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r/Indiehackers - Top Weekly Reddit

Where independent developers share their path to success, focusing on bootstrapping, product building, and insightful discussions.

How a Little-Known Spanish App Studio, Monkey Taps, Earns $12M a Year

April 18, 2025 18:27:01

Most people haven’t heard of Monkey Taps, but they’re quietly killing it with a portfolio of simple, well-executed apps. Think daily quotes, affirmations, and word-of-the-day stuff - nothing revolutionary. But together, their apps pull in over $1M/month in revenue.

https://preview.redd.it/vv343i20zmve1.png?width=1312&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a0ecb765863d29003baa9fcd0faf39ca72675fe

What’s wild is how consistent their success is:

Motivation: 4.8 stars, 1M+ ratings
I Am – Daily Affirmations: 4.8 stars, 647K+ ratings
Vocabulary: 4.8 stars, 149K+ ratings

No onboarding rating prompts. No flashy features. Just a tight UX, emotional design, and a smart growth engine.

A few things stood out to me:

🔁 The Cross-App Flywheel
They cross-promote between apps. Open “I Am”? You’ll likely see a banner for “Motivation.” It’s basic — but powerful. Once you get one app into a user's routine, it's easier to introduce another.

https://preview.redd.it/sm83ahyoymve1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d955657e9af95c0b7791a5efde868fd683fb4f7

🌇 Emotional Design > Fancy Features
Their onboarding screens use warm, twilight-style backgrounds. Sounds silly, but it works. Those "golden hour" vibes connect emotionally - similar to what performs well on Instagram or Facebook.

https://preview.redd.it/pdx8t40rymve1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bccef5c272056b325260f29de88f0a01f9c7e9e1

https://preview.redd.it/o0m1l1ttymve1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd4d1c291ea48a2d558750a46cec04a0787853ac

📈 ASO Over Everything
They rank top 3 for 1,000+ keywords like:

"affirmations"
"motivation"
"quotes"
"vocabulary"

ASO seems to be their #1 growth lever. Once you’re ranking, that feeds downloads → ratings → higher rankings → repeat.

🌀 The Daily Ratings Loop
Apple’s algorithm loves fresh ratings. Monkey Taps apps consistently get them - not through begging, but by delivering such a smooth experience that users want to rate. That keeps them floating at the top of search.

📊 Organic + Paid = Moat

Their Affirmations app has 1.4M followers on IG
Vocabulary has 700K followers
They’re also running 38+ paid ads across Google, YouTube, and Meta platforms

Most devs pick one lane (paid or organic). They’re doing both.

What I like most is that none of this relies on virality or luck. It’s just tight execution - good design, smart ASO, solid retention, and flywheel thinking.

If you liked this breakdown, I share more case studies like this on Twitter.

submitted by /u/jasper_reed_htd
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I spent two years building a Rendering Engine that supports Infinite Zoom and PDFs! (iPad)

April 19, 2025 16:28:58

Hey! I'm a Computer Vision engineer who spends a lot of time doing research work. For the last 5 years I've been dreaming about the perfect Infinite Canvas app for the research and engineering I do.

After two years of work and iteration, I'm excited to announce Ahmni: Infinite Canvas now supports both Infinite Zoom and PDFs on the canvas. The rendering engine is written from the ground up for high performance on Apple Silicon using Metal and Swift.

Feel free to reach out with any feedback!

App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ahmni-infinite-canvas/id6468889981

submitted by /u/thirtysecondsago
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I got fed up with money apps being useless or invasive, so I built my own. No logins. No ads. Just clarity.

April 21, 2025 10:13:30

Hey Reddit,

Most money apps fall into two buckets: – They show too little (just transactions) – Or they ask for too much (logins, syncing, ads, tracking)

None of them actually made me feel in control of my finances.

So I built my own. It’s called MoneyTool — a private, offline-first money app built for clarity and focus.

Here’s what it does: -Track everything in one place: expenses, income, budgets, investments, debts -Get the full picture: net worth, savings health, future goals, pension forecasts -Clean UI, no bloat, customizable dashboards -Fully private: no logins, no syncing, no ads -Works offline: your data stays with you

It’s live now on Android and iOS, free to try: themoneytool.com/download

Would love to get your honest feedback: – What frustrates you about current money apps? – What features do you wish existed?

