Here we go again.

Last time at Build Space, I built and sold Narrated Tours. Call me crazy but I’ve just signed up to join their 5th cohort.

Without a business idea.

Yeh, crazy.

Anyway, cohort 5 is starting tomorrow (June 15). If you want to join me in building something cool for 6 short intense weeks, I’ve got a 2 more free passes to give out.

Just drop me an email and I will sort you out (first come, first serve).

Now… on to today’s deep dive 👇

💎Today’s deep dive

Daniel Ch's journey has always fascinated me.

He successfully built a SAAS Notion website builder, Simple.Ink and exited the business at a ripe old age of 24.

I've always seen him around on Twitter/X, but it wasn't until I started doing my research on him while to write this article that my respect for him grew.

In the age of “look how amazing I am!”, it's rare to find someone so self-aware to simply admit that he “got lucky”.

But… was it pure luck?

What exactly did he do to build and sell Simple.Ink, a SAAS Notion website builder within 2 years for 6 figures?

Let’s find out.

🔗 Read The Deep Dive on Daniel Ch 🔗

You will learn:

• How 19 year old Daniel Ch "got lucky" with an accidental business success.

• What his "Echo Your Success" strategy is and how to should milk your success.

• The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed - hint: it's NOT about execution.

• How Daniel Ch applied the "Distribution first, product second" startup strategy.

Curious? Read the deep dive.👇

🔗 Read The Deep Dive on Daniel Ch 🔗

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• Build Space Cohort 5 - It’s a free incubator where you work on your own projects for an intense 6 week period. In this cohort there are also cash prizes to be won. Read founder, Farza’s tweet about it here.

• Apple WWDC announcement - Here’s a summary of Apple’s WWDC this year. If you’re an indie maker building AI tools, beware that the battle to win the “all-in-one AI assistant” app is beginning. Many AI startups will become redundant quickly.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Book a strategy call with me

Idea generation crash course

☝️Get in front of Juicy Idea’s audience

Want to reach Juicy Idea’s audience of 4100+ SAAS founders, indie makers and solopreneurs?

Grab a sponsorship slot here.

In case you missed it, the UK’s first NoCode AI conference happened earlier this week.

And your favorite indie nerd (AKA me) was invited to speak on stage, sharing the best marketing secrets I learned from top indie makers after a year of running Juicy Ideas.

Proof or it didn’t happen: 👇

If you were there, thank you for stopping by to say hi and listening to my Ted talk! 😅 What a surreal experience meeting readers and virtual friends IRL.

If you missed it and want to watch a replay, just hit reply and I will add you to the invite list. (Or you can sign up to their mailing list here)

Now… on to today’s deep dive 👇

💎Today’s deep dive

Damon Chen is the founder of PDF.ai and testimonial.to. I first came across him mid-ChatGPT hype, when EVERYONE was racing to build apps on top of ChatGPT.

I was intrigued because somehow, he was able to beat the crowd (and many large enterprises) by building THE PDF AI app of the time.

Today, you will learn some clever strategies he used to launch a valuable product riding the AI hype.

I will also share why I think even if he shuts his entire business operations down… he will still make money from PDF.ai.

🔗 Read The Deep Dive 🔗

You will learn:

• How much Damon paid for the PDF.ai and Testimonial.to domain names

• A napkin math to work out how much to pay for premium domain names

• Is building in public dead?

• Why successful indie hackers no longer share revenue metrics publicly

• How to build a product so valuable the product drives it own expansion

Curious? Read the deep dive.👇

🔗 Read The Deep Dive 🔗

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• AI podcast host - An AI generated podcast host to interview you for your next episode? KP just recorded his first podcast talking to an AI host and you can read his reaction here

• GPT-4o - If you haven’t, give the new ChatGPT a try. The latest model is now free for anyone to use. It’s not quite AGI, but feels significantly smarter than the last version (free queries are rate-limited)

• ConvertKit free tier - Convert Kit expanded its free tier so you can now write for up to 10,000 newsletter subscribers for free. I will be checking this out so stay tuned.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Book a strategy call with me

Idea generation crash course

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 4000+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow.

Refer a friend

Tim Stoddart’s done everything from building websites, agency, services, and memberships and is now on track to make $6.7 million from his empire of start-ups.

He wants to teach you how to build multiple streams of income for free.

Binge all of Tim’s best ideas here:

Tim Stoddart: Build your income streams

💎Today’s deep dive

You know you should validate your ideas.

So you nervously share your idea on Twitter and wait for the comments.

But what should you expect? What does a validated idea even look like?

You received lots of warm fuzzy comments like “good idea!” but how do you know if they will actually buy from your when you launch? What should you do?

Today, we will unpack 3 examples of real idea validation tweets by 3 solo entrepreneurs, Kyleigh, Pieter Levels and Milly Barker.

🔗 Read this deep dive

You will learn:

• What a validated idea looks like in the comments section

• The difference between positive and negative validation signals

• Why “good idea!” is a false positive signal

• Examples of negative comments that are actually good

• And everything in between

Curious? Read the deep dive.👇

🔗 Read this deep dive

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• 30 Day Growth Challenge - Milly Barker (serial no-code entrepreneur) is helping a cohort of indie makers with a daily growth challenge for the next 30 days, starting 1 May 2024. If you’re struggling with accountability and want someone experienced to tell you exactly what to do for 30 days, join Milly next week. (Use code JUICYIDEAS50 for $50 off)

• Noah Kagan launches No Subscription DocuSign alternative - We are seeing “One-time-fee” pricing models popping up everywhere. If your subscription model isn’t working, think about how you might offer a one-time alternative.

