Zero to $1K/mo

Day 1–3

Idea Mining: Where to Find Problems

• Your own pain: What do you do manually that software could fix? What tool do you wish existed?
• Reddit gold mines: Search r/SaaS, r/smallbusiness, r/Entrepreneur, r/freelance for "I wish there was..." or "I'm looking for..." or "is there a tool that..."
• Twitter/X complaints: Search "[product name] sucks" or "[product name] alternative" — people actively hating on tools = opportunity
• Indie Hackers forums: Look at what problems people are asking about, not what products people are building
• Job boards: What repetitive tasks are companies hiring for? Can you automate any of them?
• Existing tool gaps: Pick 10 tools you use, find their 1-star reviews, look for patterns in complaints
• Google Trends + Exploding Topics: Find rising searches that don't have good solutions yet
• Agency/freelancer pain: Agencies deal with repetitive work. Can you productize any part of their workflow?

Day 3–5

The Idea Scoring Matrix

Rate each idea 1–5 on these criteria. You need a total score of 20+ to proceed:

Criteria	What to Evaluate
Pain Level (1–5)	Is this a vitamin (nice to have) or a painkiller (must have)?
Willingness to Pay (1–5)	Are people already paying for similar tools? Can you find 5 competitors charging money?
Reachability (1–5)	Can you reach these customers? Are they in forums/communities you can access?
Build Speed (1–5)	Can you build an MVP in 2 weeks with your current skills?
Market Size (1–5)	Is this big enough to get 50–100 paying users? (You don't need millions)
Your Edge (1–5)	Do you understand the user? Have domain expertise? Technical advantage?

Day 5–10

Validation: Talk to Humans (Not Optional)

You MUST talk to at least 10 potential customers before building. Here's the exact process:

• Find them: Reddit DMs, Twitter DMs, LinkedIn messages, relevant Discord/Slack communities, cold email
• The ask: "Hey, I'm researching [problem area]. I noticed you [signal]. Can I ask you 5 quick questions? Takes 10 min."
• 5 questions to ask:

1. "Tell me about the last time you dealt with [problem]?"
2. "What did you do to solve it?"
3. "What don't you like about your current solution?"
4. "If I built [brief description], would you use it?"
5. "Would you pay $X/mo for it? Would you pre-order today?"

Key signals: If 7/10 people say "yes, I'd pay" — you're onto something. If they say "that's cool" but won't commit money — keep looking.

Day 10–14

Pre-sell Before Building

• Create a landing page (Carrd, Framer, or a single HTML file — 30 minutes max)
• Write the headline: what problem you solve, for whom, and how
• Add a pricing section (even if it's "founding member" pricing)
• Add a payment link (Stripe, Gumroad, or LemonSqueezy)
• Share it with the 10 people you talked to
• Post it in 3–5 communities where your audience hangs out
• Goal: Get 3–5 pre-sales or waitlist signups with credit cards

Checklist

Week 1–2 Completion Checklist

Critical Rule

The "One Core Feature" Principle

Your MVP should do ONE thing well. Not two, not three. One. Ask yourself: "What is the single most painful step in the user's current workflow?" Build that and nothing else.

• Bannerbear MVP: Generate images from an API. That's it. No dashboard, no templates, no team features.
• Carrd MVP: Make a one-page website. No blog, no analytics, no custom domains.
• TypingMind MVP: A better UI for ChatGPT. No plugins, no teams, no prompt library.

Build Sprint

The 14-Day Build Schedule

• Day 1–2: Set up project, DB schema, auth, payment integration. Use a boilerplate (ShipFast, LaunchFast, or roll your own starter).
• Day 3–7: Build the core feature. Nothing else. No settings page, no profile page, no admin dashboard.
• Day 8–9: Build the landing page into the product (can be the same page). Add onboarding flow.
• Day 10–11: Bug fixes, edge cases, mobile responsiveness. Test on 3 devices.
• Day 12: Set up analytics (Plausible, PostHog, or just a simple event tracker). Set up error monitoring.
• Day 13: Write launch copy. Prepare Product Hunt, Twitter thread, Reddit posts.
• Day 14: SHIP IT. Deploy, share everywhere, email your waitlist.