Happy to answer any questions or get into the weeds in the comments.

submitted by /u/nosleepfounder
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I've helped launch 30+ SaaS products in 4 years - here's why most projects fail (and how to actually finish yours)

April 20, 2025 17:38:20

Hey r/indiehackers,

As a freelance SaaS developer, I've seen a TON of projects go from idea to launch (and plenty that didn't make it). After working on 30+ products over the last few years, I've noticed some clear patterns in what separates finished projects from eternal works-in-progress.

Thought I'd share what actually works:

The brutal truth about why most projects die:

The "wouldn't it be cool" trap - Starting projects because they seem technically interesting rather than solving real problems you care about. These die when the technical novelty wears off.
Scope monster - You start building Twitter but "simpler" and end up with a feature list longer than the original. I did this with my first three attempts at building anything.
Perfection paralysis - Endlessly tweaking your logo/UI/code architecture while never shipping. I spent 3 weeks once optimizing a database structure that literally no one would ever see or care about.
The "just one more feature" disease - Constantly adding "just one more thing" before launch. The launch date keeps moving right until you abandon it.

What actually works (from someone who has to finish things):

Define "done" before you start - Write down the exact 3-5 features needed for v1.0 before writing a single line of code. Put it on your wall. This is your finish line.
Set artificial deadlines - Tell people when you'll show it to them. Book a demo call. Public commitment is powerful.
Build in public - Post weekly updates. The accountability is insane. I started doing this and my completion rate jumped dramatically.
The 2-hour rule - Commit to working on your project for just 2 hours twice a week, no matter what. Consistency beats motivation.
Kill your darlings - Be ruthless about cutting features that aren't essential. That cool ML recommendation engine? Save it for v2.

The most important lesson I've learned is that finished projects, even with flaws, are infinitely more valuable than perfect projects that never see the light of day.

What project are you working on right now? What's your biggest struggle with finishing it?

Edit: Damn this post blew up! Since I am getting a lot of DMs asking if I can help build their project, so Yes I can help build your project. Just message me with your requirements.

submitted by /u/Sea_Reputation_906
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I've built MVPs for dozens of founders - the ones who succeeded all ignored conventional wisdom

April 21, 2025 05:28:03

I've been building MVPs for startups as a freelance dev for almost 5 years now. Worked with all kinds of founders, from first-timers with big dreams to serial entrepreneurs on their 4th venture. After seeing so many projects succeed or crash and burn, I noticed something strange - the ones who made it big were usually the ones who didn't follow the "startup playbook."

Everyone says you need to validate your idea with endless customer interviews, build an MVP that's barely functional, and follow lean methodology to the letter. But the most successful founders I worked with? They did almost the opposite.

One guy I worked with built a SaaS for a problem HE personally had, with zero market research. Everyone said the market was too small. He's doing $15M ARR now. Another founder insisted on perfect UX from day one despite me telling her we could cut corners to launch faster. Her users became evangelists because the product felt so polished compared to competitors.

And my favorite: a founder who refused to "move fast and break things." He insisted on rock-solid, tested code even for the initial version. Took 3 months longer to launch than planned, but they've had almost zero churn because their product never fails. Meanwhile, I've seen dozens of "proper" lean startups fail because they shipped buggy MVPs that users abandoned.

The pattern I've noticed is that successful founders have strong convictions about what's right for THEIR business. They listen to advice but aren't slaves to it. They understand that startup rules are just guidelines written by VCs and bloggers who aren't building YOUR specific product.

What "conventional wisdom" have you guys ignored that actually worked out well?

submitted by /u/Sea_Reputation_906
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How do you Build a 1M ARR business

April 17, 2025 23:37:43

𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀. Look for time sinks, spreadsheets, and hacked-together workflows that people already pay to solve. Don't try to invent smth never seen before if this is your first startup. You're either a genius or it's not going to work, and it's most likely the latter.
𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗩𝗣 𝗶𝗻 3 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀. Your only goal here is to have a Stripe button on a landing page. Anything more is just procrastination.
𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. Talk like a friend showing progress, not a founder pitching.
𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘄𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. This will reduce churn of your users and increase long term trust. Your MVP should be very small and very reliable.
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 100 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀. DM people in niche communities who've complained about the exact problem you solve. Create value-first posts: "Built this tool that [solves X problem], looking for 5 testers..."
𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗮𝗵𝗮” 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Every extra click is a tax on conversion. Simplify the path from signup → value.
𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁. Users willing to talk are basically paying to be your focus group. Treat them well.
𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁? 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 (𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁). Jump on calls, watch them screen‑share, ask why they almost didn’t buy.
𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽𝘀. Partner with the influencers other influencers copy. Talk about your growth for more growth.
𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. Blog today so Google sends users tomorrow, next month, and next year.

submitted by /u/RetroTeam_App
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Any Indie Hackers relate?

