I’ve always had tremendous respect for indie founders and makers. The hustle, vision, and grit required to build something from scratch, often alone and while bootstrapped, is c̶r̶a̶z̶y̶ admirable. The solopreneur gtm is something that gets left behind.
And while each maker’s journey is unique❄️, many face similar challenges when it comes to validating their idea, getting early traction, and scaling sustainably.
After years of seeing repeated cycles, I’ve started doing teardowns — in-depth analyses and suggestions for indie products. My goal? To provide value and support to founders in those critical early stages.
How I Decided on an Early Productized Service
It’s important to “drink your own champagne”, “eat your own dog food”, etc. Meaning - I’m not going to charge on and assume that indie founders and <$100k ARR founders are out there wanting feedback.
So, I went hunting to validate.
Alongside reading countless posts on Indiehackers, Reddit, and Linkedin, I noticed a theme.
IndieHackers/founders to me fell into two camps. “Marketing and sales suck, and I’ll do anything to be free of it.” “Marketing/sales isn’t a priority, because of X, Y, Z.”
Build in Public
I’ve set myself a challenge to connect with as many founders as I can between now and the end of Jan ‘24- providing quick wins in an async guide.
I discover makers and products through communities like IndieHackers, Reddit, and Product Hunt where makers generously share their journeys. After signing up for their product, I take a deep dive into analyzing.
- The core offer and messaging
- Who their target customer is
- How they could improve conversion
- Quick wins to build trust and credibility
How I Help Indie Hackers With Solopreneur GTM and Marketing
I then compile my teardown into a custom report, sharing relevant advice and growth strategies tailored to their business.
My teardowns focus on actionable suggestions across content, positioning, partnerships, and more. I steer clear of broad generalizations in favor of specific, tactical ideas. And I provide a roadmap and next-step plan they can choose to implement.
It’s incredibly fulfilling to support founders who are putting themselves out there. If I can shorten someone’s path to product-market fit with strategic feedback, I’m happy.
This is not a shortcut or replacement for getting in the trenches yourself. I see teardowns as a way to get an outsider’s feedback, put in supplementary legwork where needed, and give founders space to focus on crafting an exceptional product.
Also published here