Indie Hackers - podcast cover

Indie Hackers

Courtland Allen and Channing Allenwww.indiehackers.com
Courtland and Channing Allen interview the ambitious indie hackers who are turning their ideas and side projects into profitable online businesses. Explore the latest strategies and tools founders are using to capitalize on new opportunities, escape the 9-to-5 grind, and create their own personal revenue-generating machines. The future is indie!

Episodes

#251 – The Best Ways to Make Money in Tech with Julian Shapiro of Julian.capital

Julian Shapiro is back on the show today. He's been my co-host for our podcast Brains, he's an investor at Julian.capital and a writer at Julian.com. Lately, he's been super into investing. He's managed to take an overly complex thing like investing and reverse-engineer it, breaking it down into its simplest frameworks. Follow Julian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julian Check out Demand Curve: https://www.demandcurve.com/ Become an investor with Carveout: https://www.withcarveout.com/ Apply to...

Apr 27, 202257 min

Throwback: Writing Code to Sell $200,000/Month of Cookies with Sam Eaton of Crave Cookie

When Sam Eaton hears a new idea, it's all he can do to contain his excitement and dive right into the code. So when his sister told him she wanted to start a cookie delivery business, there was never any question that he'd apply his indie hacker skills to help out however he could. And to great effect — today they're selling hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of cookies every month. In this episode, Sam and I discuss the advantages of target your local community as a niche, ways to leverage s...

Apr 13, 20221 hr 2 min

Throwback: Building a Business Meant to Last with Peldi Guilizzoni of Balsamiq

Twenty pages into reading his first business book, Peldi Guilizzonni (@peldi) closed it for good and told himself, "This is not for me. I'm never going to start a business. It's insane." Not long after that, he rolled up his sleeves and got started building Balsamiq Mockups, which would go on to employee dozens of people, serve thousands of customers, and generate over $6M per year in revenue. Over ten years later, it's still going strong. Learn about the path Peldi took to get where he is today...

Mar 30, 202246 min

#248 – Crypto Literacy, Daily Habits, and New Business Ideas with Dru Riley and Greg Isenberg

Today I'm talking to Greg Isenburg of Late Checkout and Dru Riley of Trends.vc. In this episode, we cover a bunch of topics around media and community. I'll ask them where they get their content ideas, how they create product stickiness, how they stay productive and what new business ideas are sitting in their notes app. Follow Greg on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Follow Dru on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DruRly Check out Late Checkout: https://latecheckout.substack.com/ Subscribe ...

Mar 09, 202248 min

#247 – Scaling Up a 1-to-1 Service with Ravi Mehta and Victoria Young of Scale Higher

Today I'm talking to Victoria Young (@victoriahyoung) and Ravi Mehta (@ravi_mehta) about their coaching platform Scale Higher. In this episode we talk about the type of person who could benefit from a coach and how they've been inspired by platforms like Noom and TalkSpace to change the way people are able to level up their professional lives. Follow Victoria on Twitter: https://twitter.com/victoriahyoung Follow Ravi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ravi_mehta Find a coach on Scale Higher: https:...

Mar 02, 202248 min

#246 – Doing Content Right with Steph Smith of Trends.co

Today I'm talking to Steph Smith (@stephsmithio). She runs Trends.co and recently got my attention when she posted on IH how she grew her podcast from 0 to 15k downloads/month. She took a really unique approach to launching her show, The Sh*t You Don't Learn in School, and I want to find out how she did it. Follow Steph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Check out her new book: https://doingcontentright.com (Enter code "INDIE" to get 60% off!) Subscribe to her podcast: https://keeplear...