April 20, 2025 11:47:05

submitted by /u/BlaiseLabs
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I sucked at social media, so I built an app that interviews me to create authentic social media content

April 18, 2025 13:04:34

Hey everyone,

After a year of inconsistent posting and perpetual writer's block, I built a tool that changed how I approach social media.

As a dev, I wanted to build in public and establish a presence on social media. But every time I tried to be consistent, I'd eventually run into these walls:

"there's nothing interesting to say today"
"this sounds generic/boring/try-hard"
"this draft is not good enough to post"

I sometime end up procrastinating for weeks or months and feel guilty about it.

Some stuff I tried:

Social media schedulers (didn't solve ideation/creation)
AI writing tools (content sounded nothing like me)
Batching (still took forever to write anything good)
Pure discipline (not sustainable after a couple weeks)

Finally got fed up and tried to build my own solution. It took a year and 5 different versions to get it right, but now I have something that I'm actually using consistently without feeling like a chore

How it works:

Collect your stories or everyday thoughts (through weekly AI interview, daily prompt or notes)
Convert your notes/conversations into post ideas > post hooks > full posts

The key insight that made this work: all of us have unique stories, experiences and perspectives inside us - we just need help getting it out in a structured way.

What used to take me a whole day to create is now just 1-2 hours a week. It's way less pressure to simply brain-dump during the week and then use the app to transform these messy notes and conversation into posts with substance.

It's hard enough juggling both building and marketing as a solopreneur so it's nice to have at least one thing be a little easier.

If you struggle with the same things I did, give it a try and let me know what you think!

It's still rough around the edges and only handles text content right now, primarily for x/twitter, linkedin, bluesky, threads, mastodon.

Fair warning: Takes about ~5 min to set up your profile, but it makes a huge difference afterward!

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/conteflow/id6743172168

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.conteflow.app

(There is a web app version too, currently offline to revamp with the new backend and features)

submitted by /u/aprileva
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Product Hunt alternative for Indie Makers hit $2K MRR in 19 days. here is how

April 21, 2025 18:17:44

hi makers. i am a dev for 10 years. earlier this year one of my side projects started making $600/mo without any marketing or promotion, so i quit my job to go full-time solo maker. building indie products since then..

the biggest struggle wasn’t building products, it was always distribution. every time i launched something on product hunt, it got buried under big companies and tech influencers. saw the same thing happen to so many other solo makers. tried other indie-friendly platforms but none of them really worked either.

so i decided to build one. i launched SoloPush (with the name IndieHunt) on april 1st — a platform where only indie makers can showcase and launch their products. the goal is to give our products a chance to actually be seen and spread in the indie community.

in 19 days, SoloPush crossed 200+ products, 350+ indie makers and passed $2K MRR.

spent the last week listening to feedback, improving the UX, and doing a full rebranding. rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up to make it feel right for makers.

on SoloPush, your launch doesn’t die the next day like on other platforms. products keep showing up in their category. your ranking depends on the upvotes you get, and only the best stuff surfaces.

right now i’m also building out free tools for solo makers inside the platform.

if you want to check it out: SoloPush.com
if you share your thoughts, you’ll help make it better.

submitted by /u/Clean_Band_6212
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10.

After analyzing 500+ successful apps, I found patterns no agency will tell you

April 22, 2025 12:13:45

Over the last 8 years running an app growth agency, I had front-row access to what actually moves the needle for apps. But here's what I realized: the traditional agency model doesn't work for most early-stage apps.

Why? Because I kept seeing the same tragedy play out:

Brilliant developers would build incredible apps, but faced with $5K/month marketing agencies or confusing DIY tactics, they'd choose to go it alone. Most never recovered from that decision.

