🗞 What's New: ~40% of young adults get their news from influencers

Here's what you'll find in this issue:

• A recent Pew study found that influencers are becoming a go-to news source.
• The File Over App philosophy helps keep your data resilient, and built to last.
• $74 MRR. Sharath Kuruganty "accidentally" became a founder, and now has 2 small exits.

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The 2024 election wasn’t just about politicians; it was also about the people covering them. This year, news influencers have blown up, turning platforms like X and TikTok into political battlegrounds. They’re not your typical reporters, but they’re reaching millions and shaking things up big time.

These influencers are regular people with major followings (100K+), talking about what’s happening in the world. They’re not tied to any news outlet, and that’s part of their appeal...they keep it real.

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Welcome to From Our Desks, where the people behind Indie Hackers share the stories behind the headlines. This week, we talk alternatives to X, new features for IH+, and bitcoin's big week.

Channing Allen, cofounder and editor-in-chief: I try to find an interesting X post to feature in each issue of the What's New newsletter, but on two consecutive days this week, I gave up the search after 10-15 minutes of wading through a dizzying feed of clickbait videos. Our newsroom has published quite a few pieces on all the people fleeing X for alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon, and I'm starting to understand why.

Not that it hasn't been a productive week overall. Now that we're publishing news at a steady clip, we're finally focusing more on making improvements to IH+ as a product.

James Fleischmann, journalist: This week, I interviewed three founders from very different walks of life, in very different industries, with very different revenue numbers. Yet, all three emphasized the importance of one thing: Partnering with the right people.

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“File over App is a philosophy: If you want to create digital artifacts that last, they must be files you can control, in formats that are easy to retrieve and read. Use tools that give you this freedom.”

Although you may not be able to be 100% File over App, there is a way to implement a balanced approach. Here's a list of tools to help you achieve this.

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Sharath Kuruganty didn't intend to monetize any of his products, but his users demanded it. That's how he "accidentally" became a founder.

Since then, he has had two small exits. Recently, he teamed up with Alex Friedman to launch Founder Gigs, a weekly newsletter that sources fractional gigs for ex-founders and startup operators. He set it up on beehiiv in order to launch quickly, and brings in revenue from monthly subscriptions and sponsorships.

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Michal Kankowski, Rishikesh Sreehari, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing