indie-hacker-launch-coach

by charlie-morrison

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SKILL.md About

---
name: indie-hacker-launch-coach
description: Coach solo founders and tiny teams through the messy first 12 months of an indie SaaS, micro-app, info-product, or productized service — from idea validation to first $1k MRR to ramen profitability. Diagnoses why your launch flopped, why MRR is stuck, why customers churn, and why you're working 80hr weeks for $500/mo. Knows the 2026 indie landscape: Twitter/X presence, Product Hunt mechanics, Reddit and HN dynamics, communities (Indie Hackers, MicroConf, MegaMaker), and the realistic timelines. Adapts advice for SaaS, info-products, micro-apps, productized services, and Chrome extensions. Use when asked to validate an idea, launch a product, plan a Product Hunt launch, write copy that converts, set pricing, fight churn, build distribution, decide between bootstrapping and raising, or migrate from one platform to another. Triggers on "indie hacker", "indie saas", "bootstrap saas", "first customers", "product hunt launch", "first $1k mrr", "micro saas", "solopreneur", "side project to startup", "launch a product".
metadata:
  tags: ["indie-hacker", "saas", "bootstrap", "founder", "launch", "monetization", "micro-saas", "solopreneur"]
---

# Indie Hacker Launch Coach

Coach a solo founder through the unglamorous middle of building a real micro-business. No "10x your MRR" content. Just the actual work that gets a tiny product to ramen-profitable.

## Usage

**Basic invocation:**
> Validate this idea: [paste]
> Plan my Product Hunt launch
> Why did my launch flop?
> Stuck at $400 MRR — diagnose
> Should I quit my job for this?

**With context:**
> SaaS for podcast editors. Built it in 8 weeks, $40 MRR after 3 months. Bored.
> Chrome extension, 1.2k installs, $0 revenue, considering paid tier.
> Productized service ($1.5k flat fee for SEO audits). 4 clients in 6 months.
> $2k MRR after 14 months on a B2B SaaS. Considering quitting day job.

The coach assesses the stage, the actual numbers, and the realistic next move — not a generic playbook.

## Stage Diagnosis

| Stage | MRR | Months | Symptom | Right play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Pre-build** | $0 | 0 | "I have an idea" | Validate before coding |
| **Pre-launch** | $0 | 1–3 | Building | Build audience FIRST or in parallel |
| **Launch** | $0–$200 | 3–6 | Just launched | Seek 10 paying customers |
| **First plateau** | $200–$1k | 6–12 | Stalled | Find one channel that works |
| **Ramp** | $1k–$5k MRR | 12–24 | Growing slowly | Compound; reduce churn; add adjacent features |
| **Quitting day job** | $5k+ MRR | 18+ | Considering | Three months of runway + clear path to 2x |
| **Real micro-business** | $10k+ MRR | 24+ | Working | Hire help; specialize; not chase trends |

**Reality check:** 90% of indie products never reach $1k MRR. Of those that do, 50% never reach $5k. Of those that reach $5k, 50% never reach $20k. Each step takes 6–12 months.

## Idea Validation

Before writing code:

1. **Pain interview 5 target customers** — 30 min each. Ask: how do they handle this today, what have they tried, what would they pay to solve.
2. **Build a landing page first** — describe the product as if it exists. Get email signups + actual paying pre-orders.
3. **Manual delivery** — for service-able problems, deliver manually for 5 customers before automating. You'll learn what they actually need.
4. **Realistic TAM math** — how many potential customers × % you'd capture × average price = max possible MRR. If under $5k/mo, you're building a side project, not a business.

**Validation red flags:**

- "I'd build this for myself" without checking if anyone else has the problem
- "Everybody uses [tool]" — too broad; ask who specifically
- Friends say "great idea" — they're being polite; need strangers
- "There's nothing like it" — usually false; you haven't searched enough
- "I just need to add this one feature" — eternal stall

## Niche Selection

Indie products that survive serve a specific person with a specific problem. Generic = dead.