The breaking point came when I met a developer who had blown his entire $15K budget on an agency that left him with nothing but generic advice and a half-completed UA strategy. His app was genuinely innovative – it deserved better.

That night, I started documenting EVERYTHING I knew about app growth. Every pattern, every insight from successful launches, every strategy that consistently worked across categories. Six months and 300+ pages later, I had a blueprint.

But here's the twist: Instead of creating another course or consultancy, I systemized the entire process into software.

The surprising discoveries:

The 80/20 of app marketing is universal - Despite thousands of marketing tactics, just 12 patterns determine most success stories
Category-specific strategies matter more than general best practices - What works for a fitness app almost never works for productivity tools
Small, precise changes beat massive overhauls - Our best results came from 15-minute tweaks, not week-long projects
Most failed apps had the right ingredients but wrong sequencing - It's not what you do, but when you do it that matters

The software I built (AppDNA.ai) takes these patterns and generates customized growth strategies in minutes instead of the two weeks my agency charged for. I still run the agency for larger clients who need that level of service, but now early-stage apps have a better option.

I'm sharing this because I believe too many great apps die from marketing malnutrition. If anyone's struggling with growth, happy to share specific tactics that work for your app category. Just drop a comment about your situation.

No sales pitch – the platform's free to audit your app anyway. I'm more interested in starting conversations about breaking free from the agency stranglehold at the early stages.

submitted by /u/Traditional-Pop-3824
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11.

I just launched cursor for video editing

April 24, 2025 08:51:55

We're two final-year college students, and we just launched FastCut – an AI-based tool to help creators, coaches, and marketers quickly turn long-form talking-head videos into short-form content (Reels, Shorts, TikToks).

The goal is simple:
Let users upload a raw video and get back a polished, engaging short in minutes — without touching a timeline.

FastCut does the following:

Automatically trims silences and filler content
Adds clean, animated captions using speech-to-text
Enhances audio
Pulls in relevant images (via Google Search), stock clips, stickers, and GIFs
Adds emojis and sound effects to make the video more dynamic

We were frustrated with how much time and effort it took to make short videos look decent — so we built this for ourselves, then decided to share it.

This is our first real SaaS product, and we're still figuring things out. We're aware there’s a lot to improve, both in the product and on the landing page. So:

We’d love your thoughts.
Try breaking it. Tell us what doesn’t work, what feels off, what’s missing, or what you'd expect from a tool like this.

Website: fastcutai.co

We're here to learn and improve. Thanks for reading!

submitted by /u/NikhilSheoran
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12.

From 0 to $2000 mrr month. no ads, no audience, just with this playbook

April 22, 2025 17:46:56

i’ve been building for a while. i thought if i make something useful, people will find it. so i kept shipping. shipped 8+ products in the last 2 years.
every time i thought “this is the one”. but after launch? silence. few upvotes, few likes. traffic barely moved. i thought the product wasn’t good enough.

i was spending 95% of my time building, 5% on tweeting about it. meanwhile, people with simpler products were getting thousands of visitors.

so i stopped building. spent 3 weeks mapping out every place indie devs get traction. found 1000+ places. niche directories, subreddits, slack groups, hidden gem platforms. organized everything into a doc. started testing.

week 2, used the refined playbook. this time, things exploded.

posted in 30 places in week 1. traffic jumped. but conversions sucked. so i kept tweaking. started studying how others convert their traffic. tested reddit hooks, cold emails, twitter viral threads. figured out what made people click. picked the ones that actually

week 2 but this time with this playbook. things exploded. got 14K+ visits, 150+ paying customers in a week. $2K mrr in a month.

shared the system with a few indie devs. same result. felt like i hacked the marketing algorithm for saas.

so i cleaned it up and made it available for everyone for fair price.

hope it helps someone else avoid wasting 6 months like i did.

submitted by /u/Clean_Band_6212
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13.

I built a tool that turns your app design into a video mockup in seconds – would love your feedback!

April 18, 2025 20:08:15

Hey everyone! 👋

I’ve been working on a side project, a website that lets you upload a screenshot of your app and instantly generate animated mockup videos. It's an early version (still pretty rough), but the core functionality is live, and I just made it public for the first time!

