🗞 What's New: Finding a business idea you love

Do you have side project ideas, but none that seem worthy of a business?

• If you're struggling to identify problems, think about how you can make something inaccessible more accessible, or make something slow go fast.
• MVP or SLC? An SLC is a product that is Simple, Lovable, and Complete. The concept is to build something simple that your customers love to use.
• Multiple exits and two six figure sales. Brian Casel builds with the exit in mind from the start, by slowly removing himself from daily operations.

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by Marin Godechot

Maybe you feel that you have to choose between profitability and passion, and can't decide what to build. These exercises can help!

Finding your community

This exercise is inspired by The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. It can help you identify your target communities:

1. Answer the following questions, listing responses under each: When I talk, who listens? Where and with whom do I spend my time, both online and offline? Where do I feel most authentic?
2. Based on your answers, compile a final list of your communities.
3. For each community, list locations (both geographic and online) where you can spend more time learning and contributing.
4. Take action: Post in a subreddit, go to a meetup, comment on a forum post, etc. Start contributing!

For most of my life on the internet, I’ve always been a lurker. Doing this exercise turned me into a contributor. I hated writing before, especially when I saw it as just a marketing tool. Now, I’m loving writing, as I see it as being helpful to people and communities that I care about.

Finding problems

Make a table with three columns, each with one of these three headers: Person, Activity, Problem.

On the left, list the people and communities you’d like to help. In the center, write down how they spend their time. On the right, write down the problems with each activity.

If you're struggling to identify problems, think of how you can:

• Make something inaccessible more accessible.
• Make something more valuable by rearranging existing parts.
• Make something slow go fast.
• Remove a middleman somewhere.

This should be a living document that you update as you learn from people in your communities.

Choosing which business to build

For each problem, think of the business you would build to solve it. Answer these questions:

• Will I love it?
• Will it be inherently profitable?
• Does it have an internal growth mechanism?
• Do I have the right skillsets to build this business?

A business with a strong "yes" to each of these questions is likely to be a good fit for you!

Discuss this story.

from the Growth Trends newsletter

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Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

by Scott James

Here's the most valuable lesson I've learned about crafting amazing software: Make something simple that your customers love to use.

I was recently reminded of this advice from a fantastic comment on an Indie Hackers post. It linked to an article that gave a name to the concept of building an SLC.

SLC basics

An SLC is a prototype that is:

• Simple,
• Lovable, and
• Complete.

To quickly summarize the article, author Jason Cohen makes the case that MVPs are often a horrible experience for customers, since founders are just trying to quickly validate and get feedback. He argues that you should ditch the MVP and build an SLC instead. He goes on to say that an SLC is a version of the product that is simple in its functionality, customers love to use it, and it offers a complete experience.

This is in contrast to MVPs, where founders tend to go heavy on the "minimum" part.

SLC vs. MVP

As I've made the pivot to being a full-time solo founder, the advice to build SLCs seems more timely now than ever before. But I can't shake the feeling that the humble MVP still serves a very useful purpose as we develop new software.

My suggestion? Still build a MVP. Build it fast; shoot for one weekend. Don't worry about how janky it is. Just get it done.

Then, use that MVP to test your concept with your friends, family, and peers, but not with real customers. If they're good friends, their feedback will be harsh, but necessary. This early feedback will either force you to adjust your MVP, pivot to a different MVP, or validate your concept. After you get validation, you can then go on to build a beautiful SLC that solves one gnarly problem in a simple, lovable way.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my latest vlog for more!

Discuss this story.

💰 Quit my job, and just made my first dollar with my SaaS. Posted by Austin.

😬 Getting the motivation to build in public. Posted by Joseph.

🔎 Monitoring and growing your SEO. Posted by Matthew.

🤯 How to fix an SEO nightmare. Posted by Sébastien Dubois.

✨ Sending emails to an early access list. Posted by Valrepsys.

🥸 Trying April Fool's Day pranks as a growth hacking strategy. Posted by Dominik Sobe.

Want a shout-out in next week's Best of Indie Hackers? Submit an article or link post on Indie Hackers whenever you come across something you think other indie hackers will enjoy.

by Marc Andre

Each week, FlipMySite publishes an inspiring success story featuring a founder growing and selling an online business.

Brian Casel has built, grown, and sold several online products. His largest exit came in September 2021, when he sold Audience Ops, a content creation agency that produces blog posts, case studies, podcasts, and videos, for six figures.

The backstory

In January 2008, Brian Casel left his full-time job as a frontend developer. His first business involved selling premium WordPress themes. He launched his theme shop, ThemeJam, in 2009, and grew it for several years, before selling in 2015.

In 2011, Brian launched Restaurant Engine, a SaaS built on WordPress that allowed restaurants to easily launch and maintain their own websites. It also sold in 2015 for a six figure sum.

Audience Ops

After selling ThemeJam and Restaurant Engine, Brian started Audience Ops as a "temporary" project. However, the business quickly grew to five figures in MRR. How? Brian started by reaching out to his existing network, sending out personal emails to introduce the service.

He designed a landing page and simply asked his contacts for feedback on the idea, while also asking if they needed a content creation service. Over the next few years, the business continued to grow organically. Eventually, Brian had a team of 25 people serving hundreds of clients.

During the years that Brian owned Audience Ops (2015-2021), the business generated several million dollars in revenue. As far as the keys to success, Brian credits hiring top talent, and emphasizes the importance of creating standardized processes and operating procedures.

The exit

By 2018, Brian was mostly removed from the day-to-day operations of Audience Ops. He used that free time to expand his skillset, which ultimately led to a shift in his business focus. In 2021, Brian decided it was time to sell. He had already launched Clarityflow, an async video tool that makes it easy for coaches to communicate with clients, and wanted to focus on that.

Brian listed Audience Ops on Acquire.com, but ended up getting a strong offer through his own network. The new owner retained Brian's entire team.

After selling Audience Ops, Brian decided to sell four other projects in his portfolio to free up even more of his time and focus. He sold Productize, ProcessKit, Sunrise KPI, and Thready through Acquire.com throughout 2021 and 2022.

Building to sell

Aside from Clarityflow, Brian is also in the process of launching Instrumental Products, which helps founders transition to a product-based business.

Brian builds with an exit in mind from the start. He takes a very hands-on approach to his businesses early on, but works to slowly remove himself from the day-to-day operations over time, by hiring others or automating.

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

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

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Marin Godechot, Darko, Scott James, and Marc Andre for contributing posts. —Channing