What do you think an Indie Hacker is?

Someone who hacks into databases listening to fringe alt-rock?

No. An Indie Hacker is not what it seems at first glance.

They are a community of independent developers, building one-person software businesses.

I found them while looking for strategies to grow my Twitter following. I first stumbled on a tool called Tweet Hunter built by a guy named Tibo.

The software is awesome and I’m a huge fan. But I did have one issue, so I reached out to customer support.

What do you know, Tibo himself responded and helped me work through the issue.

A few weeks later, he made an announcement. Lemlist, an email marketing company, acquired his software for multiple 7-figure payments.

Although Tibo is one of the more successful in this category of entrepreneur, he is far from the only one.

Just search the keyword ‘indie hacker’ on Twitter and you’ll find a sea of 1-person software startups who don’t get funding and instead rely on their effort and leverage of the internet to build multi-millions of dollars of value.

They don’t start out with money.

They don’t start with followings, networks, or fans.

They don’t live in silicon valley.

And in many cases, don’t start with the necessary skills.

But they start building anyway. And some of them become breakout successes.

Still, some of them, make $100K a year running their own tiny software business, have zero to little expenses, and have the satisfaction of independence.

There are not necessarily any tips or lessons in this email, just admiration and a window into the possibilities.

In the future, I may break down some of their businesses and look under the hood. If that’s something you are interested in, let me know.