Right now it’s free to try, and I’d really appreciate any feedback on the concept, UX, or features you’d like to see. Link is in the comments 👇

Thanks in advance, and if you're into this sort of thing, I'm happy to share updates down the line 🙌

submitted by /u/createdbydavid
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14.

I made a game where you can invest in YouTube videos like stocks 📈

April 17, 2025 20:39:49

Hey everyone,

I’m a broke student who spends way too much time on YouTube and recently got burned by options trading 😅 So I built a pricing engine for youtube videos and made a game surrounding it called YouTube Collect.

You get 100 “YouCoins” to start. Invest in real videos. If they go viral, your balance grows. If you hold too long, prices decay (or crash).

There’s a global leaderboard, a full pricing engine (likes, comments, channel size, etc), and crash risk based on milestones (100%, 200%, etc).

Built it solo. It's live now. Only have like 1 real user. Would love feedback on:

Why no one’s biting
How to better pitch this
Any growth/retention ideas

Appreciate you reading :)

Note: Not real money lol, just a game :)

submitted by /u/Direct-Kitchen3778
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15.

Launched my first solo project today

April 20, 2025 11:59:21

Hey IH 👋 Just launched my first solo product today on Product Hunt: Controol — a simple finance app built around a mindset I wish I had earlier: knowing how much you can spend, not just what you already did.

It’s based on allocating income into virtual “boxes” by percentage (like 50/30/20), so spending feels intentional instead of stressful.

No team, no paid ads, no pre-launch list. Just me building something I needed. And honestly? It’s been amazing to see people connect with it. We made it to the Top 5 today!

Not here to pitch anything — just wanted to share the high of seeing something real go out into the world.

If you’re working on your first launch or just shipping something weird that solves your own pain, I’d love to hear about it!

🧠 What was your first launch like?

submitted by /u/maxicarreras
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16.

Launching Pensiv: An AI-supported journalling app that grows with you.

April 20, 2025 12:35:06

Hi fellow indie hackers,

I’ve been using ChatGPT to analyze my entries and to reflect with. It works great, I really liked it. I’ve managed to gain some good insights about myself and made improvements.

However, there are a few problems:

ChatGPT only remembers key facts about you, it has limited memories
ChatGPT couldn't recall the content of conversations you had with it
For individual ChatGPT products, your private conversations might be used to train future models (see: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/5722486-how-your-data-is-used-to-improve-model-performance)

So, I decided to build my own AI journal system. What started out as a scrappy app on my terminal, eventually turn into a full fledge journalling app. And thus, Pensiv is born.

What can Pensiv do for you?

You can journal.
You can reflect with Pensiv AI.
You don't have to repeat yourself. Context is build on the fly for Pensiv AI.
Easily organize and index key people and topics that appear in your journal.

I have tried a number of AI-journalling apps, but most of their core experience emphasize on interacting with AI first, journalling second. My vision with Pensiv is to have journalling still be the core of your experience, and having AI to support you for deeper analysis and more insightful reflections. My eventual goal is to have a DeepReserach-like AI Agent that could analyze all your past entries and conversations and give you tailored insights and advice.

If this interests you, I’m looking for early beta testers for Pensiv. It’s completely free to use. Sign up here! https://pensiv.me

submitted by /u/zshaoz
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17.

What are you building right now?

April 19, 2025 10:48:15

submitted by /u/nyashariyano
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18.

I built a security scanner for indie devs after getting hit with a $2350 mistake

April 21, 2025 08:46:57

Hey folks,

I wanted to share something I built,mostly out of necessity (and pain).

A while back, I launched a new product and got my first couple of sales. It was exciting… until I got slapped with a $2350 bill out of nowhere.

Turns out, I had accidentally left my Supabase anon key exposed in the frontend. Someone found it,cloned the app,and started abusing my backend endpoints. They also hammered my Vercel-hosted API routes,no auth, no rate limiting ,just open doors.

That experience made me realize how easy it is to overlook basic security stuff when you’re building solo and fast. So I built SafeCheck.dev — a lightweight, affordable scanner that checks your site for common issues like: • Exposed API keys or secrets • SSL/TLS misconfig • Missing security headers • Publicly accessible env/config files • WordPress vulnerabilities • Stripe/Supabase setup problems • And basic OWASP Top 10 patterns

It runs a free preliminary scan, and for a $19 one-time fee, it gives you a full PDF report. No subscription, no stored data,just fast feedback before launch (or after, if you’re panicking).

