Free open-source tools for indie hackers!
Hi fellas,
I feel like a lot of us are facing the same problems when looking for new ideas / validating / building MVP's. I wanna write open-source tools that would help indie hackers to do their indie hackin'. Needless to say these tools will always be FREE.
I'd love it if you could take 5 minutes of your time to answer this survey that would help me assess what kind of tools are needed:
https://unicornhunter.typeform.com/to/EOEtSG?src=ih
If anybody wants to collaborate, feel free to email me at info@unicornhunter.tools (Unicorn Hunter is what I'm calling this project 😋).
Feel free to ask question or comment here, I answer everything! Thanks in advance and happy indie hackin'!
I'd say that I'm not really 100% happy with any landing page out there to help me build my initial MVP. So I always end up building my own with Vue. That's a pretty time-consuming task that I wish I could avoid. It takes time but there's no really perfect, visual solution at the moment.
I've seen Carrd and Launchaco, they're good but still not there...
thanks for the reply :)
tbh I think you could never really make a tool that is both simple to use and gives you a lot of flexibility. code gives a lot of flexibility but is complicated, and the various LP builders and no-code tools are simple but not very flexible...
I think the LP builder market in particular is waaaaay over-saturated. I don't think creating another LP builder would be very useful for indie hackers..
but you should definitely consider tools like bubble.io or outsourcing if you're feeling that development is too time-consuming for you. that's the point - bootstrappers should focus the least amount on time on development and the most amount of time engaging with their audience. I'm hoping to find a way to create a tool that'd help makers like us do just that. will be sure to keep y'all posted on Unicorn Hunter's progress 😎.
So firstly, good for you for starting to “validate” your own mission with a survey to fill out. Leading by example, literally :)
Personally, in my tech projects I quite often struggle to reach all the people that I think would find it valuable. It’s easy when you develop a WordPress or Shopify plugin, but not as much when you’re building your own SaaS that no one has ever heard about.
Maybe offering a solution in that realm could help…
thanks for the response! : )
I agree. my hypothesis is that indie hackers mainly struggle with the business side of things, like validating their ideas and finding an audience. and the responses to the survey so far confirm that.
I think that creating a platform that would integrate an LP builder (or some kind of no-code tool) with business guidance (in the form of a CRM to manage leads, for example) could help a lot of people.
my goal right now is to get a better idea of what tools would help the most in that respect, and then making them so that indie hackers could self-host that platform (similar to how WordPress is self-hosted and free).
I don't know about the specific implementation, but the direction with giving "business guidance" (particularly marketing a new product to the right communities) is gold if done right.
Too many times I see Indie Hackers build products and begin to search for their first customer only once it's done.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
cool idea, wasn't aware such a service exists, so I set it up using mailgun instead (with much effort along the way tbh) 🤷♂️
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
ideally I wanna create more "holistic" tools for indie hackers. landing page builders are useful and they save you a ton of time, but they don't help you analyze the market, validate your ideas, or help you find product-market fit, for example. and I feel like these are the things indie hackers are having the most trouble with, not the technical side.
I already have a few prototypes for such tools. if you're interested in a collab (or anybody else reading this), feel free to email me at info@unicornhunter.tools.
This comment was deleted 7 years ago
so my first business was an eCommerce business (Amazon FBA). there are many useful tools in that niche for market intelligence (the most famous tool being Jungle Scout).
while Jungle Scout is a paid tool, Amazon FBA entrepreneurs have a lot of free alternatives that are absolutely invaluable in the Amazon FBA business.
I think similar tools can be made for the bootstrapping / indie hacking business.
Haha and thanks for the suggestion of opening a github repo. that's the next step, I wanna get a few responses on the survey first 😋.
hey! thanks for the response :) I agree that there's a TON of tools for tech entrepreneurs (just look at the amount of landing page builders there are on PH).
but I keep seeing indie hackers running into the same problems as one another. obviously they're still all having the same problems and maybe that can be addressed with some sort of tool (imagine a tool for example that would guide you through a validation process, or finding product-market fit)...
Hey G, I was actually just thinking of that, building a structured process for startups to follow, especially first-timers. Have a site that gives them the process, enforces certain steps ( validation and customer interviews, MVP link), gives the right resources at the right time (Bubble for MVP building, landing page builders, Google Ads for reach, meetups). Message me through my profile here if you'd like to explore it
Hey, there :)
Yeah I'm sure I'm not the first one to see it as a real problem. the question is how to execute on that idea correctly. will make sure to contact you once I have a better idea of where this is going :)