Feb 23, 202254 min

#245 – Hiring a Team You Actually Like with Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer

Today I'm talking to Ben Orenstein of Tuple and Derrick Reimer of SavvyCal. I recently joined them on their podcast The Art of Product and we talked about things like long-term goal setting and hiring a team of people you actually enjoy being around. Follow Derrick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/derrickreimer Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/r00k Listen to The Art of Product: https://artofproductpodcast.com/

Feb 17, 202247 min

#244 – Building Gradually to Grow Suddenly with Shahed Khan of Hyper

Today I'm talking to Shahed Khan, the co-founder of Loom and investor at Hyper. In this episode we talk about his first business failure at 16 and the many iterations Loom went through before catching on fire. Follow Shahed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_shahedk Check out Hyper: https://blog.hyper.com/

Feb 09, 202236 min

#243 – Mental Health and Bootstrapping in 2022 with Rob Walling of TinySeed

In this episode I'm chat with Rob Walling about a wide range of topics including metal health, how to find a business idea and the relevance of bootstrapping today. Follow Rob on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robwalling Apply to TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com/apply Listen to Startups for the Rest of Us: https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/

Feb 02, 20221 hr 4 min

#241 – Money, Happiness, and Productivity as a Solo Founder with Pieter Levels (Part 1 of 2)

Today I'm catching up with Pieter Levels after 4 years. The world has changed dramatically since we last spoke. Attitudes toward remote work and global travel are all completely different now. We'll talk about what headwinds and tailwinds these changes have meant for his projects. Follow Pieter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/levelsio/ Move to Portugal: https://rebase.co/portugal Work remotely: https://remoteok.com/

Jan 20, 202252 min

#240 – Capturing a Valuable Market from the Bottom Up with Amjad Masad of Replit

Today I'm talking to Amjad Masad (@amasad), the founder of Replit. I'm captivated by his strategy and how Replit is eating the market from the bottom up. We'll talk about that and how he's learned to love being a founder even though it didn't start out that way. Follow Amjad on Twitter: https://twitter.com/amasad Check out Replit: https://replit.com/

Jan 12, 202236 min

#239 – A New Golden Age for Creatives and Founders with Li Jin of Variant

Today I'm talking to Li Jin (@ljin18). She's here to talk about the passion economy, DAOs, and why she's so optimistic about the future of tech. Follow Li on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ljin18 Check out Variant: https://variant.fund/ Subscribe to Li's newsletter: https://li.substack.com/

Jan 05, 202253 min

#238 – From Adversity to Ambition with Niya Dragova of Candor

Today I'm talking to Niya Dragova (@mediumsizecats). Her story is pretty amazing. She grew up in Bulgaria during the fall of Communism where she experienced severe poverty. Today she is championing the mission of making resources more equitable. I want to find out about Candor, her company, and how she got to where she is today. Check out Candor: https://candor.co/ Follow Niya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mediumsizecats Get the best gossip in tech: https://candor.co/newsletter...

Dec 29, 20211 hr 3 min

#237 – The Minimalist Entrepreneur with Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad

Today I'm talking to Sahil Lavignia (@shl) about what indie hackers can learn from his new book, The Minimalist Entrepreneur. Get a copy of Sahil's new book: on Amazon Follow Sahil on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shl Check out Gumroad: https://gumroad.com/...

Dec 22, 202142 min

#236 – Not Giving Up with Matt Wensing of Summit

Today I'm talking to Matt Wensing about the long journey he took to get to where he is today with his second company, Summit. I think Indie Hackers can get a lot out of Matt's experience and I have a lot of questions about how he was able to stay afloat for years without any revenue. Check out Summit: https://usesummit.com/ Follow Matt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattwensing

Dec 15, 20211 hr 25 min

#235 – An NFT Conversation for Indie Hackers with Hiten Shah and Mubashar Iqbal

I'm finally doing it. I'm doing an episode on cryptocurrencies--specifically, NFTs. I have been a huge skeptic of this space, but a few weeks ago I started looking deeper. I even bought my first NFT. In this episode, I invited two friends, Hiten Shah and Mubashar Iqbal, to talk about what I've realized about this space and what indie hackers can do today to get something out of it. Sign up with Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/dashboard Follow Mubs on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mubashariqbal...

