Indie Bites
Indie Bites

Indie Bites

James McKinven

Overview
Episodes

Details

Short, bite-sized conversations with indie hackers that have started small, profitable and bootstrapped businesses. You'll learn how they come up with ideas, what they do to validate, find those first customers and make a sustainable income. Episodes every Tuesday.

Recent Episodes

Andrew Gazdecki on the best way to sell your indie SaaS business
OCT 30, 2025
Andrew Gazdecki on the best way to sell your indie SaaS business

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

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16 MIN
Why you should build a sweaty startup instead of an indie SaaS - Flo Schirmer
JUN 2, 2025
Why you should build a sweaty startup instead of an indie SaaS - Flo Schirmer

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

My links

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.

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16 MIN
How Tally grew to $150k MRR in 5 years - Marie Martens
MAY 23, 2025
How Tally grew to $150k MRR in 5 years - Marie Martens

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

My links

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.

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17 MIN
Why the Marketoonist is the dream indie business - Tom Fishburne
MAY 1, 2025
Why the Marketoonist is the dream indie business - Tom Fishburne

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

My links

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.

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16 MIN
Why Jack Ellis acquired Fathom Analytics from his co-founder
APR 16, 2025
Why Jack Ellis acquired Fathom Analytics from his co-founder

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

My links

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.


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14 MIN