🗞 What's New: Is Twitter worth it for founders?

Common advice says that Twitter is necessary for founders:

• Is it time to stop advising an active Twitter as a requirement for success? Indie hackers weigh in below.
• The global handicrafts market is estimated to hit $1.2 trillion by 2026. These new ideas for founders could help you craft your way to the big bucks.
• Solo founder Alexander Isora hit $10,000 in monthly revenue with his landing page builder, Unicorn Platform. Here's why he broke up with his previous cofounder, and how he uses Product Hunt as a strong acquisition channel.

Want to share something with nearly 90,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing

🤷‍♂️ Is Twitter Worth It?

by David Gregorian

Lots of indie hackers are currently putting time and effort into building a community on Twitter. But is it really worth it? What motivates you to create that content for Twitter? And have you had a positive experience in using it as a marketing channel?

Some founders didn't think it was worth it

Preslav Mihaylov says that using Twitter as a funnel for his products hasn't yielded any positive results:

However, I do feel like building an audience on Twitter is more of a long-term game that requires a lot of effort and dedication. I think that if you're willing to go that route, it can yield some fruitful results in the long-term.

As a short-term marketing strategy, I feel like posting or Reddit or Hacker News is much easier, and leads to great results.

Gisele Muller Sasso doesn't like the constant grind:

I feel like Twitter is almost a job in itself, meaning that you need to invest a good chunk of time into it. For you to see results, you need dedication, and it is hard to measure return since it's more of a long-term thing. The constant need to post and interact got the best of me, and I'm taking a break from it.

It really depends on your market, says Jorge.

• Young audience? Yes.
• B2B? No.

In any case, some people say that Twitter is free, but this is not true. Since you have to invest a lot of time in it, it costs. And what is the ROI? Again, it depends on the market.

Other founders find Twitter to be valuable

Eugene Zolotarenko offers this breakdown:

In my opinion, Twitter is one of the best social media platforms for indie hackers because it has a very friendly, energetic tech community.

Are you using it to market your upcoming product?

I used Twitter to market my open source project, and it was a great experience. However, you should invest your time into hitting at least 1K followers to become noticeable.

Do you seek help from other founders?

If you ask people on Twitter for help, they will usually try to help you. DM people with well-structured questions, and try to develop relationships with them.

How do you benefit from the connections you make on Twitter?

Personally, I love the knowledge and the opportunities that I've gotten from being on Twitter.

Noah agrees:

Using Twitter the right way gives you connections and an audience. That’s certainly worth something. Many founders use it as their primary marketing channel, and many non-founders get jobs or freelance opportunities without ever having to fill out any applications.

But it does take work, especially in the beginning. It’s not enough to send out one tweet every other day or so. You need to engage a lot, and post 2-3 times a day. That can easily take an hour or two out of your day.

I think that everyone needs to decide if that’s what they want to do. There are many successful founders who have no audience and use other channels for marketing.

For Luca Restagno, Twitter is definitely worth it. Why?

• There a very supportive tech community.
• You can build in public and show the progress of your product.
• You can leverage feedback from a large audience. This thread is an example.
• You can build an audience, meaning that your product launch will not just be in the void, but towards a community.
• You can meet amazing people and form good relationships.

Just manage the time that you spend on Twitter engaging with people, and make it part of your planning.

Is Twitter worth it for you? Why or why not?

Discuss this story.

📰 In the News

from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani

🔒 Facebook and Instagram are threatening to shut down in Europe.

👚 Decentraland is hosting the first Metaverse Fashion Week.

🐟 Samsung's new Galaxy devices will be made partly from fishing nets.

👍 JPMorgan says that now is the right time to buy stocks.

📱 Google and Apple may have to give up full control of their app stores.

Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.

🧶 The Billion Dollar Crafting Industry

from the Hustle Newsletter by Shân Osborn

The Signal: Tactile crafts have had a glittering year. Subscribers to r/Embroidery and r/Leathercraft have doubled over the last ~12 months, and the woodworking community on Reddit is now 3.5M+ strong.