• SAAS Mac Martin - Mac has bootstrapped multiple 6 and 7-figure SaaS apps and recently launched ViralBox to help other SaaS teams scale through word-of-mouth referrals.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Book a strategy call with me

Idea generation crash course

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 3900+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

I spent a lot of time lurking on Reddit to find startup ideas.

If you know where to look, Reddit is a goldmine for solo entrepreneurs to find problems worth solving.

But separating signals from noise can be hard. That’s why you should try free Reddit research tools like Gummy Search. It’s something I’ve used many times myself.

Using Gummy Search, you can quickly analyze any niche on Reddit. Discover problems to solve, sentiment on current solutions, and people who want to buy your product.

💡 Sign Up For Free

💎Today’s deep dive

As a newsletter operator, I’ve been following Jaisal Rathee’s indie journey keenly.

He is a solo entrepreneur that launched over 10 newsletters in the last 3 years. And he successfully sold at least 5, one of which to Michael Houck, a $1M newsletter entrepreneur.

Needless to say, if you want to learn how to launch and grow multiple newsletter FAST, this is the deep dive you need to read 👇

🔗 Read this week's deep dive

Today, you will learn how to recreate the unconventional strategy Jaisal Rathee uses to grow a portfolio of newsletters so that you can work on multiple newsletters at once. Specifically, you will learn:

• How to create a newsletter structure so that you can operate multiple newsletters without burning out

• Why offering free marketing for his readers is a smart move

• The one thing you need to maximize inbound sponsorship leads so you never have to hunt for sponsors again.

• How Jaisal Rathee gets his first 1000 subscribers

• How to skip the painful 0 to 1000 subscribers phase when building multiple newsletters

Read the deep dive.👇

🔗 Read this week's deep dive

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• A free mockup tool - Not sure why I’ve only just discovered Shots.so, a free tool that lets you turn screenshots into create beautiful mockups for laptops, phones, browser and even apple watch for free. Check it out.

• Twitter tool idea - Elon Musk just announced all X accounts with over 2500 verified subscribers (blue tick accounts) will get premium features for free. Somebody will be building a club that allows 2500 blue tick accounts to follow each other to get the blue tick for free.

• Bubble just announced a new AI feature that helps you create marketplaces, landing pages, dashboards and social feeds directly in the Bubble app.

• Shout out to Paul Matthews who is building My Teacher Aide, an AI SAAS for teachers and recently gave a talk on TedX. Well done Paul!

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Book a strategy call with me

Idea generation crash course

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 3800+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Tim Stoddart’s done everything from building websites, agency, services, and memberships and is now on track to make $6.7 million from his empire of start-ups.

He wants to teach you how to build multiple streams of income for free.

Binge all of Tim’s best ideas here:

Tim Stoddart: Build your income streams

💎Today’s deep dive

In 2022, Dan KulKov and Sveta Bay were both working corporate jobs wondering how to get out.

18 months later, they launched 13 products, sold their most viral one (Sponsor The Newsletter) and reached $100,000 in total revenue.

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive ↗

Today, we will learn how Dan KulKov and Sveta Bay turned their marketing and startup skills into a $10k/month productized service studio.

Curious? This is what you will learn:

• Why you should first build a productized service before your SAAS

• An alternative business model to productized service that's easier to implement

• The step-by-step process they used to turn their marketing services into a product business

• How to leverage side project marketing and controversy to fuel your growth

• Actionable ideas you can replicate for your own business

Read the deep dive.👇

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive ↗

🔎 Email course series

I’m looking for interesting founders to reverse-engineer for you. Please choose topics you’re most interested in and I will share a useful founder story (you can also reply if you think of something else).

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• This AI gives you a fake face to act like a VPN for your personal identity. Just record your TikTok video as usual and it overlays an AI-generated face on top of yours. I’m finding it hard to explain but check out the demo. Use this to generate “faceless” YouTube Channels?

• [Tweethunter for $1] - Write and schedule unlimited AI-powered tweets for $1 with code KICKSTART (Savings: $49)

• Dan and Sveta’s website is built on bubble. You can recreate their website in a day using Launch AI’s bubble toolkit. Currently 50% off.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Book a strategy call with me

Idea generation crash course

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 3500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Something crazy happened after I shared Tim Stoddart’s story last week.

Tim went from being a heroin addict to a millionaire building directory sites. His story was inspiring but that's not the crazy part.

You see, we started chatting in the DMs after he liked my write-up on Twitter.

I (over)shared with him the challenges I faced growing this newsletter as a business.

Within 10 minutes, he wired me $200 and told me to keep going.🤯

You won't believe how much I cried that night, knowing that someone believed in me.

This experience taught me two things. 1. Not all heroes wear capes.

And 2. Most millionaires create envy, but millionaires with big hearts change lives.

Anyway, his blog is gold if you want to learn how to build multiple streams of income directly from Tim.

Go check it out and tell him I sent you. ❤️

Tim Stoddart: Build your income streams

💎Today’s deep dive

If you are into building software, you'd have heard of Noah Kagan.

He is the founder of AppSumo - a software discount site making $80 million in revenue a year, bootstrapped.

He just published a book called The Million Dollar Weekend. It was an instant hit that got everyone from Sam Parr (My First Million) to Ali Abdaal raving about it.

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive ↗

The book is designed as a challenge. In this issue, I will share why I think it’s the best practical guide you can have to start a million-dollar business.

I will walk you through Noah’s step-by-step guide to starting your million-dollar business in 48 hours.

Yes, you can be sitting on a million-dollar business by the end of this weekend.

Curious? Read the deep dive.👇

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive ↗

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [The Million Dollar Weekend] Grab your own copy of The Million Dollar Weekend book and do the challenge. It’s free on Audible.

• [TweetHunter for $1] Just found this deal to try TweetHunter for $1 with code KICKSTART. It gives you one extra free month to use this AI Twitter writing tool. Not sure how long this promotion lasts so get it before Tibo (founder) takes it down! (I got mine 😁)

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 3200+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

If you’re a regular reader of Juicy Ideas, you’d know we are a fan of building stuff with proven demand. One way to do this is to uncover underserved keywords and build a tool around them. Learn about this strategy here.

However, finding those keywords can be time-consuming. That’s why two fellow indie makers created Build The Keywords - a free tool to find low-competition, highly-searched keywords.

psst - It’s launching on Product Hunt today - check it out!

💎Today’s deep dive

Today’s deep dive is about someone who managed to convert a personal problem (alcohol addiction) into a $250,000 per year directory as a side hustle.

He now runs this directory on autopilot, alongside a thriving agency, personal brand and membership site he built off the back of his initial success with this directory.

Very excited to share his story and lessons learned.

🔎 Read THIS deep dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• How he turned a directory business into a $6.7 million micro startup empire

• Why directories are great no-code starter businesses anyone can build

• The 2 ways directories make money (and which you should choose for maximum profit)

• How to stand out in a competitive market without experience

• Why you should copy successful entrepreneurs like Tim and where to find them

Get the juicy details in the FREE deep dive:

🔎 Read THIS deep dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [AI Automation project idea] Google’s Gemini can now write an automation code for you based on a screen capture. All Paige did was upload a screen recording of herself searching for properties on Zillow on Gemini, and Gemini wrote a Selenium code for her to recreate the entire process. Watch the demo.

• [SAAStrappers] If you like Juicy Ideas you’d enjoy Leo’s Saastrappers where he interviews bootstrapped SAAS founders. Read his interview sharing Lukas Hermann’s journey building a timer app from zero to €5,000 in 18 months.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Credits: Thanks Marcin for inspiring this deep dive!
Request a deep dive and get a shoutout when the issue is released.

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 3200+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Build an AI version of your favorite creator

Paste in links from YouTube, Twitter Spaces, Apple Podcasts and even Twitch and let Alphy transcribe, summarize and generate an AI assistant that can answer your questions based on content from the links.

What’s more, you can use it to generate an AI version of your favorite creator too! Check out their Alex Hormozi AI or try Alphy free today.

Try Alphy for Free!

💎Today’s deep dive

If you’ve ever wondered whether you should just keep it simple, build a super basic app that solves a specific problem and live the indie maker dream… then this article is for you.

Today’s article is about Lukas and Liz Hermann, a couple from Germany who have recently transitioned from freelanceing to full-time duo-preneurship while travelling through Asia.

And they did this by selling remote-controlled countdown timers.. making $10k a month!

🔎 Read This Deep Dive for Free →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• How anyone can monetize simple apps like a countdown timer

• Why people pay for something that's already available for free

• How to run profitable ads on a solopreneur shoestring budget

• How to launch on Reddit without being kicked off

• How to combine SEO and Google Ads to capture your most profitable search terms

Get the juicy details in the FREE deep dive:

🔎 Read This Deep Dive for Free →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [HeyCreator Summit] If you’ve missed the summit, here are the replay links for classes held by Nathan Barry (Convert Kit), Justin Welsh, Khe Hy, Jay Clouse and Pat Flynn. I think they are only keeping these links alive for a few days so if they no longer work, you will need to join the community for access (14 days refund guarantee)

• [AI trends] Ben created a 120-page slide deck about the future of AI, including a generative AI market map showing all notable AI startups across industries and trends to watch in 2024. Download the deck.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

Credits: Thanks Lizzie for requesting this deep dive!
Request a deep dive and get a shoutout when the issue is released.

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2800+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Gurus on YouTube are selling the dream that ANYONE can build an AI startup that generates recurring income on autopilot.

Just use No Code tools, they said.

While that is technically true, you still need to know how to use No Code tools like Bubble. When I was building the micro startup I sold last year, I probably watched 20 hours of YouTube tutorials just to figure out how to set up the signup flow!

No code startups are HARD if it’s your first project.

That’s why I’m partnering with Bubble expert, Lee, to bring to you this highly customizable Bubble template.

A copy-paste Bubble template to skip the boring parts of building and launch your AI-integrated startup in a day.