Would love your thoughts or feedback.

submitted by /u/littleButz
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19.

I built a Directory Boilerplate with payments, upvotes, auth & more

April 18, 2025 19:04:06

I created a SaaS directory boilerplate to save time building product listing platforms.

Built with Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, and TypeScript.

Features:
– Payment integration (subscriptions, featured listings, category sponsors)
– Upvote/downvote system
– User authentication & authorization
– Responsive design
– Customizable UI
– SEO optimized
– Fast performance
– Admin dashboard
– Fully typed codebase (TypeScript)

Perfect for launching product directories, marketplaces, tool lists, or job boards.

Check it out here: https://saasdirectorykit.com

submitted by /u/Clean_Band_6212
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20.

We Need to Condition Our Developer Brains to See Marketing as Productive Activity.

April 21, 2025 10:24:37

Hey indiehackers!

Wanted to share something I realized recently:

"Our developer brains think of marketing as a non-productive activity"

This is the main reason why we sometimes tend to avoid the marketing part and jump on new features/ideas...

We need to condition our developer brain to see marketing as productive.

Shipping code without users is like writing a book no one reads.

Marketing feels unproductive, but it's what makes the work matter.

Because a great product without users is just an expensive hobby...

submitted by /u/NickNaskida
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21.

I am from India and I quit my job

April 23, 2025 11:08:03

The reason I quit is for masters but thinking about it I have ~1.5 years of runway and like the idea of indie hacking. Have made couple of apps too but they didn’t go anywhere or in other words I didn’t give enough attention to them. My heart is saying that I should start building , shipping and forget outcomes for atleast a year and see how it goes. So I joined this community.

But here all I am seeing is people selling to indie hackers. Have you made any product that makes you a living? I want some motivation so please share your journey as well!

submitted by /u/KeyPossibility2339
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22.

I made $3,900 in 2 weeks from LTDs

April 23, 2025 12:05:59

A couple weeks ago I launched an LTD (lifetime deal) for my product Refgrow — an embeddable affiliate program for SaaS.

It brought in $3,900+ in 14 days 💰

Most of it came from:

Product Hunt
Twitter DMs
Cold outreach to SaaS with no affiliate system
Facebook groups

Here’s the reality check:
My MRR is still $9.

I’ve been building in public, iterating fast, and just launched a credit-based Referral Exchange to let SaaS products trade affiliates — which got some buzz.

But now I’m fully switching focus to:

Getting actual recurring customers
Tightening onboarding & messaging
More targeted outreach to early SaaS startups

If anyone here has advice on converting LTD buyers into long-term users (or lessons from the trenches), I’d love to hear it.

Happy to answer anything!

submitted by /u/EmbarrassedLink78
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23.

Would you use this AI desk device as your co-founder?

April 21, 2025 07:52:48

Hey folks,

I’m a startup founder working on something new — and I’d love your honest take.

It’s called Cofo AI — a small AI-powered desk device designed to act like a daily co-founder.
It sits next to you, listens, watches, and proactively helps during your workday.

Imagine something that talks to you like ChatGPT — but knows when you’re stuck, frustrated, or zoning out — and steps in with support. It helps with coding, productivity coaching, and even emotional resilience (like detecting burnout).

For builders, founders, solo-founders, devs, artists or remote workers:

Would you want a desk AI like this in your setup?

Would you actually use it?
What would make it a “must-have”?
What would make you not trust it?

Also what would be the price you will be willing to pay?

Be brutal, honest, curious — I’m not selling anything. Just want to build something that’s actually needed.

Thanks in advance!

submitted by /u/Hoxydav
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24.

After 4 failed startups and 3 months of hard work, I finally got my first paying users!!!

April 20, 2025 23:01:05

https://preview.redd.it/oxlt478yl2we1.png?width=2070&format=png&auto=webp&s=488c69fc410ae3c12d2c413bdac09d04c61ac6dc

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a milestone that feels massive to me, I finally got my first paying users!

