Dave DeSandro of Metafizzy (indiehackers.com/podcast/022-...)
18:22 - Indie Hackers Start Here page (indiehackers.com/start)
First 500 signups get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium letsgoooo: skl.sh/willkwan2
First reply
second reply
how does this say 11 hours ago even though this video only released 10 minutes ago
@@inexplicabro true, how?
He really is heir to Techlead's throne..
He interviewed a guy who interviewed 500+ founders... So I interviewed him
To infinity and beyond!
Recursion!!!
Wow. This guy even graduated from MIT and has more than 8 years exp building things. he is so cool
That's so epic you got an interview with him! I literally just finished listening to an interview he did with another indie hacker a few hours ago!
Great content, Will! Thank you
indiehackers looks great! Thanks for doing this interview, its really informative
will, this is absolutely excellent content. inspiring even. more please!
Incredible value in this talk! Subscribed.
Great interview, keep this format!
OMG. Finally! This is the community I've been looking for for months....this is incredible.
Independence >>>>> Anything else.
These guys got it down. They have such valuable skills that they can willfully walk away from a 9-5, set their own market value, create, and not have to worry about some incompetent dweeb dictating their time. Massive respect and great interview
One of the best interviews
I want indie hackers podcast on CZcams!
Discovered indiehackers.com a couple of months ago. I'm on it everyday now! Nice interview Will and Courtland!
It's one of my fav go-to platforms!!!
I've only just heard of it but I'm interested... Could you answer: What do you actually DO on there every day? Is it productive, skill-increasing learning? Or.. more like a reddit/entertainment/time-waster...?
@@ausroy087 I actually download the podcasts and listen to it on my drive to work. I also follow people trying to develop solutions just like I am doing. Always good to know what everyone else is doing in the field... my product there: indiehackers.com/product/sleeker-pro
Dope content, really inspiring stuff
Great interview guys 👍
The fact that he actually gives practical advice on how he made his money means so much!
This channel is going to be huge.
Courtland Allen is just a legend !! Kudos !!
Cool. Hearing the story of IH was great.
Awesome video
that taskForce chrome extension idea sounds like a solid plan, he could follow through and start his own podcast.
You have a great channel bro
Only 6200 views after 7 days? People cannot seem to find the most valuable videos...
Invitation code please
9:40 sound familiar.
Thank you for the video.
3:15 so he works for stripe after working on his own venture
He got paid.
You'd do a 9to5 if I offered you VP money after university
Great view!
Plz.. At least two or three videos per week Your channel and you is inspiration to Youth
Guys please don't skip ads! Please! Lets help this channel grow and watch him teach lesson those noob publishers who rejected his apps and all the losers who tried to bring him down!
I was just browsing (procrastinating)... and a found this video who sumireses my last thoughts. "I dont wanna work for eneyone" and so on. Its so incredible when you think only you had that though and you see a other people thinking like you.
Sorry for my english :)
Good stuff. Not the regular click bait snake oil marketing thing. Thank you!
CZcams's automatic translation made bootstrappers, a "Beach Rappers" 😂 Goooood.
24:28 Me too 😅 it was very stressfull, don't quit your dayjob guys, unless you have huga savings
what is the song track at 8:24 ?
28:50 optimism and doggedness
37:07 you don’t have to be all that original
for now, I'm always find the new way for earn money, but is very hard to accept dont have monthly payment. I never want as a boss, I hate this feeling
nice!!!
One can learn the interview preparation for data science roles #MLAICommunity
Hey Brother. I would love to suggest someone for your podcast
I feel like he sold to early.
Definitely sold too early. He sold it right before the gig economy and micro services boom. Still a savage dude.
I wish Courtland shared what was on his rubric.
Covered some of the same ground in a longer form Q&A w/ Courtland at the Indie Worldwide meetup if anyone is interested here's the recording: czcams.com/video/om9O4ylCBKM/video.html
Hey! What video software did you use?
To record the podcast? Zoom?
Skype has a recording feature. But my webcam sucks so I just cut together the recordings from both ends so I could use my regular camera.