P/s: Juicy Ideas readers get 50% off the launch price with this link👇

🔥 Launch your AI SAAS idea in a day →

💎Today’s deep dive

I cannot remember how I came across Jay Clouse. But at some point in my journey of building an audience on Twitter, I came across his content and have been deeply inspired by his curiosity to learn and authenticity in a sea of microphone-holding gurus.

Then I saw his revenue report and I knew I needed to figure out how he did it.

Specifically, how he has been doubling his income almost consistently since 2017 as a content creator who is still figuring things out.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

Today's article will hopefully inspire you to start growing your audience and give you some practical tips do that effectively.

In this deep dive you will learn:

• What it takes to build a $600k creator business

• The shortcut to becoming an authority figure in any industry

• The strategy he used to double his income in 2023

• The best asymmetric bets you should take as a creator

• Using scarcity tactics the right way as a creator

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [Marketing] Phillipp analysed 200 indie hacker websites to figure out the most indie-friendly backlinks to improve your website’s SEO. He created a directory of the top 60 backlinks for indie makers.

• [Trend alert] Apple’s new Vision PRO App Store is an opportunity to build.

• [Build] 25% off pre-made Bubble templates to build an AI SAAS in a day.

  ---

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

What an eventful year for Juicy Ideas. In 2023, I’ve rebranded this newsletter (twice!), written over 30 deep dives, built and sold 2 microSAAS on the side and even created a crash course to help founders find ideas worth building.

In 2024, I want to double down on what’s working and experiment with some new ideas to grow this newsletter to 10k subscribers by the end of 2024 (There, I said it!). In particular, I’m considering:

1. New content formats

2. Collaboration with Juicy Ideas readers (get in touch if you are interested!)

3. More practical tools and templates to help you grow your startup

4. Live AMA/Office hours with founders

You can let me know which you’d like at the bottom of the email.

While we get ready for the year ahead, let’s take a look at some of your favourite deep dives in 2023:

1. How to win in saturated markets
   Learn how Tim Bennetto, founder of Pallyy built a $74k MRR social media scheduling tool in one of the most crowded SAAS spaces out there completely bootstrapped.

2. How to win over Product Hunt audience on launch day
   Watch Marc Louvin’s launch videos to learn how to make your audience love you.

3. The secret SEO playbook Danny Postma uses to consistently find winning ideas
   Danny Postma sold Headline for around $1,000,000 within 8 months and now runs a million-dollar AI product studio. This is how he find new ideas.

4. The micro-influencer playbook
   Who to partner with? How do you set a price? See David Park’s micro-influencer playbook that helped him grow Jenni AI to $150k MRR in 18 months… while battling cancer.

5. Selling your indie maker startup
   Learn how Tibo Louis-Lucas grew TweetHunter and the actual term sheet he used to exit the startup for over $10M.

   ---

⭐️ What you’d like to see

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Caveminds is not another AI newsletter. Their content for founders with weekly golden nuggets and actionable AI strategies is redefining the role of AI in businesses.

When you visit caveminds.com you'll find a sophisticated platform of AI tools, webinars, podcasts, hands-on training sessions, and individual AI advising services, all designed to support their members in scaling their businesses.

So join today this thriving community of 10,000+ founders leveraging AI to build 7–9 figure businesses. 

Supercharge your business with AI

💎Today’s deep dive

I saw this story on my Twitter feed the other day. $100k in a few months installing Christmas lights for others? I think I’m in the wrong business!

Julius’s post got me down the rabbit hole googling everything I can find about this quirky yet lucrative niche of Christmas lights installations as a service.

To my surprise, aside from the obvious fact that you have to climb on people’s rooftops, this business feels… simple. After all, Julius and his brother are already on track to make $75,000 and this is only their first seaso.

As I was reading I realized many of the strategies he used can help you grow your startup as well. As you know, the best ideas come from cross-pollinating tactics from different, unrelated industries.

So here goes:

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

In this deep dive, you will learn:

• What it takes to run a Christmas lighting installation business

• When you should use old-school marketing efforts like distributing flyers and making calls.

• Why speed matters when it comes to winning new customers

• How to use your customer's imagination to sell to themselves

• An action plan with four tactics you can implement in your startup today.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

✨ 2024 goals

Have you started thinking about your goals for 2024?

Do you know that:

• You are 65% likely to achieve your goal if you share your commitment with someone.

• You are 95% likely to achieve your goal if you set a specific accountability appointment with the person to whom you've committed!

If you want to smash your 2024 goals, go ahead and reply to this email.

Tell me:

• Your goal

• The date you will email me again on whether you’ve achieved your goals

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

p/s: My idea validation crash course is 30% off with code NEWYEAR24 if you’re looking to start something new.

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

If you are a founder or indie hacker you have probably heard of Marc Köhlbrugge, or at least the company he founded - BetaList.

In this article, we will learn a trick he accidentally learned to growth hack BetaList into the startup discovery platform that we know today.

