This topic came up yesterday when I had dinner with friends and they asked me how I would do it if I had to start all over and I basically came up with this step by step guide

But let me be blunt for a second - Building a SaaS and reaching $1,000 MRR will be a lot of work and can be frustrating at times (especially when things dont progress as quickly as you would like) but its entirely possible with focus and the right approach in my opinion.

1. Get Your Product launched ASAP

Too many people spend ages perfecting their ideas. Don’t fall into that trap. The key is to launch quickly and iterate later (based on user feedback!)

• Set tight deadlines. Aim to launch in weeks, not months.

• Focus on progress, not perfection. Get a working product out before worrying about making it flawless.

• Leverage time-saving tools. Avoid reinventing the wheel and use existing platforms to speed things up.

Here is what I use:

• Authentication: Auth0.com

• Payments: Stripe.com

• App Creation UI and Frontend: create.xyz

• App Creation Backend: bolt.new

• App Documentation/ Problem solving: Chatgpt.com

2. Start Selling as soon as you can!

Selling can feel daunting, but your business won’t grow if you wait for customers to come to you. You need to actively market your product from day one.

Inbound Strategies

• Focus on one main platform. Whether it’s Twitter, YouTube, or another channel, prioritize one and do it well. Repurpose content for other platforms to save time.

• Be open and transparent. Share your progress, lessons learned, and challenges. “Building in public” is a proven way to attract attention and build trust.

• Know your audience. If your posts resonate with your target users, they’ll naturally engage and share your product.

Outbound Strategies

• Identify your audience’s (online) hangout spots: Product Hunt, Hacker News, Reddit, X, Quora...
Get your Product out there!

• Reach out in volume. Cold emails or DMs can work, but you’ll need to contact many people to get results (consider this only if its worth it e.g. lifetime deals, yearly subscriptions...)

3. Iterate Until It Works

Don’t expect your first version to be perfect. Reaching product-market fit takes persistence and constant iteration.

• Talk to your users. Engage with them daily to understand their needs, frustrations, and feedback.

• Spot your power users. They’ll tell you what’s working and where you should double down.

• Ship updates frequently. Rapid experimentation helps you learn what resonates and what doesn’t.

4. Embrace the Challenges

There will be setbacks, and that’s okay. What matters is how you handle them:

• Accept the discomfort. Feeling stuck or overwhelmed is part of the process. This means you are growing as a builder

• Identify the root cause. If the problem can be fixed, tackle it. If not, focus on what you can control.

• Celebrate small wins. They’ll keep you motivated to push forward, also share them it attracts positivity

When I first dreamed up Flow, it came from a deeply personal place - I was overwhelmed by my thoughts and desperately needed a way to declutter my mind.

Now that Flow is actually here (still feels surreal!), it's evolved into something even more amazing. Yes, it captures your thoughts, but it also transforms them into actionable steps, thanks to our thoughtfully designed AI companion. I like to think of Flow as your personal mind decluttering partner. Because when your thoughts are organised, your creativity can be unleashed. 

What makes Flow special?

• Captures your sparks of genius the moment they strike
• Uses AI to organise and refine your thoughts into clear summaries or action lists
• Helps you focus on what truly matters - your ideas and creativity

When designing Flow, I was obsessed with getting three things right:

• Creating a beautiful, distraction-free space where your thoughts can breathe
• Making it super easy to organise ideas into folders you'll actually revisit and build upon
• Implementing AI that genuinely enhances your creative process (exciting new features coming soon! 👀)

I'd love for you to try Flow and share your journey with me. Download it here- Flow: Voice Notes on the app store

P.S you get 2 free voicenotes per day :)

Hi! I recently launched World in Dots, a free online tool for creating customizable dotted maps. It’s aimed at designers, data enthusiasts, and map lovers who want simple, beautiful visualizations.

The project started as a fun side hustle, but I see potential to grow it into something bigger. Right now, it’s completely free, and I’m focused on:

1. Building an engaged user base.
2. Gathering feedback to improve the tool.
3. Exploring sustainable monetization options.

