Indie Interviews
Can you tell us more about yourself and what led you to become an indie maker?
It feels like I always had a natural drive towards this type of lifestyle.
Since I was a kid, I had an entrepreneurial spirit and a drive to build my stuff. I tinkered with computers, hardware, and websites and always looked for things that could be improved.
Around 2008, when I was still a teenager, I built a website called avatarss.com. It was a collection of a few hundred avatars. I managed to grow it organically through SEO to around 500 visits per day (#1 under “avatar”) and made my first dollar — some company reached out to me and asked to place a banner on their website for a year for $150.
It was my first online income. Back then, it felt like a lot of money. In hindsight, with that much traffic, I should have added ads to monetize my website. Oh well :)
Overall, I’ve built so many projects that I can’t count!
How did you come up with the idea? How do you generate ideas for your apps or projects, and how do you identify the problems or needs your app can address?
When I was a student the dream of "the Silicon Valley" world was very enticing and I tried many times to build yet another social network or a platform for creators
It took me years to learn that it’s not the way to go for me.
I've moved away from trying to come up with unique, ambitious ideas to simply competing in already existing markets. It's hard to come up with something unique anyway.
I observe my competition and look for ways to improve what's already on the market. With my experience (I've been a mobile dev since 2013), it's easy for me to spot areas for improvement. I build quick MVPs and see how the market reacts. I focus on offering better products, better pricing, or targeting different needs that competitors haven't addressed.
I try to get as much organic traffic (with ASO or SEO) as possible.
How is your day-to-day app development workflow look like?
Initially, it was mostly programming, but now with AI being a big help and my ever-growing portfolio of apps I spent more and more time on other parts — such as optimizing conversion rates, research, or posting to X.
I wish to start delegating some parts once I reach enough revenue to do so.
How do you launch and market your app?
With mobile apps, I focus 100% on organic growth through the app stores and ASO. I don't currently do paid promotions or ads.
So my launches are rather "quiet" I simply launch it to the app store, observe, and iterate.
With web apps though, I try to promote it on my X profile and grow organically through SEO.
What are the future plans for your apps?
I want to diversify my portfolio of apps to different platforms. Even though I now make a decent amount of money it's not a fully stable business.
I'm fully dependent on 3rd party platform (platform risk) and the traffic it provides.
My future idea is to build a product or a venture studio once my portfolio generates enough revenue so I can hire.
Do you have any interesting lessons learned or tips for other indie makers?
One key lesson is that more complex apps don't necessarily mean more success. Some of my most successful apps took only a few days to build, while others that I spent a bunch of time on didn't go anywhere.
Don't overthink it, and definitely don't build it in secret for months hoping for a big launch and a flood of traffic.
I think launches on big platforms are overrated. You should focus on stable, ongoing traffic and growth instead of one peak. Remember, that users churn.
Of course, there is value to launches as well; for example, Product Hunt gives you a very strong backlink which helps you with SEO, aiding in ongoing organic growth! So even though you won't secure the top 1 spot, you will get something back.
Look for markets that have high search intent! If no one is looking for your product, you will have a harder time growing, and if your product is a novelty, then you will probably have to do a lot of paid promotion.
Also, it's important to be patient - it can take 3-6 months for ASO or SEO to start working and for apps to become somewhat successful.
Looking back, are there any decisions or actions you regret not taking before or during the development and launch of your apps? Is there anything you would have done differently?
No. I think everything I did was valuable and gave me more data, momentum, and knowledge to go further. I've learned from every mistake which I can now use to my advantage.
Are there any indie makers or creators whose work you admire and follow closely?
There are a few. I enjoy @dannypostmaa content because he has a similar approach to mine but in the web world (focusing on data, conversion rate optimization, and driving organic traffic).
@father_mihai has great insights and really goes deep into product development, marketing, and human behaviors.
@seraleev I'm following his battle with Apple closely because he's one of not many people who decided to pick up the fight and his outcome will influence us all.
And let's not forget about @juanjovn this guy is going places (and makes funny videos)
Could you recommend any specific tools or resources that you believe are helpful for other indie makers, especially those just starting out?
For ASO, I recommend tools like Astro and ASO by 2Stable. Those are great for indies that are just starting or have a low budget.
For research and sentiment analysis, I created my own tool to scratch my own itch ReadReviews.dev.
For everyday development, I truly enjoy Warp as a terminal replacement.
Thanks for reading til the end. Hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.
Indie Interviews by Indie Goodies is all about discovering and showcasing indie makers. We firmly believe that behind every app, there's an inspiring tale of passion, creativity, and perseverance. We're always on the lookout for aspiring indie makers to feature in our series, and if you have any suggestions or recommendations, we'd love to hear from you.
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