It was so successful that he quit his other startup, Open Margin, to go all in on BetaList, which snowballed into a decade long indie hacking journey bootstrapping multiple startups including a community platform (WIP), AI (RoomAI), twitter handle flipping (Handle Horse) and more.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• How he tricked TechCrunch into writing about his startup

• What to do when one of your post goes viral

• How to leverage FOMO to create a successful community

• Clever ways to run a paid tier for your product without extra features

• Why you should validate distribution before you build

• Five juicy tactics for you to implement in your startup

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• Have you started thinking about 2024? Thanks Jill for collating this amazing directory of 23 annual review resources to help you plan an awesome year ahead.

• I tweeted this definition of product-market-fit the other day. Read this report breaking down the key metrics to look out for to know whether you have PMF.

  ---

⭐️ A message from Hazel

I created this newsletter to share what I learned from the top indie makers. Since our launch in October, we’ve grown to 2,500 subscribers and I’d love to thank YOU for being a part of my journey in 2023.

I’m planning some exciting stuff for Juicy Ideas in the new year, including pro subscriptions (you can buy or gift a subscription pre-launch) and a product hunt launch (please leave a review if you’d like to support my launch).

As always, I welcome all ideas or suggestions so just hit REPLY and let me know what you think. I respond to every reply.

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

Let’s connect → Twitter | LinkedIn

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

I’ve migrated most of my deep dives from Substack to my own site because I realized how important SEO is. My sponsor dofollow.com shows us how you can rise to the top of search results with backlinks from high-authority websites like Business Insider, HubSpot, and Canva. Get authority-boosting, hyper-relevant links with dofollow.com.

🚀 B2B Saas SEO Case Study

💎Today’s deep dive

I am excited about this issue's hero - Tibo Louis-Lucas (otherwise known as Tibo Maker on Twitter).

When researching his journey, what immediately struck me was the incredible highs and lows he experienced: From raising hundreds of thousands to declaring bankruptcy, from building multiple products to going solo... And finally pulling off an incredible 8-figure exit.

There's a lot we can learn from his persistence and ability to bounce back after failures. Today, we will look at how he did it.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• How he raised $1m for his startups and why he will never do that again

• The strategy that exploded Tweet Hunter's MRR to $20k within 3 months

• Why he gave away 1% of his company to micro-influencers but asked nothing in return

• Why he kept Tweet Hunter and Taplio separate even though they are basically the same

• Who eventually bought Tweet Hunter and how they structured the sale

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [Productivity idea] I just came across a free Chrome extension that lets you record and summarize your meetings with AI discretely without having to invite a bot to join your call. Try it for your next meeting.

• [AI build idea] - If you self-identify as a terrible artist like me, check out this open-sourced tool that converts amateur sketches into real art. The demo video blew my mind. I can imagine this being used for interior design.

• [Marketing idea] - Why you shouldn’t build a product for problem-unaware customers. This is also the basis of the Make What They Want movement.

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

I was using this Gumroad analytics tool to research product ideas for Black Friday last week (I ended up creating an Ideation Crash Course for founders, you can read a summary on how I went from zero to launch in 10 days here).

Anyway, as I was browsing Gum Trends for ideas, I realized had to filter out all kinds of random products, I mean, a course titled “How to Seduce Girls”, really?

But then I came across Jordan Hughes’ Untitled UI for the first time and I knew I had to write a deep dive about him.

💎Today’s deep dive

What makes Jordan Hughes an interesting founder to study is that prior to starting Untitled UI - a Figma UI kit, Jordan didn’t have extensive product design experience.

In fact, he only started learning the fundamentals of product design in 2019, just 3 years before he made 6 figures selling UI templates.

Today, he’s become a highly sought-after expert in the space.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• The Gumroad analytics tool I used that led me to Jordan Hughes

• How Jordan Hughes went from beginner to 6-figure UI expert in 3 years

• Why he believes most founders should NOT move fast and break things

• How he turned Twitter and LinkedIn into his personal living portfolio

• How to squeeze more warm leads from your free product

  🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [AI news to catch up] - If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, check out this gripping summary explaining why Sam Altman was fired as CEO of OpenAI and the drama that ensued. As explained by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri.

• [AI build idea] - Launch your AI app in a day using Lee’s pre-made Bubble kit. Just duplicate his no-code AI app templates and you’re ready to go. 25% off all plans with code JUICYIDEAS (thanks Lee!)

• [Marketing idea] - Charlie explains what a shareable feature is and how Product Hunt is using it as a free marketing tactic to grow.

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2500+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

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From 0 to 40,000 organic monthly visits and 50+ monthly demo bookings - discover exactly how NectarHR achieved these results with dofollow.com in just a few months, plus how you can get DR90+ links from websites such as Business Insider, HubSpot, and more. Read the free case study now.

🚀 B2B Saas SEO Case Study

💎Today’s deep dive

This week’s hero is Tim Bennetto, a solopreneur who successfully built a $74K MRR startup competing against well-funded companies in a highly competitive market.

And the best part?

Before starting Pallyy, Tim was a locksmith who taught himself how to code by watching free tutorials online.

🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• What it takes to compete with industry giants as a solo founder

• How to handle complaints about "bugginess" as a first-time indie maker

• Why buying free tools give you more than buying traffic

• How to get the best affiliates to promote your product

• When you should change your company mission

  🔎 Read This Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [Ideation crash course] - I’ve launched a crash course! “Ideation bootcamp for founders who are sick of building something no one wants.” Use BLACKFRIDAY23 for 40% off this weekend.

