Quitting his job and taking a £20k loan to go full time indie - Harvey Carpenter, Growform
Nov 22, 2023
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Harvey Carpenter, founder of Growform, talks about quitting his job and taking a £20k loan to pursue his indie business. He shares the benefits of picking a niche and growth tactics. He also discusses his future goals and the importance of taking recreation seriously for mental well-being.
Finding a niche and building a tailored product is crucial for success in a competitive market.
Balancing work-life and mental health is essential for preventing burnout and maintaining long-term sustainability as an indie hacker.
Deep dives
Starting a journey as an indie hacker
The podcast episode follows the story of Harvey Carpenter, the founder of GrowForm, a form builder company. Harvey shares his background in side projects and entrepreneurial ventures from a young age. He discusses his decision to quit his job as a product manager and invest in his startup, even taking out a loan meant for his wedding. The episode emphasizes the importance of finding a niche and building a product specifically tailored to that market. Harvey also shares his growth strategies, including using Google ads to acquire initial customers and the significance of taking the time to build a product properly.
The journey of building GrowForm
Harvey recalls the early days of GrowForm, where he began by building a form for his wife's floristry business. Seeing the success and improved conversion rates, he realized the potential value for other businesses. He explains how GrowForm differentiates itself from other form builder options, focusing specifically on lead generation and providing a visually appealing user experience. Harvey highlights the importance of understanding your niche market and building a product that caters to their specific needs. He encourages indie hackers to take a framework approach, selecting a familiar industry and solving a problem within an established software category.
The growth vision for GrowForm
While Harvey aims to grow GrowForm in a sustainable and calm manner, he acknowledges that he doesn't aspire to build a large company with hundreds of employees and investors. Balancing work-life and mental health is important to him, as he prioritizes activities like playing tennis and visiting spas. Harvey shares his belief that taking care of one's well-being is crucial for preventing burnout. He concludes the episode by recommending a book, 'The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together' by Sherry Walling, a podcast, 'The Diary of a CEO,' and an indie hacker, Jack Bridger of Scaling Dev Tools.
Harvey Carpenter is the founder of Growform, a form builder which is now around 7K MRR. It's a mixture of enterprise and some other clients, and he's tackling a product in a market that is extremely competitive and crowded, but he's trying to carve out his own little slice of that market.
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