Here’s where I could use your advice:

• Marketing: How can I effectively reach niche communities?
• Monetization: What are some creative ways to keep the core tool free while generating revenue?
• Growth Strategies: Tips on scaling a small indie tool like this would be amazing!

If this sounds interesting, feel free to give it a try and let me know what you think. I’d love any insights or feedback you can offer!

Thanks in advance, and happy to answer questions or discuss ideas. 😊

What's up indie biz,

I just made my first sales with Aardvark.so . Just a month ago I had the idea for an AI-powered tool that deeply audits web pages and provides suggestions to boost conversions- so it's super rewarding to get to my first dollar already. Here’s the quick story:

• Noticed huge opportunities with AI and decided to build something around my expertise: web design (10+ years of experience).
• People always asked me for website feedback, so I thought, “Why not create a tool for this?”
• Jumped right in—coded a basic version with Stripe for payments. Used OpenAI, Vercel, Next.js, and wrote code via Cursor (AI code editor)
• Redesigned the landing page in Figma because my coded version was terrible and rebuilt it.
• Got it live and ran $200 in Facebook ads to get my first few sales & enough feedback to refine and launch the tool.

A month later, I’ve validated the idea, made a few bucks, and learned a ton, and I'm finally getting it out there. I would love your feedback!

The Pitch:
Aardvark.so runs a 40-point AI audit on your site and gives over 50+ actionable suggestions to improve conversions. It’s $5 per page with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

Check it out here – would love your feedback on the tool, landing page, or any tips for scaling!

Cheers,
Dennis

All other ways of discovering movie to watch next always dissapointed me - from algo to Rotten Tomatoes. Except when movie whose Wikipedia article mentions it's critically acclaimed - I always totally enjoyed them. I don't know but it's strange. Something to do with the nature of Wikipedia being the best source of crowd verdict or something. Anyway, so I wrote a Python script and scrape the entire english version of Wikipedia for film articles that mention 'critical acclaim', and I found over 1,000 of them. Then I made a website that shows them with filters. If you want, you can check it out here: https://kudos.wiki . Peace.

Edit: also you can use BF2024 to get 50% off the complete collection if you want. Ok cool.

Hi Indie Biz,

I’m thrilled to share that we just launched Instant AI Personalization on Product Hunt! 🎉

With this game-changing feature from Gan.AI, you can now create hyper-personalized video campaigns faster than ever. Using ultra-realistic lip syncing and voice cloning, a single recording transforms into hundreds of customized videos in just minutes.

🎥 Check out our launch video here—it’s a quick glimpse into how we’re revolutionizing personalized outreach!

We’d love for you to take a look and share your thoughts. If it resonates with you, an upvote would mean the world to us. 🙌

Product Hunt Link: https://www.producthunt.com/leaderboard/daily/2024/11/22?ref=header_nav

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/pCpxToloIds?feature=shared

Hello Everyone!

We just launched Spurfit on Product Hunt today and would love your support! 🚀

Spurfit is designed to empower creators in the fitness industry—whether you’re a coach, an influencer, or running your own gym. It helps manage and grow your business by replacing outdated tools with a smarter, AI-powered solution. We handle the boring stuff so coaches can focus on what they do best! 💪

Here's our launch page: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/spurfit-2-0.

It's only live for the next 22 hours and support means the world to us—thank you!

Let me tell you exactly how we did it—but first, you should know:

The bar is a lot lower than you think.

Most creators don’t follow a clear process when launching their products. I am one of them.
Most quit after 2–4 months.

You don’t need to be a world-class designer/developer or work 60-hour weeks to succeed. You just need to avoid the common mistakes and stay consistent.

Here’s exactly how we built a Framer template business that generates passive income with 240 days of effort:

Step 1: Foundation

You shouldn’t create website templates on a whim. I have 11 years of experience as a Web Designer.