• [Marketing idea] - Have a Black Friday offer of your own? Take 10 minutes to list your startup alongside mine on these Indie Maker BlackFriday directories.

• [Sponsored shout out] - Charlie writes growth, marketing and product development strategies for SAAS products at Idea Hub.

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2000+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Last week, I shared why Danny Postma thinks SEO is the most underrated growth strategy for indie makers. And it doesn’t have to be hard. dofollow.com shows how you can go from 0 to 40,000 organic monthly visits and 50+ monthly demo bookings in a few months. NectarHR achieved these results with dofollow.com and got DR75+ links from websites like Monday, Whatagraph, and more.

Read how they did it here:

🚀 B2B Saas SEO Case Study

💎Today’s deep dive

This week’s topic is about David Park who built Jenni AI from 0 to 1 million customers in a short 9 months.

What makes his story so inspiring to me is how he managed to turn around his previously struggling service business into a $150k-a-month business WHILE undergoing cancer treatment. 🫡

🔎 Read This Deep Dive ↗

In this deep dive you will learn:

• David Park's background and experience before building Jenni AI

• How David converted Jenni AI from a struggling service business into a SAAS company

• The ONE pivot that finally unlocks Jenni AI's growth after being stuck for 3 years

• David's 3-step content creation process that took Jenni AI from 0 to 1 million users

• What David is experimenting with today as he aims to get Jenni AI to unicorn status

🔎 Read This Deep Dive ↗

🔎 Other juicy ideas

• [Black Friday deals] - The annual deal grabbing time is on. Get 90% off lifetime deals on AppSumo, for tools like landing page builders and lead generation databases.

• [Acquisition idea] - Harold is looking for someone to take over No Code Sale, a platform that helps indie makers exit their old projects. Their live pitch events facilitated 18 successful acquisitions this year. Get in touch with Harold for more details.

• [GPT startup idea] - OpenAI business plan map showing what type of products you can build without worrying about being made obsolete by the next OpenAI update.

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2000+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

💎 Today’s deep dive

I first got to know Marc Louvion in earlier this year when I tried to buy him a virtual coffee as a surprise treat.

Sadly, neither of us could work out why Starbucks wouldn't let him redeem the actual coffee but I've continued to follow his exciting rise to the Indie Maker Hall of Fame.

Today, I am sharing his fascinating journey and the tactics he used to grow Ship Fast, a boilerplate for websites to $43,000 monthly revenue within 2 months.

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive →

In this deep dive you will learn:

• How Marc creates fantastic video skits that grab attention

• Why his landing page is designed differently from other SAAS

• Why he thinks one of his profitable apps is a failure

• How he leverages gamification mechanics in his products

• A landing page tip to promote on Reddit and avoid getting banned

🔎 Read This Week's Deep Dive →

🔎 Other juicy ideas to check out

• [Startup idea] OpenAI launched GPTs. Now anyone can create and monetize their own GPTs. Check if you have access.

• [No-code idea] Someone created a game to send strangers free food and drinks at Wetherspoons, a popular British pub chain… hosted on a free Facebook Group with 56k members.

• [Advice] Sam Dickie who runs The Creator Club shared an article about discarding good ideas in search of a great one. A great read!

Your friend with the juiciest ideas,

Hazel Lim

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2000+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Do you want to build a community of raving fans around your startup? Check out their knowledge base where you can learn and share ideas with some of the best community builders there are.

Learn to build a community

Welcome to our very first issue of Tiny Empires - the home for indie makers who are looking to grow a portfolio of startups to $100k and beyond.

If you’ve come across from What The Hype, welcome back!

Ever since my (re)launch post went semi-viral on X, I’ve been wondering who we should dig into first. I don’t want to scare away Pieter Levels by talking about him again so soon (don’t worry, we will) but I wanted someone with a similar level of success. After an afternoon of digging around the Twitter rabbit hole, I found the perfect guy.

Danny Postma

In case you haven’t noticed, he is Pieter Levels’ friendly rival. They are both racing to see who can build the biggest AI product studio and his portrait startup is soaring.

But in this issue, I want to focus on his earlier success - Headlime.

This is a startup he built and exited to ConversionAI (now JasperAI)… all within 8 months… for roughly $1,000,000!

I’ve gone through his Twitter, traffic analytics, interviews and even his old Facebook posts to piece together exactly how he did it.

Then spent another 2 days putting this deep dive together.

Enjoy.👇

GET DEEP DIVE

🔎 Juicy ideas to check out

• [Bookmark] Kyleigh found an interesting pricing trick companies like Netflix and Headspace use to instantly increase their customer lifetime value

• [Project idea] Molly jailbreak her watch into a real-life second-brain

• [Growth idea] Jenny shared her formula to make anything go viral on TikTok

Special thanks to Jon Bieler, Lee Launches, AI Junction, Adam Lorton and Edxninja for helping me shape the direction of this newsletter. Fill in this survey to get a shout out in the next issue.

Your favourite indie nerd,

Hazel

☝️One more thing

If you refer 5 friends, you get a shout-out to 2000+ subscribers in an upcoming newsletter. Click the button below and let’s help each other grow

Refer a friend

Every other Friday, I will send you a trend alert to make you the smartest person in the room about all things startup.

