How 150 personal emails sparked a community of 60,000 entrepreneurs 💻Courtland Allen, Founder of Indie Hackers

Today we're talking to Courtland Allen, the founder of Indie Hackers, a primarily online community for independent entrepreneurs. By “independent” I mean these are people who are building businesses that make their money from customers. (They're not backed by investors.)

What started as 150 personal emails to Courtland's friends and some strangers has grown today to a community of more than 60,000 entrepreneurs.

These people come together on Indie Hackers to share valuable stories and insights, or tap each others inspiration and advice. Sometimes, they get together in person too. Last month there were 55 Indie Hacker meetups all around the world.

We sat down to talk to Courtland about getting his community off the ground, why they are open and explicit about revenue numbers with one another, and how he's approached building a business with Indie Hackers.

🔥 Check out our book Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People 📙

Get Together is a podcast about the nuts and bolts of community building. Hosts Bailey Richardson and Kevin Huynh of People & Company ask organizers who have built exceptional communities about just how they did it. How did they get the first people to show up? How did they grow to thousands more members?

If you want to get involved with Indie Hackers, whether it's sharing your story, joining a meetup in your area, or tuning into their podcast, just go to Courtland's beautiful website https://www.indiehackers.com/. They also have a rad Instagram account where they spotlight members of their community - you can check that out @indie_hackers. Or follow the brilliant Courtland Allen on Twitter: @csallen