• Research the market: We scoured Reddit, X, and template marketplaces to find trends and gaps before creating our first website template.
• Find your niche: We noticed demand for clean, fast templates in categories like SaaS, real estate, and creative agencies.
• Validate the idea: Before going all-in, we started with only one template and took 40 days to complete design & development.

Users want templates that are easy to customize, modern, and functional for their businesses. Once we had proof of demand, it was time to start designing.

Step 2: Designing & Building

Designing is the fun part, but speed matters.

• We turned ideas into templates within 20–25 days, focusing on solving the core needs of our audience.
• We made every template simple to use, ensuring it worked right out of the box while offering flexibility for customization.

The first template was ready—time to launch them to the world!

Step 3: Marketing Your Templates

The goal was to attract 15 buyers for our first template within 60 days. To achieve that, we followed a clear plan:

1. Launch in Marketplace: Framer has their own marketplace which has a hard review process. We were able to crack that and made our template approved.
2. Set daily targets: For example, posting a sneak peek of the design almost every day.
3. Pick 2 channels: We focused on IndieHackers and X because that’s where our audience hangs out.
4. Engage, don’t spam: We shared valuable tips about Framer and website design, offered help, and highlighted how our template could save users time and money.

Within 40 days, we hit 15+ users—and we were good to go all in.

Step 4: The Official Launch

We launched on platforms like X(Twitter), indiehackers, Reddit and Facebook.

• Launch prep: Created detailed images, polished our website and crafted a compelling launch post.
• Early-bird access: We created some early-bird campaigns/posts to gain some supporters.
• Promotion strategy: We drove traffic to our website store by posting, engaging, and GIVEAWAYs.

The outcome? We have over 317+ free and paid customers.

Step 5: Scale and Iterate

Now, we're in this stage. Here's what we planned next:

• Reddit: Engage in related communities, post values, and help.
• Giveaways: Planning to offer FREE website templates, contests, and design hacks.
• SEO: Rank our website on Google with relevant keywords.
• Pinterest: Posting valuable content related to website design and template business.

Why It Worked

The truth is, we failed hard before. We wasted months building a design subscription agency. That failure taught us to follow a proven process:

1. Validate ideas before building. In this case, launching one website template first.
2. Focus on user problems, not personal preferences. Find niches or ideas for templates on communities.
3. Stay consistent in marketing, even with small efforts. That's hard but rewarding.

We turned our frustration into a website template business that helps others create websites quickly and efficiently.

Feel free to ask questions—I’m here to help. And if you’re interested, check out our website templates here.

Hi everyone! 👋

I've built Emoji Repo, a modern platform that makes finding and using emojis easier than ever. Looking for beta users to test and provide feedback!

What is Emoji Repo?

• 🎯 A comprehensive emoji search engine with 1,800+ emojis
• 🎨 Multiple platform styles (Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook)
• ⚡ Advanced features like emoji merging and image conversion
• 💾 Free downloads in PNG/SVG formats
• 🌐 Fully responsive design

Key Features:

• 🔍 ML-powered smart search
• ⚡ Fast loading with sprite sheets optimization
• 🎨 Multiple platform styles (Apple, Google, Twitter)
• 🆓 Always free, no premium or hidden costs
• 💼 Commercial friendly licensing
• 🌟 Regular updates with latest Unicode standards

Why I Built This: I noticed many emoji websites were outdated or had poor UX. I wanted to create a modern, user-friendly platform that makes finding and using emojis effortless.

What I Need Help With:

1. User Experience Testing
   • Is the search intuitive?
   • How's the download experience?
   • Any UI/UX improvements?
2. Feature Testing
   • Emoji merger tool
   • Emoji-to-image conversion
   • Multi-platform preview system
3. General Feedback
   • What features would you like to see?
   • Any bugs or issues?
   • Performance concerns?