Not usually early. But here I am
Kwan you madman, your dead eyes consume my soul
What is bootstrapping?
Will, did the founder of Indie Hackers use WordPress to create the site?
Ember.js
So you guys never heard of Steve Blank, Osterwalder or Rise?
Rise who?
didnt even know Indiehackers was thing
You are making video on 14th Feb...🙂
Just saying
😤
@@willkwan It is worth it though...nice video 👌
I can't code but I have creative and unique ideas which I think Developers lack. I can prototype and entire Idea. I just need someone to make it work. It should be a website for this where people can become cofounders or something.
Whats the minimum intelligence I need to indie hack?
In short: You just need to be able to build a product which people want to use and pay for.
Watch a lot of Y Combinator videos czcams.com/channels/cefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg.html and listen to as many Indie Hackers podcasts as possible (you can read them as well if that suits you better). This way you gradually build up a good glimpse on how it all works.
Start with a proven idea where you know for sure that the market is there, it is already validated. You need is to be 10x better than your competitors in at lease one important aspect of the product. Ideally in something which is not quick/easy to copy afterwards. Then you can gain market share on and existing market.
@@ViktorFerenczi a
Someone disliked this? I’m actually mad.
They were so excited, and pressed dislike by mistake
This guy has massive bookshelf at the back... this must mean he has lots of NAAAAWLIDGE!!!! Listen to this man!!! Move over TAI LOPEZ!!!
😂😂
Here in my living room....
You haven't seen a massive bookshelf yet 😂
There are a lot of fake stories on Indie Hackers site. People pretending to be making a lot of money when they are not. Also when people are honest the amounts they make are really poor.
you seem so weird when talking, hyped but at the same time so awkward, though indiehackers is awesome something i must admit. i found lots of ideas there, have plans to start trying to build something this year, perhaps summer. idk yet. im still in highschool so its kinda more worth for me if i can just find a remote job and start saving money.
So, All internet-related people have change their way to youtube as youtuber? the world has carzy. I'm a designer, i was consider for adobe software tutorial as a pro teacher. because my boss has fire me
The only reason he was able to sell IndieHackers was because of the YCombinator alumni factor. Stripe owners and Courtland all come from that select group.
"I was doubling my money every month so I sold the company after month 4!" did this guy fail math?
Well we don't know how much he sold it for.
The irony is he created his own projects because he didn't want to work for a company with a salary, but now he sold IndieHackers he works for Stripe for a Salary 🤣
You don't know how much higher his current salary is than the advertising revenue of Indie Hackers was when he sold the company to Stripe ($8k/month). He must have got a good amount in cash when the deal closed. I bet he invested it wisely and now raping dividends enough to leave just on that alone. Also, he does not have to convince anyone to pay for advertisements anymore, thus can work solely on the interviews which may be a better life style for him.
He took the time to get it right for himself first.
Hey anyone here uses indie hacker?
Why is he bold?
Fortune favours the bold!
@@xiemeon2268 Haha 😄👌
He sold it to stripe and is still working for them on the same project? That was a huge mistake lmao. He should have just kept independence. He would have made way more money with way more freedom. Unless he was paid an inordinate amount of money for the acquisition, it was the wrong move.
First Comment :)
why did he sold indiehackers making 8k revenue? Is the whole point not to work for yourself?
It is estimated he sold it between 500k - 1M, now you could argue yes the point is to work for yourself. Though that money and now working for stripe running indiehackers, he probably gets a six figure salary. Also he travels for free etc, cause of the start ups. so he technically runs indiehackers, gets his salary, and whenever he needs to go somewhere or travel, stripe covers that for him. You can say he works for stripe, but runs indiehackers. so its pretty stable. its like he is the CEO of indiehackers, but still gets so much covered from stripe. he is living a dream life technically :P
3rd comment!
what's the point of starting indie hackers and selling it to Stripe. I know you have made millions after acquisition. but isn't it defeated the whole purpose of financial independence, working for myself and bla bla bla
AMERICANS CANT SAY NICHE
who could have guess indie hacers was built by a black guy.I dont mean it in a racial way.
why does his skin tone matters?
It’s inspiring for a fellow black person