Indie Bites

Jonathan Bull and Tom Evans from EmailOctopus, a bootstrapped email platform, share their journey to over $3m ARR. They discuss losing 99% of their users, competing on price in a crowded market, and their commitment to staying bootstrapped. They also explore their decision to launch for free, improving customer service, differentiating their product, and the urge to build and tinker as developers.

Justin Jackson, co-founder of Transistor, MegaMaker and more, joins the show to discuss building a financial engine for indie businesses. They cover managing finances, building profitability, challenges faced when things don't go well, and practical tips for success.

Rob Walling, a veteran entrepreneur in the bootstrapping and indie scene, discusses his journey in the industry and the importance of building great businesses. He reflects on his decision to stop pursuing SaaS projects, shares insights on the audience-first approach, and provides recommendations for books, podcasts, and founders to follow.

Aaron Francis, an Educator at Planet Scale and founder of Screencasting.com, discusses his journey in audience building and making difficult decisions. He shares insights on learning through books, the benefits of different content mediums, and the challenges of balancing multiple projects. Aaron also reflects on leaving his long-term partnership with the Hammerstone project and launching Screencasting.com, discussing the success of the launch and future plans.

Andy Cloke, founder of Data Fetcher, discusses how he grew his API plugin for Airtable to $20k MRR. Topics include investing in new marketing channels, YouTube strategy, launching another product, hiring and reinvesting, and the future of Data Fetcher.

Today I’m joined by Andrew Kamphey, who is the founder of Better Sheets, a platform of tools and tutorials to get better at using Google Sheets, that has done well over $200k in revenue since he launched in 2020. He started out working as a tech on cruise ships, before moving to LA to work in the film industry, which is where he gained all of his Google Sheets prowess. From here he’s had a meandering life journey, working while travelling South East Asia, starting and selling an influencer newsletter, writing a book about charging and even launching a SaaS. Andrew has had his finger in piece of the indie hacking pie and has now settled on being the Google Sheets guy. At least for now.Timestamps00:00 - Intro02:08 - Failing to go full time04:13 - Selling Influence Weekly06:26 - Starting BetterSheets09:32 - Turning Better Sheets into a full time income11:53 - Reluctancy to become the "Google Sheets Guy"13:37 - RecommendationsRecommendationsBook: Lying for MoneyPodcast: The Deep LifeIndie Hacker: Jon Yongfook, Danny Postma, James & DanielleFollow AndrewTwitterMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Jonny White, Founder of Ticket Tailor, sold and repurchased the company, bootstrapped it to profitability and beyond. They discuss starting Ticket Tailor, early marketing efforts, building a lifestyle business, growing the company, adapting to COVID, and finding purpose and motivation in business growth.

Ryan Gilbert is the creator of the Workspaces newsletter, which showcases the best workspaces in tech and beyond. He grew it to 6,000 subscribers and $2k per month with sponsors + affiliates, before being acquired by Loops (Founder Chris Frantz was on episode 61) and going on to be their first employee. In this episode we talk about how simplicity has been so important for growth of the newsletter, how he makes it appealing for guests to share and his reasoning for selling at such an early stage.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:26 Life before Workspaces03:37 Did you have any side projects before workspaces?04:47 Growth of the Workspaces newsletter06:40 How long did each edition take?07:45 The best workspaces08:25 Monetizing the newsletter10:22 Selling the newsletter13:08 Imposter syndrome13:57 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - The Creative Act by Rick RubinPodcast - Creator ScienceIndie Hacker - Brett WilliamsSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Tim Leland is the founder of T.LY, a link shortener with almost half a million users that he recently quit his job to pursue full time. Tim started out building chrome extensions, including a weather extension that grew to 200k users at it’s peak. He then capitalised on Google closing down their link URL shortener and tried to build his own competitor, which is where T.LY was born. Tim has gone for the high volume, low price option for his product, which often isn’t recommended as a good route for Indie Hackers, but Tim has made it work.00:00 Intro05:15 Building a portfolio of extensions07:45 Starting T.LY10:06 Being the low price option11:49 Getting users for T.LY12:51 Quitting his job15:13 ReccosRecommendationsBook - Atomic HabitsPodcast - My First MillionIndie Hacker - Rob WallingSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

In this episode I’m joined by Colleen Schnettler, which a lot of you would have heard from through her Software Social podcast she co-hosts with Michele Hansen. Colleen has been on quite the journey over the past few years, going from years of contracting to launching her first product, Simple File Upload, then getting a large contracting gig with Hammerstone, landing a separate full-time job to then quit 3 weeks later to rejoin that Hammerstone as a co-founder. Now Colleen is working on a product called HelloQuery, a reporting tool for SQL queries which has been accepted into a recent TinySeed batch.What we covered:00:00 Intro02:03 Why start the Software Social podcast?02:59 Why start building products04:04 Colleen's first product: Simple File Upload05:07 Why they stopped the podcast06:37 Joining Hammerstone08:50 Being a solo founder10:16 Hello Query11:47 Closing down a successful product13:50 ReccosReccomendationsBook: The Mom TestPodcast: Boostrapped WebIndie Hacker: Corey HainesFollow ColleenTwitterMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.