Tech Stack:

• Next.js (App Router)
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• Server-side rendering for SEO

Try It Out: https://emojirepo.org/

Looking forward to your feedback! Feel free to comment here or reach out via:

• Email: support@emojirepo.com

Thank you for your time! 🙏

Team communication tools are platforms that facilitate collaboration, streamline workflows, and enhance productivity within organizations. They offer features like messaging, file sharing, task management, and video conferencing to keep teams connected, whether working remotely or in-office. Popular examples include Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Clariti.

View Poll

Hey Reddit,

Before you raise an eyebrow at the word "FREE," let me explain.

We’re a group of experienced ex-big-tech employees specializing in AI, and we’re on a mission to build a self-service product that helps businesses like yours reduce advertising costs. But here’s the catch: we want to start by rolling up our sleeves and doing the work manually for free.

Why?

• To build empathy for your pain points.
• To understand your real needs before diving into automation.

It’s a win-win:

• You get free advertising help.
• We get your valuable feedback to learn what matters most to you.

Why Choose Us?
✅ Free means FREE: No $, just your time to provide feedback.
✅ We’re experienced: Our team has proven success else where
✅ We’re highly motivated: This is our passion project
✅ We’re fun to work with: Seriously, we’re pretty upbeat

Why Not Choose Us?
❌ Time investment: You’ll need to help us fine-tune the results with your feedback.
❌ We’re new to your use case: Unlike paid services, we’re still learning about your industry.
❌ It’s weird, right?: Just a Reddit post from a stranger offering free help.

Who Is This For?

• You’ve got a working mechanism, but it is a grind.
• You know exactly what works and what doesn’t, when we show you the results.

A Quick Heads-Up:
This is first-come, first-serve, and we can only work with a very limited number of businesses at a time to ensure we give you the attention you deserve.

Worst case? You try us out and realize it’s not for you.
Best case? You save time and money.

How It Works
While this post is still alive, we’ll start with a quick call to get to know you and your use case. This step helps us determine if our expertise aligns with your needs—so we don’t waste your time if it doesn’t. If it’s a good fit, we’ll come up with ways of working together to tackle your pain points.

Hi, everyone!

I’d love to share my app, Calvin AI Video & Reel Maker, an app for automated video creation and sharing. It’s perfect for content creators on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Would love your feedback or ideas on how to improve it!

We're building a work marketplace similar to Upwork
We're starting with fixed-payment contracts (4% job-completion fee) in our MVP.

https://oneweek.work

In the months after we deploy our MVP, we're launching
-mobile apps
-hourly contracts (with a desktop client)
-full-time roles
-PayPal integration for regions Stripe Connect does not support
-researching solutions to penalize ghost job postings and fake candidates
-an AI-powered talent-matching service that matches clients and freelancers

Hey Reddit! I designed an iOS app to simplify staying connected with loved ones, colleagues, and friends around the globe.

A part of my friend circle moved abroad in the past 2 or 3 years and more will in the coming years With distance came the added complication of time difference "Can we talk at your 8PM today?" "What time is it for you?" "No, that's too early for me"

I grew tired of asking these kinds of questions over time. So I hacked together a simple app to track my friend’s local time

Features:
- Time Zone Conversion: Easily view your friend's local time. You can also add cities. 
- Groups: Create groups to organize contacts between work and personal life
- Widgets: See your friend's time right from your homescreen
- Calendar View: Add calendar events right from the app

I'm eager to hear your feedback and suggestions to make Orbitime even better. Check it out here: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/orbitime-time-zone-widget/id6463491213

Thank you for your time.

Are you in need of a skilled web and mobile app developer for your next project? Look no further! I am a seasoned developer with years of experience and a proven track record of delivering high-quality, user-friendly apps.

I specialize in a variety of programming languages and frameworks, including React, React Native, Node.js,RoR,Laravel and more. Whether you need a simple website or a complex app, I have the skills and expertise to bring your vision to life. You can review my portfolio here

https://complitech.us/work

I pride myself on my ability to understand my clients' needs and create solutions that meet their unique requirements. With my attention to detail, quick turnaround time, and commitment to delivering results, you can trust me to help you achieve your goals.