Shortcuts

Save Time: Use These Shortcuts

• Auth: Clerk, Supabase Auth, or NextAuth — don't build your own
• Payments: Stripe Checkout or Lemon Squeezy — pre-built checkout pages
• Database: Supabase, PlanetScale, or just SQLite if you're small
• Emails: Resend or Loops — transactional + marketing in one
• Hosting: Vercel (free tier is enough), Railway, or Fly.io
• AI features: Just call OpenAI/Anthropic APIs directly. No frameworks needed.
• Landing page: Build it into your app. One codebase, one deploy.

Pricing Strategy

How to Price Your MVP

• Start higher than you think. You can always lower it. You can never easily raise it.
• $19–49/mo is the sweet spot for micro-SaaS. Below $10 and you need too many customers.
• Offer "lifetime" deals early ($99–199) to get cash flow and early adopters. Limit to 50–100 seats.
• Annual billing at 2 months free — people who pay annually churn way less.
• "Founding member" discount — 50% off for first 20 customers. Creates urgency + loyalty.

Launch Day

The Launch Checklist

Core Focus

The 3 Things That Matter Now

• Retention: Are people coming back? If Day-7 retention is below 30%, you have a product problem, not a marketing problem. Fix the product first.
• Feedback loops: Talk to every single user. Add a feedback widget. Read every support email. The patterns in complaints are your roadmap.
• Growth experiments: Try 2–3 marketing channels per week. Measure which one brings paying users. Kill the rest.

Weekly Rhythm

The Weekly Sprint Cycle

• Monday: Review metrics (MRR, signups, churn, active users). Set 3 goals for the week.
• Tue–Thu: Build the #1 requested feature or fix the #1 complaint. Ship by Thursday.
• Friday: Marketing day. Write a blog post, make a video, engage on social, send outreach emails.
• Weekend: Reflect, plan next week. Do 1 user call if possible.

Conversion Optimization

Turn Visitors into Paying Users

• Landing page: Clear headline → Problem → Solution → Social proof → CTA. That's it. No clutter.
• Reduce friction: Can someone go from landing page to using the product in under 60 seconds? If not, fix that.
• Free trial with card upfront converts 2–3x better than free tier. Yes, you'll get fewer signups. But more paying customers.
• Onboarding email sequence: Day 0 (welcome + quick start), Day 2 (key feature highlight), Day 5 (case study/testimonial), Day 7 (trial ending reminder).
• Add social proof early: Even 3 testimonials on the landing page boost conversion 20–30%.

If You're Stuck

What to Do When Growth Stalls

• 0 signups: You have a distribution problem. Nobody knows you exist. Go do 50 cold DMs today.
• Signups but no conversions: Your product doesn't deliver on the promise of your landing page. Talk to churned users.
• Conversions but high churn: Your product works initially but doesn't retain. Add an onboarding sequence. Make the "aha moment" happen faster.
• Everything feels slow: This is normal. Most products grow linearly for months before any inflection point. Keep going.

User Research

The 5 Questions to Ask Every User

• "How did you find us?" — tells you which channels work
• "What were you using before?" — tells you your real competition
• "What almost stopped you from signing up?" — tells you conversion blockers
• "What's the one feature you wish we had?" — tells you what to build next
• "Would you recommend us? If not, why?" — tells you if you have product-market fit

Growth Levers

The 5 Channels That Work for Indie Hackers

By now you should know which 1–2 channels bring paying users. Double down ruthlessly.

• SEO / Content: Write 2–4 articles targeting "how to [problem]" or "[competitor] alternative." Long game, but compounds. Use Ahrefs free tools or Ubersuggest to find keywords.
• Twitter/X Building in Public: Share metrics, learnings, behind-the-scenes. Build an audience of people in your niche. Convert followers → users.
• Community seeding: Become a genuine helpful member in 3–5 communities. When people ask questions your tool solves, recommend it naturally.
• Cold outreach: Find 100 ideal customers on LinkedIn/Twitter. Send personalized messages about their specific problem. 5–10% reply rate is good.
• Partnerships / Integrations: Integrate with popular tools in your niche. Get listed on their marketplaces/directories. Piggyback on their distribution.

