MegaMaker - My 2023 year in review

Happy New Year! Today, I'm sending you my annual review.

For the last ten years, I've been sharing my thoughts and reflections in a year-in-review post each year. As a collective, these reviews describe my entire bootstrapping journey, both the breakthroughs and the struggles.

👉 Read my 2023 year in review

Every year, I ask myself: "What am I optimizing my life for?" My current answer is:

I'm optimizing for a good life.

In the full post, you can read about what a "good life" means to me personally, plus:

  • A framework that's helped me think about how we work at Transistor (my main company).
  • A question I've been thinking about for the last few years: what do you do after you've achieved your initial goal of "building a business that works?" What comes next?
  • Some personal news.

I hope you have an incredible 2024!

Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin

PS: Did I miss something you're curious about?

This newsletter is brought to you by:

🎙️
Transistor
It's a great time to start a podcast!

MegaMaker
My private community for bootstrappers

Older messages

Please don't do this

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

I can't believe someone just sent me this. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Don't ignore the Prosumer market

Friday, November 17, 2023

The normal advice for people building SaaS companies is "Don't build software for consumers (B2C); build it for businesses (B2B)." ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

How to do indie marketing these days

Saturday, September 30, 2023

Here's 9 ideas that I think still work in 2023 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Flipping tables and hiring kids

Friday, September 22, 2023

It's me, JJ. ​ I have tons of stuff to share with you: the Transistor team and I just got back from our team retreat in Nashville (here are some photos). And soon, I'll be heading to Belgium to

How I would build a new startup if I had to do it all over

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

I've been brainstorming how I would build a new indie startup if I had to do it again in 2023. Here are 5 principles I'd use. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

You Might Also Like

How I give high-quality feedback quickly

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

If you're not regularly giving feedback, you're missing a chance to scale your judgment. Here's how to give high-quality feedback in as little as 1-2 hours per week. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

💥 Being Vague is Costing You Money - CreatorBoom

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

The Best ChatGPT Prompt I've Ever Created, Get More People to Buy Your Course, Using AI Generated Videos on Social Media, Make Super Realistic AI Images of Yourself, Build an in-email streak

Enter: A new unicorn

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

+ French AI startup investment doubles; Klarna partners with Stripe; Bavaria overtakes Berlin View in browser Leonard_Flagship Good morning there, France is strengthening its position as one of the

Meta just flipped the switch that prevents misinformation from spreading in the United States

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

The company built effective systems to reduce the reach of fake news. Last week, it shut them down Platformer Platformer Meta just flipped the switch that prevents misinformation from spreading in the

Ok... we're now REALLY live Friend !

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Join Jackie Damelian to learn how to validate your product and make your first sales. Hi Friend , Apologies, we experienced some technical difficulties but now We're LIVE for Day 3 of the Make Your

Building GTM for AI : Office Hours with Maggie Hott

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here.​ ​Building GTM for AI : Office Hours with Maggie Hott ​ On

ICYMI: Musk's TikTok, AI's future, films for founders

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

A recap of the last week ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

🚨 [LIVE IN 1 HOUR] Day 3 of the Challenge with Jackie Damelian

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Join Jackie Damelian to learn how to validate your product and make your first sales. Hi Friend , Day 3 of the Make Your First Shopify Sale 5-Day Challenge is just ONE HOUR away! ⌛ Here's the link

The Broken Ladder & The Missing Manager 🪜

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

And rolling through work on a coaster͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

[CEI] Chrome Extension Ideas #173

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

ideas for ChatGPT, Claude, YouTube, and Shopping ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