So if you're looking for a talented and reliable web and mobile app developer, contact me today to learn more about how I can help!

In this post I'm sharing my insight how to gain more users with Reddit, welcome to read :)

https://yoavsbg.beehiiv.com/p/timing-is-everything-how-to-boost-your-app-in-reddit-for-free

Over the past 3 months, I've gained 200 users for my SaaS product just by manually replying to tweets where people expressed their needs. What's even more exciting is that these users show a 40% higher conversion rate to paid plans compared to users from other channels.

My approach was simple but time-consuming: I searched for tweets where people were asking for solutions similar to what my product offers, then provided genuine, helpful responses. No automation, no spam - just authentic conversations and real value-adding replies.

However, I noticed I was spending 2 hours daily just on:

1. Searching for relevant tweets
2. Following up with potential users
3. Managing conversations across multiple threads
4. Tracking which replies led to conversions

But there will still be missed viral posts. So I built an internal tool to streamline this process.

At first, it only helped me search and use AI to filter posts suitable for replying, which greatly reduced my workload. Until I found that Claude's writing level was even higher than mine, I wondered if AI could combine posts to make valuable replies and link needs and products? It works, and now it works very well within us.

I'm now working on turning this personal tool into a public product. Finally I decided to name it ReplyHunt. Now Looking for 5-10 beta testers who are actively using Twitter for user acquisition or planning to do so. If you're interested in making your Twitter outreach more efficient, you can follow me!

Empathy can feel like the heart of effective communication, breathing life into interactions. Here’s how to foster it:

1. Encourage active listening during conversations, ensuring everyone feels heard and understood.
2. Model empathetic behavior, showing vulnerability and understanding in your communications.
3. Foster a culture of kindness, where team members are encouraged to support one another through challenges.

Teams that prioritize empathy in communication often report higher levels of trust and collaboration. How do you cultivate empathy within your team?

Hey Reddit!

If your emails keep landing in spam, I can help. At MXSuite.co, we specialize in improving deliverability, ensuring your emails reach inboxes, not junk folders. Plus, we offer email warming for up to 100k emails, so you can build a solid sender reputation from the start.

Here’s what we offer:

✅ Easy-to-Use Web Dashboard for effortless email management – send, track, and optimize emails all in one place.
✅ Unlimited Mailboxes – scale your email outreach without restrictions.
✅ Unlimited Sending – send as many emails as you need, without worrying about limits.

✅ Choose Your Domain for full branding control and better recognition.
✅ Seamless Integration with your favorite sending platforms (Smartlead.ai, Instantly, and ReachInbox) making email campaigns simple.
✅ World-Class Email Warming to ensure your emails reach the inbox with reliable delivery up to 100k emails per day.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions you might have!

Looking to help someone with their cold email setup for free.

If you already have a system or if you need help setting up one up, i can do it for you. Looking for some good testimonials.

Drop what your business is about here or in a DM and we can see if cold email is something that would make sense for you!

I have been designing and developing website templates with Framer for the last 8 months.

One of the best ways to sell website templates is through the Framer's official marketplace, but they have a super hard review process.

3 of my website templates have been going through the review process for over a month now and already passed 5/6 times of revisions.

Instead of waiting for them, I started marketing through my personal Twitter. I can generate decent sales from there, but not much compared to the work I put in.

I also launched my own website to sell templates, here's http://pentaclay.com
I launched only 20 days ago and got a couple of sales from the website.

I am also posting regularly on Facebook and Indiehackers.

It's hard to keep myself motivated, I have to go through all these processes,

- Design a template in Figma

- Develop this in Framer

- Go through all the review process

- Also, do the distribution and marketing parts.

But sales are not satisfactory yet, I know if I keep going for 6 more months, things might be different, how to keep myself motivated that long?

Or any ideas on marketing?

Indie business owners and supporters!