The tool I made is called CheckYourStartupIdea.com. It basically validates users' startup ideas. Users input their idea, and the software searches through the whole of Reddit for relevant Reddit posts that are either discussing the idea itself or the problem the idea is solving, then it extensively searches through the whole web to find if your startup idea has direct competitors or not.

Basically, our tool finds out if your startup idea is original and has market demand. You get a list of the Reddit posts, and a list of your direct competitors (if they exist), and also a comprehensive analysis summary, conclusion, and originality/market demand scores.

We launched 3 days ago and have already reached 45 paying users, which is such a big milestone for me. It's not life-changing money, but it's the most motivating thing that’s happened to me in a long time.

If you’re grinding on something, please just keep going, that first sale is out there.

I would love some feedback on it, so if you'd like to try it out here it is: https://checkyourstartupidea.com

submitted by /u/Chemical-Activity333
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25.

From 0 to 130K YouTube views in 3 weeks – full automation stack now live

April 20, 2025 22:07:29

🆕 **Edit (April 21):*\*

The full system is now available on Gumroad — including all workflows, prompt templates, and database structures.

✅ [Starter Edition](https://short.bons-ai.de/starter)
✅ [Pro Suite](https://short.bons-ai.de/pro)
✅ [Ultimate](https://short.bons-ai.de/ultimate)

https://preview.redd.it/je99b2c8rkve1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3b1a55674ad431e96c84acdaf399809f2b5f481

Hey everyone,

I’ve been building and refining an automated faceless video production system for the past 3 weeks — completely from scratch, no prior experience with YouTube, video editing, or social media.

I started with zero followers, zero views, zero knowledge.
Now, after ~3 weeks of posting automated YouTube Shorts and TikToks, I’ve passed 130,000 views, and growth is steady – both in views and subscribers.

Everything is powered by n8n, JSON2VIDEO, Baserow, and a few other tools I stitched together.
I’ll keep evolving this system (I’m currently working on affiliate funnels + monetization) — but here’s the current stack if you’re curious:

🧠 1. Main Orchestrator Workflow

Central controller for all automations
Switches categories dynamically
Triggers the right LLM logic & templates
Dispatches to different social media upload flows

📤 2. Upload Workflow

Updates the Baserow DB
Uploads to Google Drive
Posts to YouTube (+ automatic playlisting)
Uploads to TikTok & Instagram via upload-post.com
Easily extendable to other platforms

🎬 3. Intro / Scene / Metadata Generator

Includes a Supervisor LLM layer + Postfilter → cleans up unsafe or overly long prompt output
Uses a master system prompt with dynamic Baserow variables for style, voice, tone, etc.
Scene count, duration, and content type all configurable per category

💡 4. Automated Idea Generation

Scrapes trending content from niche sources
Picks random categories
Generates 10 raw ideas, then filters the top 5
Final idea JSON is stored in Baserow, ready for production

📊 5. YouTube Metrics Collector

Pulls views, likes, copyright strikes, comment stats etc.
Ready for visualizations or trend detection

🐿 6. Special: Reddit Video Scraper

Targets specific subreddits
Downloads, trims & stores clips in local S3 (MiniO)
Uses yt-dlp + custom tools to generalize & merge footage
Creates compilations from similar clips via metadata matching

💬 7. YouTube Auto-Reply Bot

Triggered by email
Analyzes new comments, stores to DB, and replies automatically

💸 8. Affiliate Promo System

Dynamically injects call-to-actions into descriptions & comments
Supports rotating campaigns & evergreen default content
All managed via Baserow

🧷 9. Auto-Affiliate Comment Drop

First comment on every video is automatically posted
Uses clean formatting & emoji-based bulletpoints

📱 10. Shortform & Longform Video Support

Two separate JSON2VIDEO templates (9:16 and 16:9)
Dynamically controlled scene count
Great for cinematic Shorts or long-form storytelling videos

Everything is 100% automated — once a video idea lands in Baserow, the rest is handled by the system.
I’m still improving and experimenting (and soon launching this as a product on Gumroad).

Atm. I'll spend like 60 cents per shorts video!

If you’re building anything similar or want to chat about video automation / monetization, happy to connect!
Let me know if you'd like to get notified when the full version launches.

Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyhsCeU_AsY
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IWUdHIOyYyA

💡 Feedback, suggestions, or questions welcome!

submitted by /u/peppo-online
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