**Niche size sanity check:**

- Niche has at least 10,000 potential customers
- They can be reached online
- They pay for similar tools today
- The problem is acute (not "would be nice")

**Pricing sanity check:**

- B2B SaaS: at least $30/mo for sustained business; $99+ for fewer-customer model
- B2C SaaS: $5–15/mo with high volume needed
- Info-product: $50–500
- Productized service: $500–5k per project
- Chrome extension: $5–10/mo or one-time $20–50

**Bad niches for indie hackers:**

- Consumer apps with viral growth required
- Anything competing with VC-backed players (you'll get crushed)
- Tools that need >$10k CAC to acquire customers
- Markets with very long sales cycles (enterprise)
- Tools where free alternatives are good enough

**Good niches:**

- B2B verticals with old-school workflows (real estate, law, accounting)
- Specific role within a company (PMs in mid-size SaaS, content marketers, SDRs)
- Platforms with paying users (Shopify apps, Notion templates, WordPress plugins)
- Languages or regions large players ignore
- Specific compliance / industry needs (HIPAA, GDPR, FedRAMP)

## Build Tactics (the Right Amount)

Indie hackers ship too late. Build for the launch, not for the "real" product.

**MVP rules:**

- One core feature that solves the main pain
- Ugly UI is fine (most indie SaaS launches with shadcn/ui defaults — that's OK)
- Manual processes hidden behind "click to do X" buttons (Wizard of Oz)
- Stripe checkout for payment from day 1
- Boring tech stack (Rails, Django, Laravel, Phoenix, plain Next.js + Postgres)
- Deployment: Render / Railway / Fly.io / DigitalOcean — not Kubernetes

**Build time targets:**

- MVP: 4–8 weeks if you're solo and code daily
- v1: 3–6 months
- "Real" product feel: 12 months

**Anti-patterns:**

- Custom design system before product-market fit
- Microservices for an MVP
- Building your own auth / billing
- "Refactoring" before launching
- Mobile app for a B2B tool

## Launch Strategy

The "launch" is more like a series of small launches across multiple channels:

### Pre-launch warmup (2–8 weeks before)

- Build landing page with email signup
- Tweet your build daily ("build in public")
- Post on Indie Hackers about progress
- Get 100–500 emails on the list before launch

### Launch week (the actual launch)

```
Monday — Indie Hackers post (long, detailed, story-driven)
Tuesday — Twitter thread + ask for retweets
Wednesday — Reddit (relevant subs only, follow rules)
Thursday — Product Hunt launch (if you've done the prep)
Friday — Email to your list with "we launched"
Weekend — slow on socials, focus on customer support
```

### Product Hunt mechanics

- Schedule launch 12:01 AM PST
- "Hunter" with audience matters less than 3 years ago — self-launch is fine
- First 4 hours determine the day
- Have 30 friends/community members ready to upvote and comment
- Reply to every comment within 1 hour for first 24 hours
- Best on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday
- Avoid major news days
- "#1 of the day" is great but not required for revenue (a #5 in your category often converts well)

### Reddit launch rules

- Read the subreddit rules; many ban self-promotion
- Be present in the sub for weeks before launching there
- Post should be helpful, not promotional ("I built X to solve Y because Z")
- Engage in comments thoroughly

### Hacker News

- Post during US business hours (Mon–Thu, 9am–11am PST optimal)
- Title: "Show HN: [name] – [terse description]"
- Be present in comments; technical depth wins
- HN audience is engineering-skeptical; don't oversell

### Twitter / X

- Build in public from day 1
- Specific milestones get attention ("hit $1k MRR")
- Mix tactical posts with the journey
- Tag relevant accounts thoughtfully (not spammy)

## Pricing Strategy

The biggest mistake indie hackers make: pricing too low.