Today, we are going to break down the race to make startups leaner and faster.

What you will learn:

• The ONE industry most impacted by the No Code + AI power couple.

• Which month is the most popular month for launching a startup MVP?

• 3 ways Lean Startup 2.0 is different to the original version

• How to sell to cash-strapped founders - 4 pricing models to try

• Who used ChatGPT to build an app from scratch?

• Finally, a Web3 idea to disrupt the startup industry

• What I will be doing on the 6th of February
  
  

💌 Psst, want a free mention in this newsletter?

We are launching our referral program! Share this newsletter on Twitter, your newsletter (or anywhere!) and send me a screenshot or a link. I will link to you in the next issue! And if you don't know what to say, just write about a cool idea you found down below.

Let's get back to today's topic 👇

🤓So which industry are we diving into today?

The industry of "Startups" itself!

Specifically, we are talking about the mini-industry of Lean Startup, and the ecosystem around it - i.e. the venture capital investors, advisors, consultants, product teams and innovators. 

🔎 What is Lean Startup?

But first, what’s lean startup?

Lean Startup is a no-nonsense approach to launching a new business or product. It's all about getting your MVP (minimum viable product) out there as fast as possible, gathering data, and using that data to make smart, strategic decisions. No wasted time, no wasted money - just straight-up hustle to turn your ideas into a real business.

Lean Startup Flow

👀 Trend spotted

MVP Trends

 Everyone in startup industry loves talking about building an MVP. Although the search volume for the term "MVP" isn't trending up necessarily, we can spot an interesting annual pattern 👀

There is HUGE spike every year in early February. That, my friend, is the effect of our collective New Year's resolution. 🥳Everyone wants to start a business at the beginning of the year... but fizzles out the following month.

DON'T be part of the statistic.

→ p/s: If you want some accountability, hit reply with what you plan to achieve and I will make you do it! (yes, for real). 

Let's get back on topic.

🤔Why Silicon Valley loves lean startup?

Because it focuses on rapid iteration and experimentation. This means entrepreneurs can quickly identify and pivot away from bad ideas and double down on the good ones. It’s also data-driven (or at least it tries to be 🤓), which VCs love.

This is where No code + AI comes in.

😵 What's changed?

 Lean Startup is all about being FAST. And new tools in the no-code and AI space are making the startup process ever FASTER:

• No Code tools: It is now easier, faster and cheaper to just build using tools like Softr (my current favourite), Typedream, and Airtable

• AI: Now anyone can (kinda) code something that’s good enough for an MVP beta (ChatGPT), recreate a bunch of assets for their website quickly (Read the Generative AI issue here), or even use ChatGPT as the backend.

• Platforms with better UX: Most people can try to set up a business to sell anything, just by creating an account. The learning curve to “start” is very low (getting sales is a different issue!)

Spencer used ChatGPT to build a prototype app:

🔥 Opportunities 

Whenever we talk about startups, we think about the founders. But there is a huge ecosystem around the startup industry that will be impacted by the latest startup tools. This includes the incubators, accelerators, product & innovation departments, and anyone working with startups as consultants and advisors.

With that in mind, let's brainstorm some opportunities:

1️⃣ Set up an innovation agency using newer tools.

It’s ironic that many innovation departments have standardized (read: OLD) processes and workflows for innovation.

So if you set up an innovation agency today with no-code tools you can spend less time on the building process and differentiate yourself by focusing more on other stuff, like creating an early adopter community for your client (another big trend we will cover in a future issue).

2️⃣ Lean Startup 2.0 Bootcamps

The first hackathon I participated in was in 2008. Every startup was heavily reliant on having its own tech expertise. Everyone fought hard for dev talents because otherwise, nothing could be built.

Now, we have plenty of no-code bootcamps that can bring almost any idea to life without tech. 

For example: 

 100 Days of No Code by Max Haining 

Want to build with me?

🥳I am participating in the NoCode MVP Bootcamp starting February 6th👆

Hit me up if you want to join me. I have a $200 off code to share. 🤩

3️⃣ New pricing model for services (like marketing) 

Most marketing services are still priced like they were 10 years ago ($ retainer per month). Startups NEED marketing advice but cannot typically afford to pay for retainers.

Demand > Supply = Opportunity Gap 🔥

There’s an opportunity to create more affordable marketing services for startups. And you can use creative pricing strategies so it does not have to be a race to the bottom.

• 💎You can charge based on performance fee or equity share like Jeremy:

• 💎Build it on Web3

Here’s a conversation I had with a VC friend of mine. Essentially, you’d build a tokenized platform where startups gain access to service providers who would be paid in tokens in lieu of fiat currencies like USD.

FoundershipHQ is a Web3 cohort-based program that is attempting this. Read their "How It Works" documentation.

→ If you are interested in tokenomics, don't listen to me. Check out Yehoshua's Designing Tokenomics 101 from First Principles instead.

-  💎 Create checklists, cheatsheets &challenges to help founders

Another way to help the growing number of bootstrapped entrepreneurs? DIY options.

Package your knowledge into bite-sized content and let your clients can do the work themselves. The game here is to help 1000s of businesses for $100 instead of 10 businesses for $1,000.

