IndieHackers - 🗞 What's New: Validation 101

Minimizing friction is crucial to validating your product:

• Try one-time payments instead of subscriptions, focus on customer support that doesn't scale, and don't be afraid to pivot if needed.
• Livestreaming can be a game changer for growing your business and your brand. Set up faceless livestreaming to lower key-person risk.
• Since 2009, Daniel Peris has built several products that have earned eight figures in revenue. He invests little, and launches, closes, and learns fast.

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by Nico Jeannen

My app, Talknotes, had slow beginnings. I wasn't the first to market, so my focus was on minimizing friction to validate the concept.

Here's how I did it!

Using one-time payments

Instead of adding monthly subscriptions, I started with a one-time payment. It provided one year of access, and I priced it as low as I possibly could.

No signups, just a one-click purchase from the landing page that was sent to a Stripe checkout screen. This removed lots of objections from potential customers.

"Do things that don't scale" doesn't just apply to your product; it works for your pricing, too.

Spamming directories

I spent a couple of hours looking for startup repertories using Ahrefs backlink checker and X. Prepare content for your app (screenshots, demo video, description, etc.), and fill out the survey on every website. Product Hunt counts, too!

Some repertories are paid. Check their domain authority here. If it's under 50, don't pay!

Adding friction gradually

After getting a consistent 2-3 sales per day, I made the shift from one-time payments to a subscription model. I also increased the prices.

Sales initially plummeted from $150 per day to $0, but it laid the foundation for growth.

Banger customer experience

I paid extra attention to customers. Like, really.

I once jumped on a live support session with a customer to help him fix his microphone to record. Three users asked for light mode, so I completely overhauled the app to add a light mode. Someone asked for Zapier, so I added Zapier.

Do things that don't scale. If users are happy about the product, it's a good sign. If they complain when the product crashes, that's also a good sign!

The bottom line

If you get absolutely zero positive feedback, zero users, and zero sales after working on the product for a whole month, maybe it's not the product for you, or people don't care. In either case, it's time to pivot.

Do at least one little thing per day:

• Write one post.
• Add one tiny feature.
• Fix one bug.

It's okay to slow down, but don't stop. Do the bare minimum, but do something!

I'm on Product Hunt if you'd like to support me!

Discuss this story.

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from the Trends.vc newsletter

Problem

We all need a break from reality sometimes.

Solution

Livestreaming gives us unscripted moments, raw emotions, and genuine interactions.

You become a part of a tribe that escapes reality with a live, shared experience.

Players

Livestreamers:

• Tablestory: Plays board games.
• Miranda Quesnel: Makes animated films.
• Domo Stanton: Draws sketches and paintings.

Live-streaming platforms:

• Twitch: Livestreaming service focused on video games, e-sports, etc.
• YouTube: The world's most popular video hosting platform.
• Facebook Live: Launch live chats and online events.
• Kick: Gaming and livestreaming platform.
• Crowdcast: Grow your community with livestreams.
• Castr: Platform for livestreaming with video hosting.

Livestreaming tools:

• OBS: Free, open source tool for livestreaming.
• StreamBeats: Copyright-free music for livestreams.
• DonationAlerts: Interactive monetization tools.
• Printful: Make custom print-on-demand products.

Predictions

• We'll see more virtual influencers.

• Uncensored streaming platforms will let streamers create content without restrictions.

• Livestreamers will clone their voices for text-to-speech donation alerts. Fans will become the source of entertainment for the whole stream by mocking streamers with hilarious messages.

Building a livestreaming business

• Pick a niche to lower competition.

• Do faceless livestreaming to lower key-person risk.

• Use branded graphics to boost the recognition of your channel. Banners help you brand your stream's webpage. Panels share important details about your stream. Emotes let viewers express their feelings and reactions.

• Build a community to boost engagement with off-stream chats, events, and more.

• Collaborate with streamers with aligned audiences. Get more subscribers by borrowing their attention.

• Use multistreaming to boost your reach, and find the best platform for your content early on.

• Offer paid subscriptions with exclusive content and paid communities.