Revenue Acceleration

Tactics to Increase MRR Faster

• Raise prices. If nobody complains about your price, it's too low. Raise by 30% for new customers.
• Add a higher tier. Some users will happily pay 3x for a "Pro" plan with minimal extra features.
• Annual plans: Offer 2 months free for annual billing. Reduces churn, boosts cash flow.
• Expansion revenue: Usage-based add-ons (extra seats, API calls, storage) — your best users pay more over time.
• Referral program: "Give $10, get $10" or "1 month free for every referral." Your happiest users are your best salespeople.
• Lifetime deals (cautiously): Sell 50 lifetime deals at $149–299 on AppSumo or your own site. Quick cash injection. Don't oversell — cap it.

The $1K Milestone

What Hitting $1K/mo Actually Looks Like

It probably won't be a dramatic moment. One day you'll check Stripe and realize you crossed $1K MRR last week. Here's what's different now:

• You have proof that strangers will pay for something you built
• You have a repeatable acquisition channel
• You have real users giving you real feedback
• You have momentum — and that's the hardest thing to create
• The path to $5K/mo is the exact same process, just with more optimization

Next Steps

After $1K/mo: The Fork in the Road

• Path A — Keep growing this one: If retention is good and growth is steady, keep optimizing. $1K → $5K → $10K is very achievable with the same playbook.
• Path B — Build a portfolio: Some indie hackers build 2–3 small products that each do $500–2K/mo. Less risk, more diversification.
• Path C — Sell it: Micro-SaaS products at $1K MRR sell for $30K–50K on Acquire.com. Not bad for 3 months of work.

Category 1

API Wrappers & Dev Tools

Take a complex API and make it simple for a specific use case.

• AI image generation for a specific niche (headshots, product photos, social media)
• Webhook management dashboard
• API monitoring for small teams
• Database backup service (simple, cheap, reliable)
• Cron job manager with a nice UI

Category 2

Niche B2B Tools

The more specific the niche, the less competition and the easier the marketing.

• Invoice generator for freelance designers
• Client portal for accountants
• Scheduling tool for dog groomers / salons / tutors
• Review management for local restaurants
• Inventory tracker for Etsy sellers
• CRM for real estate agents (specific market like luxury or commercial)

Category 3

Content & Marketing Tools

• Social media scheduler for a specific platform (Bluesky, Threads)
• AI blog writer optimized for SEO
• Testimonial collection and display widget
• Email signature generator
• OG image generator for blog posts
• Competitor price monitoring

Category 4

Templates & Digital Products

Lower effort, lower recurring revenue, but great for getting your first $1K.

• Notion template packs for specific roles (PM, startup founder, freelancer)
• SaaS boilerplate / starter kits (Next.js, Django, Rails)
• UI component libraries for specific frameworks
• Email template collections
• Spreadsheet templates for budgeting / project management

Category 5

Browser Extensions & Utilities

• Productivity extensions (tab management, screenshot tools, bookmarking)
• Email finder / LinkedIn scraper helpers
• Website speed checker with actionable recommendations
• Color palette extractor from any website
• Auto-fill tool for job applications

Category 6

AI-Powered Micro-SaaS (2024–2025 Wave)

• AI chatbot trained on your docs (for customer support)
• AI meeting note summarizer for specific industries
• AI-powered resume tailoring for specific job markets
• AI product description writer for e-commerce
• AI-powered form builder (describe what you need, get a form)
• AI financial document analyzer for small businesses

Recommended Stack

The "Ship in 2 Weeks" Stack

Layer	Best Options	Monthly Cost
Frontend	Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, or plain HTML	$0
Backend	Next.js API routes, FastAPI, Express	$0
Database	Supabase (Postgres), PlanetScale, SQLite	$0–25
Auth	Clerk, Supabase Auth, Lucia	$0
Payments	Stripe, Lemon Squeezy	2.9% + $0.30/tx
Hosting	Vercel, Railway, Fly.io	$0–5
Email	Resend, Loops, Plunk	$0
Analytics	Plausible, PostHog, Umami	$0–9
Domain	Namecheap, Cloudflare	$10/yr

Total monthly cost: $0–$40. You don't need anything else to reach $1K MRR.

