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Channing here. Back in April I wrote about how indie hackers were [disrupting the news business](https://www.indiehackers.com/post/newsletter-only-startups-are-filling-a-niche-in-news-consumption-94d670a06c) by building lean, capital-efficient newsle
Indie Email in the Privacy Age · Bad Boss Creates Badass Woman CEO
Channing here. Back in April I wrote about how indie hackers were disrupting the news business by building lean, capital-efficient newsletter products.
More and more now, we're seeing this disruption play out in traditional media. Famous journalists like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Andrew Sullivan, and Matt Yglesias are abandoning their employers to launch their own publications on Substack. And newsletter platforms like Patch Labs are entering the market to bring entire newsrooms — and not just individual journalists — up to speed with the modern newsletter-first business model.
Problem is, the race to readers' inboxes comes at a time of increasing concerns over email privacy.
But we'll get into that below. Here's what you'll find in this newsletter (browser version here):
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Email's never been so important for entrepreneurs. But the tech powering email is coming under increasing scrutiny.
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Learn how social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok are changing. And how these changes should affect your marketing approach.
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Today, she's the CEO of a successful FinTech firm. Read about how a single comment from a bad boss launched her on her journey.
Special thanks to Bobby Burch, Pete Codes, Darko Gjorgjievski, Teela Fleischmann, Rachel Carpenter, Maxi Albella, and Panda Security for contributing to this newsletter. Want to contribute a piece of your own? Check out this doc for an idea of what I'm looking for. —Channing
🕵️ Indie Email Ushers in the Privacy Age
by Bobby Burch of Indie Alternatives
Email is becoming more important than ever for entrepreneurs at the exact moment that privacy concerns are turning the public against the tech that powers email.
Like many celebrities, politicians, and businesses know well, popular email services like Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo! Mail are not the most secure option.
Those services also don’t have much regard for privacy, often employing or allowing techniques to track and sell users’ data and behavior for targeted, creepily personalized ads.
Tracking pixels, also known as spy pixels, are the most common technique. With a simple bit of HTML code in an invisible 1-pixel high by 1-pixel wide image, a sender can learn loads about recipients via tracking pixels. For instance, a tracking pixel allows a stalker, er, sender to see how many people have opened an email, what time a recipient opened it, the device on which it was read, and the location in which it opened.
Fortunately for privacy-concerned consumers, some alternatives have stepped in to offer less creepy and more secure options.
Hey
Hey is one of the emerging leaders in the space of privacy-focused email. In addition to rethinking the conventional email inbox to enable efficient screening of senders and other batch operations, the company is outspoken in its disdain for spy pixels:
We think that’s a gross invasion of your privacy. In fact, we believe it should be illegal, and punishable by law.
Hey prevents roughly 98% of spy trackers but if somehow a sender was still successful with its spying, Hey routes all images through its servers, preventing anyone from learning your physical location by opening an email.
ProtonMail
Based in privacy-strict Switzerland, ProtonMail’s primary concern is user security.
The open-source company offers end-to-end encryption that prevents your emails from ever being read or shared with others. ProtonMail also doesn’t save any of its users’ tracking information and doesn’t require any personal information to register. Users can even send self-destruct messages that will be automatically deleted from the recipient’s inbox once your time-limit has expired.
Lavabit
Launched in 2004 with the promise of private, secure communication, Lavabit offers both individual and enterprise customers secure email services.
The open-source, end-to-end encryption platform gained notoriety in 2013 for defiantly refusing to surrender a particular user’s information to the FBI. That user? Edward Snowden. And rather than giving up Snowden’s info, founder Ladar Levison took the bold step to shut down the company. He eventually relaunched Lavabit in 2017, providing encryption of every element of user communication, as well as enterprise-level hosting and security consultations.
Discuss this story. Image credit: Panda Security.
📰 In the News
👩💻 Are you an indie woman? Join monthly icebreaker events with other women from the community.
😢 Zappos ex-CEO dies: Tony Hsieh died in a house fire at the age of 46.
🛒 Black Friday online sales up 22%: Meanwhile, physical stores saw a 52% drop.
🤖 A/B test Hacker News titles: Hacker AI promises to tell you the best title to use.
✍️ 50 best Google fonts: A designer has selected the best fonts for you to use on your next website.
🌲 More trees, less email: these indie hackers are planting trees when people unsubscribe from Black Friday emails.
📊 TikTok, Pinterest, and Other Acquisition Channel Trends
by Darko Gjorgjievski of User Acquisition Channels
You're probably using some well-known acquisition channels — like Facebook and Twitter — to try and get new users. (I did a report on this.)