Dec 08, 20211 hr 14 min

Throwback: How to Build a Life You Love by Quitting Everything Else with Lynne Tye of Key Values

(Throwback episode!) After spending years pursuing a career in science, Lynne Tye (@lynnetye) shocked her family and colleagues by dropping out of grad school. Thus began a months-long journey of discovery and experimentation that eventually saw her managing 150 people at a high-profile tech startup. But when Lynne realized the fast-paced startup lifestyle was not for her, she quit that, too, and began her search all over again. In this episode, Lynne shares the story behind how she took her car...

Nov 25, 20212 hr 41 min

Brains: Talking Money with Anthony Pompliano and Sam Parr

How do you make a ton of money on the internet, and how do you manage it once you've got it? In this crossover episode from the Brains podcast, we have a fun discussion about money with Anthony Pompliano (@APompliano) who's a Bitcoin 9-figure millionaire and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) who sold his startup The Hustle for a reported $27 million. Whether you enjoy this crossover episode or not, tweet me and let me know! I'm @csallen on Twitter. You can subscribe to Brains in your favorite podcast playe...

Nov 17, 202137 min

#234 – Money, Kids, and Choosing Your Market with Justin Jackson of Transistor.fm

Today I'm talking to Justin Jackson (@mijustin). He's someone who started out in entrepreneurship by opening a brick and mortar snowboarding shop. I want to find out how he made the unlikely leap into SaaS and how having four kids at a young age changed both his journey and how he thinks about money, legacy, and the future. Follow Justin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mijustin Get your podcast hosted on Transistor: https://transistor.fm/

Nov 10, 20211 hr 16 min

#233 – Hard-Learned Lessons from Decades of Entrepreneurship with Spencer Fry of Podia

Today I'm talking to Spencer Fry (@spencerfry), the founder of Podia. His business is super relevant right now because it is basically a one-stop shop to support creators and entrepreneurs. In this episode we discuss the importance of planning, how to iterate on a plan and how to stay persistent. Follow Spencer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/spencerfry Check out Podia: https://www.podia.com/ Ready Spencer's blog: http://www.spencerfry.com/

Nov 03, 202149 min

#232 – How to Punch Above Your Weight with Sonal Chokshi of a16z

Today I'm talking to Sonal Chokshi, one of the biggest experts on building a media business that I know. Currently she's the Editor-in-Chief at a16z. In this episode we'll talk about creating content in a world where media moves so quickly. Follow Sonal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smc90 Pitch Future: https://future.a16z.com/pitch-us

Oct 27, 20211 hr 4 min

#231 – Learning from Conversations with Andrew Warner of Mixergy

In this episode I'm talking with Andrew Warner (@AndrewWarner), the host of the Mixergy where he's interviewed over 2,000 founders in the tech and software space. His new book, Stop Asking Questions, breaks down everything he's learned about having a meaningful conversation and maximizing the value out of one-shot encounters. Learn how to have better conversations: https://www.stopaskingquestions.co/ Follow Andrew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewWarner Check out Mixergy: https://mixergy.co...

Oct 20, 202151 min

#229 – Stealing Users Away From Incumbents Like Google with Marie Martens of Tally

Today I'm talking to an Indie Hacker Marie Martens (@mariemartens) who has gained over 10,000 users in less than a year for her software Tally. The best part of her story is that Tally isn't even a new idea. In fact, incumbents like Google are already in the space. I invited her here to find out how she did it. Follow Marie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariemartens Build a beautiful form with Tally: https://tally.so/

Oct 06, 202143 min

#228 – Making $1M/yr Then Raising Money as a Solo Indie Hacker with AJ from Carrd

In this episode I'm talking to AJ from Carrd. I want to find how he grew from $30K MRR to over $1M ARR in just two years and what Kim Kardashian had to do with it. I'll also ask him how he thinks about fundraising as an indie hacker. Follow AJ on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajlkn Build a simple one-page website with Carrd: https://carrd.co/

Sep 29, 202134 min