The indie-maker philosophy has taken a fall due to its flaws in practicality and the influencers that have adopted it. In short, these are the principles:
The biggest side-effect of these principles arises due to the audience this philosophy targets: developers. Ironically, a developer’s most well known industry is software… hence its expected that they build a product targeted towards this space since they’re experts in this field and comfortable.
What is a great way of attracting potential customers that are also developers? “Build in public”… The undercover principle of this methodology is to sell to developers. This leaves us with developers making products for developers by sharing their development…
Entrepreneurs are building tools to help other indie makers build tools. It’s a circular economy. This isn't sustainable or even beneficial for the broader market and community. Their distribution plan (which they most probably haven’t even considered yet) is to build in public and eventually sell to their audience. This is where I believe the indie-maker methodology has come to today.
Mark Lou is the golden boy example. ShipFast’s success was largely due to Mark's existing audience of aspiring developers on social media. Mark had already built a strong following on Twitter, where he shared content related to SaaS development. When he launched ShipFast, he had a direct line to his target market: developers who wanted to build their own SaaS products. This pre-existing distribution channel allowed him to quickly gain traction.
Look at the products being churned out in the indie-maker space. As if the world needs yet another directory of directories of directories of boilerplates. The digital landscape is becoming cluttered with redundant tools and platforms that don't solve real problems. I do believe that building identical software can result in a real business that provides value and brings revenue, but that only works if the founder considers the half of the business that isn’t the product itself: distribution. They all build without having planned their distribution.
I'm frustrated that the "get rich quick" mentality—which software engineers would previously scoff at looking to the e-commerce world—has now spread into the realm of software.
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of this culture is the expectation of overnight success. Failed Product Hunt launches are treated like major setbacks, and minor obstacles are seen as insurmountable. This mindset is not only unrealistic but also harmful to genuine entrepreneurial growth. I’ve seen people give up after their Product Hunt launch got no upvotes. It’s pretty embarrassing to share the title “entrepreneur” with these folks. I mean after all, a core principle of the methodology is rapid iteration - the ability to learn from failures and keep pushing forward. The fact that these "entrepreneurs" give up after a single failed launch completely contradicts one of the fundamental principles of the framework that they’re trying to follow.
It would be idealistic of me to say I want to see more people pushing boundaries of innovation, but realistically that doesn’t fit the SaaS indie-maker culture. I would say sticking to small amounts of innovation and focusing on distribution is what they’ll use to succeed, due to the nature of their business model.
Real business owners understand that success is a journey filled with challenges, setbacks, and constant learning. It's about grit, creativity, and a willingness to learn from failures.
Online communities that were once spaces for collaboration and mutual growth have, in many cases, devolved into echo chambers. The same questions are asked repeatedly, with answers often coming from those with little to no real-world experience. I’ve only been in the SaaS space for 2 years, but even I remember times when communities on Twitter and Reddit were a place to come together and grow together. Nowadays, they’re overrun by absolutely lazy “not an ad” posts for self-promotion and easily Googleable questions.
On the other hand, I’m super inspired when I see a real entrepreneur on Reddit really just sharing his journey with no intention (yet 😢) to selling towards his audience. There’s always some gold here and there. rip to r/saas 😢
One of many causes I’d contribute to this effect is the wave of entrepreneurs creating their “personal brand” - it’s perceived to have faster results while being easier and is being promoted widely by inspirational people like Alex Hormozi. I’m all for building a personal brand, but these “gurus” are online spreading advice from their 1 month of building a SaaS experience and “showing others” how its done.
Entrepreneurship involves seeking out knowledgeable mentors, doing thorough research, and being willing to tackle complex problems head-on. It's not about finding shortcuts or easy answers on forums. Feels like putting your head-down (not too long!) and building a value providing business isn’t the standard anymore…
Look beyond the saturated developer tools market. Consider which industry you have experience in. Consider what unique insights and domain knowledge you can bring to the table. Your personal experience in a specific field could be the key differentiator that sets your product apart. The most successful indie makers often leverage their deep understanding of niche industries to create highly niche, high-value solutions.
For example, a non-technical entrepreneur recently reached out to me about building a “moodboard” tool. His idea was to let users gather references—YouTube links, Spotify tracks, and other multimedia—in one neat place for creative collaboration. On paper, it sounded promising. However, as we dove deeper, it became clear that he was aiming to please almost everyone: musicians, designers, teachers, and more. When you try to create a broad solution that could work for everyone, you end up competing head-on with juggernauts like Notion or Google Docs. Instead, zeroing in on one specific persona—say, music educators wanting a space to share sheet music and synced video references—would immediately differentiate this moodboard from a sea of generic platforms. That singular focus not only makes development and marketing far more efficient, but also ensures that your product resonates deeply with a passionate audience who truly needs it.
Mark Lou showed us best. Figure out where and how you can sell this. Is there any advantage that you have to make sure people are aware of your product. This could be industry connections, a strong social media presence in your target market, or even reaching out to influencers with a PoC to get them onboard. Don't just build and hope people will come - have a clear plan for reaching your audience before you write the first line of code.
For Reletino, this was simple. It was a tool built for agencies and SaaS companies to get leads in realtime from Reddit, so the plan (after using it internally for 7 months) was to use Reletino to get users for Reletino. Simple.
Instead of aiming for overnight success, build for the long term:
A key lesson learnt from launching our sales tool Reletino, was that you can’t just throw a great product out there and expect users to come naturally. Even after doing outreach for 2 weeks, no users came. You need to feed the machine the resources it needs, this means dedicating time and resources to marketing, building relationships with potential users, and consistently gathering and acting on feedback. The key is to maintain this effort over months, not just weeks like we naively did, and to be strategic about where you focus your energy. Without a sustained commitment to distribution and user acquisition, even the best products will struggle to find their audience.
If building in public is your thing, while it can can be valuable, make sure to focus on authenticity:
Remember, this is a marketing strategy. While it’s important to gain followers and views, it’s important to remember that we want targeted followers and views, people that are invested in whatever you’re building. The real value comes from using these authentic interactions to build trust, understand your users better, and create a product that truly resonates with their needs.
I’m a big fan of the indie-maker community, it has some of the most talented people I’ve met and seen. They’ve even revolutionized how full teams like ours are building SaaS products. But I’m just hoping that we can see the decline of “wannabepreneurs" and instead see a rise in genuine entrepreneurs who are focused on building sustainable businesses that provide real value. And geez, r/SaaS needs to be cleansed haha.
The indie-maker philosophy has incredible potential when applied correctly - with a focus on solving real problems, understanding distribution, and committing to the long-term journey of entrepreneurship. The path may be longer than some social media success stories suggest, but it's more likely to lead to lasting success.
Good luck founders o7
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