If you're familiar with the law of shitty clickthroughts, you'll know that, over time, the effectiveness of these channels declines. There are two reasons for this:
- They become more saturated.
- People notice them less and less (think banner blindness).
The solution? Be on the lookout for new and promising acquisition channel opportunities. How?
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google release new business features, ad formats, and content formats all the time. When they do that, they actively promote them by giving businesses who use them — meaning you — more exposure.
This is great news for you because acquisition channels that were previously unaffordable or hard-to-enter suddenly come within reach.
Snapchat Publishers Report Higher Revenues
Opportunity: Place small bets on Snapchat.
Snapchat publishers are reporting higher RPMs (revenue per impressions) which mean two things:
- Advertisers are spending more money.
- More and more advertisers are coming on Snapchat.
What this means for you: Businesses as a whole are not dumb. If they see a positive ROI, they'll spend more money on a channel. This is an opportunity to place some small bets on Snapchat ads (these guys offer A LOT of ad formats) and see you get promising results.
Facebook Releases Data-Driven "Best Practices" for Video
Opportunity: (Re)consider video ads.
Adding a trailer to your video can increase one-minute video views by 43%. Using a 4:5 aspect ratio outperform 16:9 by 2x. These are some of the insights Facebook recently released on their official blog.
What this means for you: Things like these can make or break a FB Ads Video campaign. If you've run FB video ads unsuccessfully, (re)consider making these changes and see if your metrics will improve.
80% of Gen Z Have Influenced Their Parents to Buy Them Something They Saw on TikTok
Opportunity: Teens may not be a waste of time?
TikTok released a holiday toolkit for small businesses looking to advertise on their platform. One of the interesting insights were that "a whopping 80% of Gen Z TikTokers have influenced their parents' purchases." Another: "47% of TikTok users made a purchase decision based on what they saw in TikTok content."
What this means for you: If you're into B2C and target the younger generation, you'll definitely find stats like these useful, and consider placing some small bets on TikTok.
Pinterest Tests Online Events
Opportunity: Consider adding online events as part of your content marketing plan.
More specifically, they're working on enabling online classes where participants can join via Zoom.
What this means for you: More and more platforms allow content creators like you to a) promote and b) monetize their online events. Facebook is beta-testing this. Consider getting into online events if they're compatible with what you do.
My predictions is that more and more mainstream platforms will make online events more visible to their audience and add new ad formats where you can both promote and monetize these events.
Discuss this story. Image credit: Maxi Albella.
🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick
by Tweetmaster Flex
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. And today's top pick was a tough one. First, your runner-up: Tawanda Nyahuye on what it's like to follow a coding tutorial.
But yours truly is a stickler for ergonomics. So the top tweet goes to Catalin Pit:
Flex out. 🥨
🤬 The Last Straw for FinTech Founder Rachel Carpenter
by Teela Fleischmann of Indie Hackers Stories
Today, Rachel Carpenter's the co-founder and CEO of the FinTech firm Intrinio. But before she was calling shots, a single comment from a single bad boss altered the direction of her entire life.
I almost got fired once for putting the wrong stamp on an envelope. "You'll never be successful if you behave like this," my boss said. "It's only 50 cents, but this inattention to detail on a larger scale is going to sink you."
I lost it. I was studying Finance, but the next day I added Entrepreneurship as a second major. I knew in that moment I would never work for someone else for the rest of my life.
I turned down all the job offers I received. I slept on a couch for a year. I taught myself to program. I stayed in roach-filled hostels on a bunk bed in NYC while pitching clients and investors. I barely made my rent while my friends were taking stable jobs, enjoying healthcare benefits, and starting to build their 401(k)s. They didn’t understand. They asked me what my "Plan B" was. I lost a lot of those friends.
I never stopped, because I never forgot the manager who belittled me, micromanaged me, and left me frustrated and underutilized. Today I'm the CEO of a rapidly scaling financial technology firm using machine learning and data science to power thousands of algorithms, apps and innovations. I write for Forbes. I've spoken all over the world. And I'm on the other side of the management table now, with 13 employees.
I'm almost happy for the existence of bad bosses. Sometimes the most wonderful things can come out of frustration, when you decide you've had enough. I think of her often. I promise myself I will be different. I will lead my team with encouragement and give them space to fail. I'll never be like her.
Go here for more real stories from real founders.
Discuss this story. Image credit: Rachel Carpenter.
🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?
Tell me how I can make it better! Or help me out by contributing to it directly.
Go here to discuss this issue with other indie hackers. —Channing
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