Boilerplates

SaaS Starter Kits (Save 3–5 Days)

• ShipFast (Next.js) — $199, very popular, includes auth + payments + emails
• LaunchFast (Next.js/Nuxt/SvelteKit) — $199, multi-framework
• Supastarter (Next.js + Supabase) — $299, full-featured
• SaasRock (Remix) — $149, good for B2B
• Free option: Next.js + Supabase + Stripe tutorial on YouTube — takes a weekend to set up

No-Code / Low-Code

If You Can't Code (Or Want to Go Faster)

• Bubble: Full web apps without code. Slower but very capable.
• Webflow + Memberstack: SaaS with landing page quality design
• Softr + Airtable: Turn spreadsheets into apps in hours
• Cursor / AI coding tools: Build real code with AI assistance. This is the new meta — you can "vibe code" a working SaaS in a weekend.
• Glide / Adalo: Mobile apps from spreadsheets

Anti-Patterns

What NOT to Do With Your Tech Stack

• Don't use Kubernetes. Don't use microservices. Don't use GraphQL. You're building for 50 users, not 50 million.
• Don't build your own auth system. You'll spend 2 weeks and it'll have security holes.
• Don't set up CI/CD pipelines, staging environments, and monitoring dashboards before you have a single user.
• Don't switch frameworks mid-project. Use what you know, not what's trending on Hacker News.
• Don't optimize for performance before 1,000 users. A $5 server handles more traffic than you think.

Channel 1

Twitter/X — Building in Public

The #1 channel for indie hackers. Here's the exact playbook:

• Post daily. Share: revenue screenshots, lessons learned, behind-the-scenes builds, user wins, mistakes.
• The thread format works best: "I built [product] in [X] days. Here's how it went (and what I learned):" — 8-12 tweet thread.
• Engage 30 min/day — reply to accounts in your niche. Not generic comments. Add value.
• Follow and interact with: @levelsio, @marc_louvion, @tdifrancesco, @yaborobbins, @dannypostma — study their content patterns.
• Use hashtags: #buildinpublic #indiehackers #saas #shipfast
• Revenue milestones get the most engagement. "$0 → $100 MRR" posts do numbers.

Channel 2

SEO — The Compounding Machine

• Target "how to [problem]" keywords. Example: If you built a testimonial tool, write "How to collect customer testimonials (2025 guide)."
• Target "[competitor] alternative" keywords. These are people actively looking to switch. High intent.
• Write 1–2 articles per week. 1500–2500 words each. Use your product as the solution within the article.
• Free tools for keyword research: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic.
• Programmatic SEO: If your product generates data, create pages automatically. Example: "[City] weather" pages, "[Tool] vs [Tool]" comparison pages.
• Timeline: SEO takes 2–4 months to kick in. Start early, even during build phase.

Channel 3

Community Marketing (Reddit, Discord, Slack, Forums)

• Rule #1: Be a member first, marketer second. Spend 2 weeks helping people before ever mentioning your product.
• Reddit: Find 5–10 subreddits where your audience lives. Answer questions. When someone asks for a tool recommendation, mention yours (if relevant).
• Discord/Slack: Join niche communities (not just indie hacker ones — communities where your USERS hang out).
• Quora: Answer questions related to the problem you solve. Include a link to your tool.
• Niche forums: Industry-specific forums (e.g., photography forums if you built a photo tool) are goldmines.

Channel 4

Product Hunt Launch

• Timing: Launch on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Midnight PST is when the clock resets.
• Prep: Make a great thumbnail, write a compelling tagline, prepare 3–4 screenshots, record a short demo video.
• Rally support: Tell your Twitter followers, email list, and communities in advance. Ask for upvotes on launch day.
• Engage all day: Reply to every comment on your PH page. Be personal, not corporate.
• Realistic expectation: Top 5 gets ~500–2000 visitors. Top 1 gets 3000–5000. Not all will convert — but it's great social proof.
• You can launch multiple times. Major updates, v2, rebrand — each is a valid re-launch.