**Pricing tiers for B2B SaaS:**

- **$9/mo:** consumer / prosumer; needs volume, hard to support
- **$29/mo:** standard small B2B; sweet spot for most micro-SaaS
- **$79/mo:** business / pro tier; serious users
- **$199/mo:** team or agency tier; advanced features
- **$500+/mo:** enterprise tier; usually contract-driven

**Three-tier rule:**

- Lowest tier: gateway / individual
- Middle tier (designed default): 60% of customers should land here
- Top tier: power users / teams / scaled use

**Price-raise playbook:**

- Existing customers: grandfather them at old price for 12+ months
- New customers: new price effective immediately
- Test with 30 days of new pricing; revert if conversion craters >30%
- Price changes need a "why" (added features, more value, market positioning)

**Common pricing mistakes:**

- Free tier with no email gate (you have no relationship)
- Free trial of 30 days (too long; customers forget)
- Annual discount of 15% (try 25% to push annual)
- Hidden pricing on landing page (B2B tolerates; indie-buyers don't)
- Pricing equal to one of your competitors (you should be unique-priced)

## First 10 Customers

The first 10 customers come from:

1. Your direct network (post in your social/community)
2. Cold outreach to 50 ideal customers (real conversations)
3. Communities where they hang out (Reddit, Slack, Discord, forums)
4. Content that ranks ("best [tool] for [niche]" SEO posts)
5. Lucky launch-day spike

These first customers are gold. Talk to them constantly. Their feedback shapes the next 100.

## Distribution Strategy

After launch, distribution is the hardest part. Most indie hackers underestimate this:

| Channel | Effort | Time to results | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO content | High | 6–12 months | Evergreen tools |
| Twitter/X | Medium | 2–6 months | Building audience |
| Cold email | Medium | 1–3 months | B2B niche |
| Communities (Slack/Discord/Reddit) | High | 3–6 months | Specific niches |
| Affiliate / referral | Low | 6+ months | Established product |
| Paid ads | $$ | 1 month | Once unit econ proven |
| Partnerships / integrations | Medium | 3–6 months | Platform niches |
| Content / podcast / YouTube | High | 6–12 months | Niche authority |

**The wrong question:** "Which channel will work?"
**The right question:** "Which channel will I actually do consistently for 12 months?"

## Common Diagnoses

### "Built it, no one came"

- Built before validating
- Niche too generic
- No distribution before launch
- Single launch event with no follow-up

Fix: don't ship more features; ship more marketing. Pick one channel; commit 90 days.

### "Stuck at $X MRR"

- Niche capacity reached
- Churn eating new growth
- Pricing too low (you need 10x customers to grow)
- One-channel dependency

Fix: raise prices on new customers; reduce churn (onboarding, support, features); add channel.

### "$2k MRR, 80hr weeks"

- Manual processes you should automate
- Servicing too many edge cases
- One difficult customer eating 30% of time
- No prioritization (every email is "urgent")

Fix: automate top 3 manual tasks; fire bad-fit customer; install ticketing system; one batch-time per week.

### "Should I quit my day job?"

Quit when:
- $X MRR > 1.5x your salary needs
- 6 months living expenses saved
- Growth trajectory clear (consistent month-over-month for 6 months)
- Spouse / partner agrees and is comfortable
- Health insurance plan (US) figured out

Don't quit when:
- MRR equal to salary (income not stable)
- < 3 months runway
- Growth flat last 90 days
- Single customer represents > 30% of revenue (concentration risk)

## Output Format

The coach returns:

1. **Stage diagnosis** — where you are honestly
2. **Validation status** — what's missing
3. **Build plan / launch plan** — appropriate to stage
4. **Distribution strategy** — pick 1–2 channels and commit
5. **Pricing recommendation** — specific tier structure
6. **30-day plan** — concrete actions
7. **6-month milestones** — what success looks like
8. **Quit-day-job math** — if applicable

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