🗞 What's New: Founders share their year-in-reviews

Happy New Year, indie hackers! Let's kick things off with some lessons and big wins:

• From crushing exits to burnt-out laptops, here's what 2024 taught us as founders.
• $500K ARR. Marissa Goldberg took advantage of "entrepreneurial leave" from her high-paying tech job to build and grow her side hustle.

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In 2024, some indie hackers crushed it with life-changing big wins, while others had their fair share of setbacks. But one thing’s for sure: Indie hacking is alive and kicking.

One of the wins in the indie hacking community was Nico Jeannen's $350K in revenue from exits and projects. Marc Louvion hit it big, raking in cash and blowing up his social media following like crazy. Josh Mohrer, founder of Wave AI, grew his SaaS from 200 to 22K paid subs, pulling in $450K MRR.

But many of these wins came at a cost.

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Marissa Goldberg side hustled until her business, Remote Work Prep, replaced her high-paying tech exec salary. Then, she slowly transitioned out of her position, while maintaining her safety nets.

Her risk-averse approach worked. Her best year to date brought in $500K... for a team of one. She says that people usually think of quitting as an abrupt thing, but it doesn't have to be that way. Her advice? Transition slowly if you want to leave the door open for future opportunities, or if you're interested in a more calm, stable switch.

Read the full article →

Tweeting is blogging with a built-in marketing function.

—@channingallen

Did you like today's stories? Did they suck? Which ones?

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

—Channing