Indie Bites

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder of Acquire, previously known as MicroAcquire, the largest startup acquisition marketplace. I’ve spoken to many indie hackers about selling their businesses, many of whom have done so using Andrew’s platform. Before starting the Acquire, Andrew spent 8 years bootstrapping Bizness Apps to $10m ARR before being acquired by a private equity firm. You might also know of Boostrappers.com, the site Andrew started, sharing stories of bootstrappers. Finally, he also wrote a book called Getting Acquired, which tells his story and outlines exactly how you can sell your business. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:20 - Startup and acquisition trends Andrew is seeing 03:34 - Ideal time to sell your business 05:10 - Should you build to sell? 07:19 - How to make your business look good to a potential acquirer 08:59 - Twitter/X and bootstrapping 10:24 - How would Andrew Gazdecki start a business today 11:52 - The best marketing channel for a bootstrapped business 12:56 - The most unlikely acquisition outcome 13:35 - Which business types have the highest multiples 15:26 - The future of acquire.com 15:56 - Recommendations Recommendations Book: Impossible to Inevitable Podcast: All In Podcast Entrepreneur: Jack Dorsey

Today I’m talking with Flo Schirmer about "sweaty startups", a term for old-fashioned, low-risk businesses that are often service based and unsexy. I’m talking window cleaning, car washing, self-storage, house moving and more. We’re going to discuss if you can do this as a side hustle, if you should do this over a regular software business, and what you need to do to get started with some ideas along the way. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:38 What is a sweaty startup? 03:18 From window cleaning to home security 04:37 How to start a sweaty startup 06:41 Growth for a sweaty startup 07:26 Sweaty startup vs software - what is best for indie hackers? 08:45 Injecting a tech edge into old fashioned businesses 11:34 Examples of successful sweaty startup brands 13:58 Two free sweaty startup ideas 15:57 Recommendations Recommendations Book - $100m Leads Podcast - My First Million Indie Hacker - Alex Hormozi My links Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Indie Bites YouTube Join the membership Personal Website 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙 EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder she started with her partner Filip, now used by half a million people and are over $150k MRR. Marie was on the pod 3 years ago when they’d scaled to 16,000 users and $8k MRR in 1 year. In that episode we discussed the origin story, getting their first 100 users and how they’d grown so quickly. Today, we’re going to be finding out how they’ve built such a robust business over the past 3 years and 15x’d their revenue. Listen to Marie's first episode: https://indiebites.com/43 Timestamps 00:00 Intro 02:09 From small lifestyle business to larger sustainable business 04:50 Retaining the fun in the business 06:02 Struggles in hiring a remote team 07:32 Building an in-person team in Belgium vs remote 08:17 Running a startup as a parent 10:06 How Tally has grown to $150k MRR 13:07 The pros and cons of building in public 15:08 Growing the product while keeping it simple 15:49 The future of Tally 16:43 Recommendations Recommendations Book - First Round Capital Podcast - Lenny's Podcast Indie Hacker - Olly Meakings My links Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Indie Bites YouTube Join the membership Personal Website 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙 EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Tom Fishburne is the founder of Marketoonist, a bootstrapped marketing cartoon business he started in 2010. He started drawing and sharing cartoons in 2002, and it took him 8 years to make the leap, despite having a successful career in marketing. 15 years later, Tom is still going strong, with the business making money from cartoon licensing, speaking gigs, brand deals, his book and more. Listen to the extended version of the show here: https://indiebites.com/membership/ Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 01:23 - Moving to Czech Republic out of college 02:16 - From Czech Republic to MBA 03:19 - Starting cartooning 04:03 - Tom's first client 04:37 - Imposter syndrome 05:20 - Pricing too low 06:01 - Making the leap to full time 07:08 - The terrifying moment of taking the leap 08:08 - How Tom executed on his plan as a full time cartoonist? 09:20 - Marketoonist revenue breakdown 10:45 - Why Tom still does client work 12:45 - Dealing with sh*tty clients 13:55- Dealing with AI and competition 15:55 - Recommendations Recommendations Book - Orbiting the Giant Hairball Podcast - Fly On The Wall Indie Hacker - David Hieatt My links Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Indie Bites YouTube Join the membership Personal Website 2 Hour Podcast Course Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙 EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, a simple, privacy focused analytics tool launched in 2019. I last spoke to Jack on the podcast in 2021, where he talked about the inception and growth of Fathom, taking on a massive incumbent and why Jack loves working with a co-founder. In December 2024, Jack acquired his co-founder’s share in the business, making him the sole owner (i think). Today, we’re going to talk about why he made this unique move and what’s next for Fathom. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:20 Jack finds out about EmailOctopus 02:34 Why Jack acquired Fathom 05:03 How can Jack afford this? 05:28 Why did they not get an external buyer? 07:17 Back to being a solo founder 08:19 Innovating the the crowded analytics space 11:09 Fathom's marketing and growth in 2025 12:34 How is Jack having fun? 13:14 Recommendations Recommendations Book - Dopamine Nation Podcast - Huberman Lab Indie Hacker - Ruben Gamez My links Twitter Indie Bites Twitter Indie Bites YouTube Join the membership Personal Website 2 Hour Podcast Course PodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast) This Indie Life Podcast Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙 EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.