Indie Bites

Today I’m talking with Flo Schirmer about "sweaty startups", a term for old-fashioned, low-risk businesses that are often service based and unsexy. I’m talking window cleaning, car washing, self-storage, house moving and more. We’re going to discuss if you can do this as a side hustle, if you should do this over a regular software business, and what you need to do to get started with some ideas along the way.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:38 What is a sweaty startup?03:18 From window cleaning to home security04:37 How to start a sweaty startup06:41 Growth for a sweaty startup07:26 Sweaty startup vs software - what is best for indie hackers?08:45 Injecting a tech edge into old fashioned businesses11:34 Examples of successful sweaty startup brands13:58 Two free sweaty startup ideas15:57 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - $100m LeadsPodcast - My First MillionIndie Hacker - Alex HormoziMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder she started with her partner Filip, now used by half a million people and are over $150k MRR. Marie was on the pod 3 years ago when they’d scaled to 16,000 users and $8k MRR in 1 year. In that episode we discussed the origin story, getting their first 100 users and how they’d grown so quickly. Today, we’re going to be finding out how they’ve built such a robust business over the past 3 years and 15x’d their revenue.Listen to Marie's first episode:https://indiebites.com/43Timestamps00:00 Intro02:09 From small lifestyle business to larger sustainable business04:50 Retaining the fun in the business06:02 Struggles in hiring a remote team07:32 Building an in-person team in Belgium vs remote08:17 Running a startup as a parent10:06 How Tally has grown to $150k MRR13:07 The pros and cons of building in public15:08 Growing the product while keeping it simple15:49 The future of Tally16:43 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - First Round CapitalPodcast - Lenny's PodcastIndie Hacker - Olly MeakingsMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Tom Fishburne is the founder of Marketoonist, a bootstrapped marketing cartoon business he started in 2010. He started drawing and sharing cartoons in 2002, and it took him 8 years to make the leap, despite having a successful career in marketing. 15 years later, Tom is still going strong, with the business making money from cartoon licensing, speaking gigs, brand deals, his book and more.Listen to the extended version of the show here: https://indiebites.com/membership/Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:23 - Moving to Czech Republic out of college02:16 - From Czech Republic to MBA03:19 - Starting cartooning04:03 - Tom's first client04:37 - Imposter syndrome05:20 - Pricing too low06:01 - Making the leap to full time07:08 - The terrifying moment of taking the leap08:08 - How Tom executed on his plan as a full time cartoonist?09:20 - Marketoonist revenue breakdown10:45 - Why Tom still does client work12:45 - Dealing with sh*tty clients13:55- Dealing with AI and competition15:55 - RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - Orbiting the Giant HairballPodcast - Fly On The WallIndie Hacker - David HieattMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CourseSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, a simple, privacy focused analytics tool launched in 2019. I last spoke to Jack on the podcast in 2021, where he talked about the inception and growth of Fathom, taking on a massive incumbent and why Jack loves working with a co-founder. In December 2024, Jack acquired his co-founder’s share in the business, making him the sole owner (i think). Today, we’re going to talk about why he made this unique move and what’s next for Fathom.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:20 Jack finds out about EmailOctopus02:34 Why Jack acquired Fathom05:03 How can Jack afford this?05:28 Why did they not get an external buyer?07:17 Back to being a solo founder08:19 Innovating the the crowded analytics space11:09 Fathom's marketing and growth in 202512:34 How is Jack having fun?13:14 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - Dopamine NationPodcast - Huberman LabIndie Hacker - Ruben GamezMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Sam Shore is the co-founder of Typeshare, a writing platform made to create and publish text across the internet. Typeshare has made over $1m in revenue since it was started in 2021, with over 80,000 user, currently $34k MRR I’m speaking to Sam to find out how he started Typeshare as the first of 12 startups he was planning to build, and what made this stick.00:00 Intro01:10 Sam's entrepreneurial background02:03 Failed past projects03:31 12 startups in 12 months04:16 The idea for Typeshare05:38 Getting traction with Typeshare06:50 Getting to $15k MRR in 1 year with infuential partnerships09:52 How is Sam making sure he has fun with the business12:18 How to get better at writing online14:09 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - Poor Charlie’s AlmanackPodcast - ReworkIndie Hacker - Dmytro KrasunMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Justin Duke is the founder of Buttondown, a simple email tool he launched in 2017. Justin was last on the podcast 2 years ago when he’d hit $15k MRR and just left his role at Stripe to focus on Buttondown. I was struck by Justin’s well thought through approach to building. He makes calculated risks and shares a lot of his learnings on his blog, Applied Cartography (which is an essential read for any indie hackers).This episode I catch up with Justin to hear how he’s grown the team to 8 people and his approach to building a company he loves. This is a cut down version of an hour long catch up I had with Justin available on the Indie Bites membership which is available at indiebites.com/membership, where we discuss his personal blog, how he structures his time as a new parent and we go deeper into hiring high agency unicorns.Timestamps00:00 - Intro01:58 - Buttondown growth03:40 - How to build a company you don't hate07:16 - Marketing and positioning Buttondown11:17 - Buttondown's unique home page approach13:45 - Building a business you enjoy15:32 - RecommendationsMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Today I’m not actually joined by an indie hacker, but by someone who can help a lot of indies out there. Josh Peleg is the Head of Biz Dev and Mergers and Acquisitions at BlueThrone. Essentially, he knows all about how to sell a business from the buyer's side.In this episode we’re going to learn from Josh exactly what you need to know about selling your indie product. How you find an acquirer, what does the process look like and how you can get a deal over the line.I’ve spoken to some indie hackers who have gone through exits, such as Rob Walling, Ramy Khuffash, Tibo Louis Lucas and more, but not so much from the other side. Let’s find out what it takes.Timestamps00:00 Intro00:56 What is BlueThrone02:13 How to find a potential acquirer04:41 How to set up your business to be sold06:33 Acquirer red flags08:31 Acquirer green flags10:04 The type of exits and what to choose13:48 RecommendationsReccosBook - The Master and The MargaritaPodcast - 20VCMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Arvid Kahl is returning to the podcast for the third time. In 2019, he’d just sold Feedback Panda for a life changing amount of money and then wrote the book Zero to Sold. In 2023, he was in full-on creator mode with The Bootstrapped Founder and had just released The Embedded Entrepreneur. Now, he’s still producing the content but is also spending time on his SaaS Podscan, which is an extremely ambitious tool that transcribes every podcast and let’s you track mentions of your brand.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:27 Arvid's life as a SaaS founder02:48 Are people still building in public03:54 No longer being a solo founder05:24 Raising from Calm Fund09:17 Keeping The Bootstrapped Founder running12:10 Wins for 202413:36 Parting advice15:08 RecommendationsRecommendationsBook - A Court of Thorns and RosesPodcast - The Economics of Everyday ThingsIndie Hacker - Tyler TringasMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Recently I’ve been reviewing my catalogue of previous guests and have been intrigued to see where they are now, so expect to see a few more returning guests over the next few weeks.Today is a chap who was last on the podcast 3 years ago, and is still ever present in the indie community. Pete Codes is writes the High Signal newsletter, sharing all the best indie hacking news every week. He’s making his main living through Ghostwriting for Twitter, Bluesky and LinkedIn, but he’s still launching new projects and keeping his previous projects live.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:25 How Pete stays up to date with indie hacking news03:21 Twitter, Bluesky or LinkedIn04:36 Is building in public dead?07:30 Who is still building in public09:40 Big news stories of 2024 / who has been successful12:06 Pete's plan for his newsletter, High Signal12:48 RecommendationsMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Tiago Ferreira is the co-founder of Podsqueeze, an AI podcast tool that helps automate your podcast content. The tool, that helps you create show notes, newsletters, social posts and more, is currently doing $16k MRR and growing. You might also know Tiago from his podcast Wannabe Entrepreneur, where he’s interviewed impressive founders including Pieter Levels.Timestamps00:00 - Intro120 - Tiago Ferreira01:06 - Tiago's background02:25 - Lessons from failures03:40 - Starting Podsqueeze - solving your own problem05:53 - How Podsqueeze had a successful launch06:40 - How to have a successful launch08:10 - Growth tactics for Podsqueeze - SEO13:03 - Future plans and exit14:28 - RecommendationsRecommendationsBook: SaaS Playbook by Rob WallingPodcast: Startups for the Rest of UsIndie Hacker: Elston BarettoMy linksTwitterIndie Bites TwitterIndie Bites YouTubeJoin the membershipPersonal Website2 Hour Podcast CoursePodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)This Indie Life PodcastSponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.