US Amazon searches for "crafts for adults" are up 83% over the last 90 days, per Jungle Scout. Pinterest is awash with more craft-based interest across Europe, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

The big picture: Being stuck at home zapped our creative juices, and while some lockdown hobbies came and went (RIP sourdough starters), others, like crafting, have continued to boom.

The global handicrafts market was worth ~$647B in 2020, and is forecast to grow to ~$1.2T by 2026 (an ~11% CAGR).

Ways to kill 'em with craftiness include:

1. Entry-level handicrafts:

Simple crafts are in high demand. Here are examples of US Amazon search volumes (excluding Valentine's Day and Easter-related crafting searches, which are currently exploding):

*Source: Jungle Scout, January 2022

The market for basic crafting materials is enormous. These 1-inch wooden craft balls generate $1.4M+ MRR on Amazon, and a single brand of acrylic yarn does $730K+ MRR, per Jungle Scout.

Founders could sell materials D2C, or focus on simple kits: This bracelet-making kit brings in $350K+ MRR. Or you could combine trends: Entry-level crafting ties in with opportunities in sensory art for children.

2. Get online:

The crafting market, which is traditionally brick-and-mortar heavy, is moving online. US e-commerce sales for hobby and crafting supplies hit a record $15B+ in 2021.

Similar to the opportunities we uncovered for DIY's pivot to e-commerce, founders could create one-stop online shops for the growing body of crafters.

Niching down (with focus on specific SEO) is a strong opportunity. Similarweb shows that this antiquated embroidery supplies site gets ~70K visits per month, and ~70% of traffic is organic. Imagine the attention that a modern, well-branded version would attract!

Crafting is hugely popular on social media, which means you can leverage the trend to advertise your platform or brand. TikTok's #crafting currently has 1.8B views.

3. Advanced crafts:

Skills like leatherwork, woodwork, and sewing are in vogue:

*Source: Subreddit Stats

One seller of embroidery kits has racked up 55K+ sales on Etsy; a rough median price of $12 puts total revenue at ~$660K+.

Other examples of US Amazon 30-day search volumes, via Jungle Scout:

• "Crochet kit" ---> 37K.
• "Jewelry making kit" ---> 27K.
• "Woodcarving kit" ---> 12K.
• "Leather working kit" ---> 3K.

At-home candle-making is also heating up. These soy wax beads generate $1.3M+ MRR on Amazon, and there are 140K monthly searches for "candle making kit." Options like this one bring in $500K+ MRR (kits for status candles are a solid opportunity).

For all these advanced crafts, founders could focus on guides and content: Subreddits are full of "how to" questions. Here are some examples from r/weaving.

You could start a newsletter, blog, or podcast. Don't underestimate the power of community in these small crafting niches: Spin Off, a publication dedicated to spinners of yarn, has newsletter subscription packages for $35-$180 annually, and ~90K site visits per month, per Similarweb.

The "finish it yourself" trend could be big for more challenging crafts. Deliver kits with the basics already done, allowing less experienced consumers to easily partake.

4. Experiences:

Events like wine and craft nights are starting to make an impressive resurgence. Searches for "paint night near me" are on the rise again. Pinot's Palette, with paint night tickets starting at $35, has ~300K site visits per month, according to Similarweb.

*Source: Google Trends

Founders could branch out to a variety of group craft experiences, with or without the wine component. But, in case you were wondering how versatile the craft and beverage space is, drunk knitting is already a thing on Reddit.

Would you enter the crafting space? Share in the comments below!

Subscribe to the Hustle Newsletter for more.

👥 10M Users, Zero Funding

by Aytekin Tank

Getting started:

Find your best angle.

You can’t just launch a business and wait for customers to show up like trick-or-treaters on Halloween. They need a reason to care, something that’s unique, intriguing, fresh, or surprising. Jotform used drag-and-drop technology before it was a thing. That was our angle, and I applied it to pitch news sites, write blog posts, and develop PR plans. Consider what people care about most, and emphasize how your startup supports their busy lives.

Discuss this story.

💻 Alexander Isora Hit $10K MRR as a Solo Founder

by Alexander Isora

Hey indie hackers! I'm Alexander Isora, founder of Unicorn Platform, a landing page and blog builder for startups.

Here's how I came up with the idea, why only this one got off the ground, and the traffic and growth tactics that I used to reach $10K MRR.

The background

As a kid, I lived in a small town in Siberia. Back then, Siberian kids had only two ways to spend their time after school: Snow games and heroin. Heroin did not sound fun to me, so I was spending my life making snowballs, skiing, and sliding on ice.

One day, my dad brought home a Pentium computer, and I soon became an expert in using a PC. When I got to university, I created a small e-commerce shop in WordPress. I learned HTML, CSS, JS, and some PHP, and made a lot of changes to my shop.

Even though the project was profitable, I switched my focus from selling to programming, and became a freelance web developer. I started getting a lot of clients, increased my hourly rate to $60 per hour, and quit university.

Failed first start

I started a new company with one of my freelance clients, producing HTML and WordPress themes for sale. We moved into a small apartment together to reduce costs, and focused on building our company. We eventually reached $30K ARR.

I eventually quit the company because my cofounder and I had different visions for the venture's future. We were arguing more than creating, and our sales had decreased. But it was still a great opportunity because I learned how to research markets, how to sell, how to communicate with clients, and how people create websites.

Unicorn Platform

When I quit my company, I only had enough money for a few months. This time, I decided to go it completely on my own.

It took me two months to create the initial version. I coded an HTML generator that could compose pages to export as HTML. There was no online editing or hosting.

I was absolutely sure about my vision, and posted Unicorn Platform on Product Hunt:

I got so much positive feedback, and some cash as absolute validation.

But I was only at about $500 MRR, which was not enough to pay my bills. I launched a private Lifetime Deal (LTD) funding round on the Lifetimo Facebook Group, and quickly raised $10K.

The 50 people who bought the LTD were promised a complete website builder, with an online editor and hosting, in one year. So, I had a deadline.

I started putting in 14 hours per day learning and coding over the course of that year. Unicorn Platform was literally born like this:

Launch and marketing

After a year of hard work, I officially launched Unicorn Platform on Product Hunt. I jumped from $800 MRR to $2K MRR.

Here's how we get users:

• Every free website made by our tool has a branding badge with a direct link to Unicorn Platform. The badge helps to build brand awareness, and constantly brings in new users. Three out of every 100 users signed up to Unicorn Platform by clicking the badge:

• Open startup reports: We publish our main metrics, including MRR, churn, new users, and website visitors. This type of content has good engagement and successfully attracts new users (and potential partners).

• AppSumo: We ran an AppSumo campaign that got a lot of attention. The listing brought us 2,949 new quality sessions (bounce rate: 10.6%, time on site: 4:38).

• Product Hunt: We relaunch Unicorn Platform on Product Hunt every six months. I consider Product Hunt to be an acquisition channel, not just a one-time launch platform. Here is an example of our relaunch.

• SEO: We continue to create new blog posts and keyword-specific pages (one example). I did not do any backlink building or use long-tail keywords, but somehow, search engines account for 31.1% of our total traffic:

• Word-of-mouth remains our top source for new users.

Paid ads did not work for us. I experimented with them and got zero signups.

Advice for indie hackers

A startup is a complex and unpredictable thing. It can evolve in many different ways. Don't let the stories about Company X raising $100M in funding make you feel as though you are failing. There's strength in linear growth, too. Also, big competitors do not have the level of flexibility that a small project does, and this is a great benefit for us.

Discuss this story.

🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick

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 David Gregorian, Priyanka Vazirani, Shân Osborn, Aytekin Tank, and Alexander Isora for contributing posts. —Channing