Channel 5

Cold Outreach (Email + DM)

• Find 100 ideal customers. Use LinkedIn, Twitter, company directories, or industry lists.
• Personalize every message. Reference something specific about them — a blog post, a tweet, their company.
• The template: "Hey [Name], I noticed you [observation]. I built [tool] that [specific benefit]. Would you like to try it free for 14 days?"
• Follow up 3 times. Most responses come on the 2nd or 3rd follow-up, not the first.
• Expect: 5–10% reply rate, 1–3% conversion. 100 cold emails = 1–3 paying customers. Not amazing, but it compounds.

Launch Destinations

50+ Places to Share Your Launch

Platform	Best For
Product Hunt	First big launch. Social proof.
Hacker News (Show HN)	Dev tools, technical products.
Reddit (relevant subs)	Niche audiences. Be genuine.
Indie Hackers	Indie hacker community. Share the story.
Twitter/X	Building in public audience.
LinkedIn	B2B products. Decision makers.
Dev.to / Hashnode	Developer tools and content.
BetaList	Early-stage product directory.
AlternativeTo	List as alternative to competitors.
Capterra / G2	B2B SaaS directories. Long-term SEO.
Facebook Groups	Non-tech niches. Very active.
YouTube	Demo videos, tutorials. Long-term discovery.

Truth Bomb

What Nobody Tells You

• The first 30 days are the loneliest. You'll ship and hear crickets. This is normal. Every successful indie hacker went through this.
• You'll want to quit at Day 45. The initial excitement fades, growth is slow, and imposter syndrome hits hard. Push through — this is the filter that separates people who make it.
• Comparison will kill you. Someone on Twitter will hit $10K MRR in their first month. That's the exception, not the rule. Compare yourself to where you were last week.
• Most ideas fail. That's fine. The skill of shipping, talking to users, and marketing is transferable. Your 3rd product usually works because of what you learned on the first two.
• Revenue is non-linear. $0 for weeks → $50 → $100 → then suddenly $300 in one week. The hockey stick is real, but the flat part lasts longer than you expect.

Motivation

How to Stay Consistent for 90 Days

• Public accountability: Tweet your daily progress. Even if nobody reads it, it keeps you honest.
• Find 2–3 indie hacker friends. Join a Discord or mastermind group. Weekly check-ins. Shared struggles become shared solutions.
• Set process goals, not outcome goals. "Ship 1 feature per week" is controllable. "$500 MRR by month 2" is not. Focus on inputs.
• Track your hours, not your results. Some weeks nothing moves. But if you put in 20 focused hours, that's a win regardless.
• Celebrate micro-wins. First signup. First paying customer. First feature request. First support email. Each one means you're real.
• Take breaks. Burnout is the #1 killer of indie projects. One rest day per week is non-negotiable, even in hardcore mode.

Traps to Avoid

The 7 Deadly Sins of New Indie Hackers

• Perfectionism: Your MVP should embarrass you. If it doesn't, you waited too long to ship.
• Building in stealth: Nobody will steal your idea. The risk is obscurity, not competition.
• Shiny object syndrome: New idea ≠ better idea. Commit to one thing for 90 days minimum.
• Over-engineering: You don't need Redis, Docker, GraphQL, or a design system. You need users.
• Free tier addiction: Free users are not customers. They'll give you feedback but not revenue. Charge money.
• Feature creep: Every feature you add makes the product harder to understand, market, and maintain. Say no to 80% of requests.
• Analysis paralysis: The best market research is shipping something and seeing if people pay. Stop researching, start doing.

Resources

The Essential Reading/Watching List

• The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick — How to talk to customers without lying to yourself
• Make by Pieter Levels — The indie hacker bible. Free online.
• Zero to Sold by Arvid Kahl — Building a bootstrapped SaaS step by step
• IndieHackers.com podcast — Hundreds of founder interviews with exact revenue numbers
• My First Million podcast — Business ideas and breakdowns
• @levelsio on Twitter — Watch how he ships, prices, and markets in real time
• Starter Story (starterstory.com) — Detailed breakdowns of businesses from $0 to $Xk/mo

The Final Framework

The 5-Step Loop (Repeat Forever)