I’m working on a set of UI components to make small business websites shine. For those of you with indie businesses, what’s the one feature or design you think every small business website must have?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Hey Reddit!

I’m pretty new to making videos and launching products, but I just released something I’m excited about: WAPI Human, a tool for superhuman productivity on WhatsApp. It’s built to help people manage chats faster and more efficiently without losing that personal touch.

[I'll post the link below]

Would love your feedback—whether it’s about the product, the video, or any ideas for improvement. All thoughts (good, bad, or brutal) are welcome!

Thanks in advance 🙏

Note: I'll also separately will do a demo of Wapi launch including all of its features. But right now I just want feedback on the what you can see, thank you :)

Small wins => big motivation 💪🏻This is just the beginning 🚀

This is just the beginning 🚀

welcome to check it out and subscribe: https://yoavsbg.beehiiv.com/
The newsletter talks about mobile development improvements

Hey indie makers! 👋

Wanted to share my journey building Chewchatter and get some insights from this community about growing a two-sided marketplace.

The Why: Started noticing how small food businesses (home chefs, food trucks) were struggling to:

• Showcase their full menu
• Handle repetitive WhatsApp inquiries
• Get discovered by new customers
• Look professional online

The What: Built a simple platform where food businesses can:

• Create a digital storefront in 5 minutes
• Show their menu with photos & prices
• Handle orders via WhatsApp
• Get a unique business link

Current Status:

• Platform is live
• Free 30-day trial, then small monthly fee
• Helping businesses set up personally
• Growing mainly through Instagram
• Learning new lessons daily

The Challenges:

1. Building trust with non-tech-savvy businesses
2. Getting the first 100 businesses
3. Growing both sides (businesses & customers)
4. Converting interest into active users

What's Working:

• Personal approach to onboarding
• Instagram as main channel
• Solving real pain points
• Keeping it super simple

Would love to hear from others who've built for small businesses:

• How did you get your first 100 users?
• What marketing channels worked best?
• How did you build trust early on?

Check it out at chewchatter.co.za if you're curious.

Open to any advice or feedback from fellow indie makers!

Creating a feedback loop can feel like setting up a well-tuned echo chamber. Here’s how to make it effective:

1. Establish regular feedback sessions, both one-on-one and group settings, to encourage dialogue.
2. Use tools that facilitate feedback collection, like anonymous surveys or suggestion boxes.
3. Follow up on feedback to show team members that their input is valued and taken seriously.

Research indicates that teams with effective feedback loops experience a 25% boost in performance. How do you ensure that feedback becomes a constructive part of your team culture?

I launched my indie business today in a launchpad.
Here is the link: https://www.launching.today/products/startupbolt

Please go check it out and help make my launch a success :)

Newbie here seeking some safe advice. I have a friend who bootstrapped her own app that launched about a month ago and I am trying to help her get some feedback and and ideally users. The catch is she has never launched an app before and I have never really helped get one started. I would love your thoughts on the app (sharing here, but will remove if objectionable). It is called Friend in Store and it is a curated collection of independent stores and their events - something that is not really found anywhere else. The app also has 'privileges' which are bespoke discounts or experiences that those with the app can access to use in store. Here is a link to download. The app is only available in the App store and the stores are only local to NYC at the moment, but with funding things will scale. Here is a link to download - our honest feedback and advice would be most helpful. I should note the app is free and in the future stores will pay for their event listings which will be a source of revenue. There are also no in-app ads which makes the user experince pretty nice (at least I thikn so). Thanks for reading and your honest feedback. Terrie.

Hello!

My name is Tucker and I just realeased version 2 of my iOS app Ticker.

It is an activity/goal tracker to help you reach your (and others'!) time based goals. Enter your the number of hours you want aim for and time activities your activities until you reach your goals!

Check it out on the iOS app store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ticker-activity-tracker/id6496371572

I also made some dev logs on YouTube if you are interested in seeing the development process! https://youtube.com/@theaveragedev8941?si=YIrwQqXl2VyaGubX