• Use interactive donations to make your streams more fun and engaging. Let viewers attach text and video messages to their donations.

• Sell merch to boost your brand recognition. This is free marketing.

Haters

"Livestreaming has a lot of key-person risk. The business stops if I stop streaming."

Faceless streams and virtual avatars can help you offset this risk. Another option is to run streams that are not focused on you and your voice as the creator. BRIGHT SIDE streams animations that don't need the live presence of the host.

"There is less ability to edit myself. I might get banned or canceled for doing something live."

Community guidelines can help you avoid streaming inappropriate content. Be mindful about what you're saying or doing.

"I could expose my private data while sharing my screen."

Remember to switch scenes or pause screen sharing when entering sensitive data.

"Multistreaming divides the community and hurts engagement."

You can use multistreaming to see what channel performs best for your content. Then, pick that channel and drop the rest.

Links

1. Building a Report on How To Grow and Monetize as a Livestreamer: The tweet behind this report.
2. Guide on Video Lighting: How to set up quality lighting for video production.
3. How to Grow an Audience: Tips on getting views, virtual gifts, and loyal fans.

Related reports

• Online Events: A cost-effective, scalable way to spread your message.
• Virtual Influencers: Create the ideal brand ambassador from scratch.
• Personal Brands: Gaining trust and attention.

More reports

Go here to get the Trends Pro report. It contains 200% more insights. You also get access to the entire back catalog and the next 52 Pro Reports.

Subscribe to Trends.vc for more.

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by Daniel Peris

I've always loved programming. When the internet first started growing into what it is today, I built websites, hacked a few things, and started earning money making websites for others. Fast forward to today, and I've hit eight figures as an indie hacker!

The beginning

What I was earning making webpages for third parties in 2007 wasn't enough to live off of. One day, a friend told me that a local computer store was looking to hire someone to assemble and repair computers. The perfect job for me! I started working there, while still doing my own thing: Building on the internet.

Things changed in 2009. The social network Tuenti was on fire in Spain, and I discovered a security gap that allowed you to know who visited your profile. So, I built a web analytics tool around that bug. I got ~55K registered users in one week, thanks to a video on YouTube and a couple of blog posts!

With that website, I earned several thousand euros. Then, Tuenti fixed its security hole, so my service stopped working.

Going full-time

After experiencing a taste of success from my own online business, I stopped working at the computer store to dedicate myself full-time to my own stuff.

I was still making websites for third parties and learning, and I launched several projects to try to replicate what I had achieved with the DimeQuien project. None of them worked.

Then, the iPad came out, and I decided to launch the first Spanish-language iPad content website, iPadizate. I bought a domain, and spent a year writing 10-15 articles almost every day. Little by little, my traffic went up. I started reading about SEO, and implementing that.

It started to work, and suddenly, the website was generating 1M visits per month. I couldn't handle it alone anymore, so I started collaborating with external copywriters.

The growth

In 2013, I went to Madrid to meet Miriam Peláez. I stayed a weekend at her house, and we have not separated since. We lived together in Madrid for six months. In the middle of the year, my friend Jaume Ferre (RIP) approached me about building one of the first mobile advertising networks in the world. So, I went to Barcelona; Miriam came with me. The ad network project didn't work out, but we stayed.

We continued to grow iPadizate together. It grew to 150K visits per day, and ~$16.5K MRR. We also launched a marketing services company for mobile apps. We called it PICKASO. When PICKASO started to grow, we sold iPadizate for ~$195K in 2015, and reinvested all that money into PICKASO.

PICKASO will be 10 years old in December. Along the way, I have built hundreds of apps and mobile games that have generated lots of revenue. I have also built websites, Chrome extensions, and Facebook pages. Some worked, some didn't. I've met lots of people, and made lots of friends.

Advice for indie hackers

90% of the things I have built have not worked. The key: Invest little, launch fast, kill fast, and try to figure out why they didn't work. Learn fast.

Even if it doesn't seem like it, everything you do is worth something!

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Nico Jeannen, Darko, Dru Riley, Harry Dry, and Daniel Peris for contributing posts. —Channing