A newsletter marketing example: 30 days to 1000 subscribers by Anthony Castrio

- 💎 New pricing model for services (professional services):

For highly skilled services like lawyers, accountants, high-level marketers, you can either:

• Productise your service to lower your servicing costs - Juni (All-in-one E-commerce finance).

• Fractional everything - Fractional CMO (MarketerHire), Fractional CFO (TopTal), Fractional COO…

But remember WHY you're doing this - it isn't to devalue your services, but rather, to create a new offering for a new category of bootstrapped entrepreneurs. 

💀 Risks  

• Ever-changing tool-stack - The no-code industry is moving fast. Keeping on top of the latest tools makes scaling your product / service difficult.

• High-churn on the lower end - Most startups fail. Working with early-stage businesses has its own risks. Price your offering accordingly.

• Web3 & tokenomics - Beware of over-complicating the simplest of tasks when incorporating token payments into your business model.

Was this email useful?

My entire purpose in creating these emails are to highlight unusual opportunities for you to find your next big business idea. 

I hope it's doing that. If it is, let me know by replying. 

Until the next one, 

Hazel

❤️ If you like What The Hype and want to support my work

• Share What The Hype with a friend and invite them to subscribe here. I am offering a free mention for every referral you make. 🙌

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Every other Friday, I will send you a trend alert to make you the smartest person in the room about all things startup.

Today, we are going to break down the hype about Portfolio Careers.

What you will learn:

• Why portfolio careers are making a comeback, after 500 years

• 3 trends pushing this into the spotlight in 2023

• How to decide which opportunities to pursue.

• Can you do it all?

• Who's making $338k/yr with a portfolio career?

• 4 ways to build a portfolio career

• 5 unconventional ways to profit from this trend

• The 1 thing you should NOT do
  

What's happening in Hazel's world:

Two really cool things happened.

1) Follower growth

Woohoo, we made it to 1000 followers on Twitter! 🥳 I maay have an announcement to make in Feb 🤫... For now, I am focusing on growing THIS newsletter which takes HOURS to write but is super fun.

2) A ChatGPT alternative

I know all of you absolutely LOVE ChatGPT.

Here's a ChatGPT alternative I found that gives you current events (ChatGPT is 2 years behind) and cites its sources. I asked FactGPT for "interesting business ideas I can create using ChatGPT", and it delivered.

FactGPT by Longshot.ai

Definitely useful if you need AI content that is fresh and traceable back to its sources. I asked the founder Ankur and he said yes to offering a free 500 credits* to readers of our newsletter (psst: not available if you simply scroll the website). 

*Valid as of the date of writing. Ankur is now our first newsletter sponsor!

Ok, enough about me. Let's dive straight into today's topic 👇

🔎 What is a portfolio career?

It is when you do more than 1 traditional 9 to 5 job. A lawyer who’s also a broadway dancer at night is an example of someone with a portfolio career. (You'd laugh, but I have a friend who is doing this)

“Multipotentialite” is another term I’ve come across to describe a person like that. There is a Ted Talk about it. 

👁 Trend spotted 

Searches for terms like indie hackers, no code and side hustles are all trending up worldwide. More people are realizing the need to transition away from a single source of income.

Just look at that dotted uptick at the end... (Google's own prediction of growth)

🔮 The big picture

The desire to have a second (or third) income is fueling this hype. With inflation and interest rates going up, and a recession looming, I suspect this trend is only going to accelerate.

👀 Examples of portfolio careers?

Portfolio careers are not new. In fact, here are some famous historical figures that had multiple careers:

• Marie Curie - The only person to ever win Nobel Prizes in TWO different fields - Physics and Chemistry. An incredible role model.

• Leonardo da Vinci - A painter, an architect, a designer and an investor… There is almost nothing he couldn’t do.

Ok, enough of this history lesson. Let's look at some recent examples:

Sebastiaan de With - portfolio career

Ayush - Portfolio career

🔥 Opportunities 

Let's look at two ways you can profit from this trend. 1) Building your own portfolio career and 2) Helping others build theirs.

💎Create your own portfolio career

Here are some ideas:

1️⃣Start a 5 to 9 side hustle.

Everyone knows about diversifying income streams. But how do you decide which option to choose? Try this simple decision tree👇

1. If you have a skill set that can help individuals, consider packaging up your services as a course, a template, an ebook, or offer microservices. The next time you attend a meet-up or networking event and someone asks you for help, you can refer them to this product. Help them get to know you, and move them up the offer ladder.

Dagobert Renouf - He created the very popular How To Dominate Twitter course (which I bought & completed myself)

Daniel Vassallo - He is an ex-Amazon employee who wrote a book about AWS (Amazon Web Services).

Justin Welsh - He packaged his experience growing other people’s businesses to $50M+ to help creators via his courses.

(I am proudly an affiliate link)

2. If you have a skillset that is highly specialised, consider working for multiple clients via platforms like Catalant.

Sean O’Dowd - Built a $500k/yr profit business by providing consultancy services on Catalant. It all started with an engagement ring debt. 👀Read his incredible story here.

Alan Tang - One of my good friends from school who’s now Chief of Staff at Portfolio Collective (a community and job board for people with portfolio careers).

2️⃣Get multiple FULL-time jobs

Yes, you read that right. There’s even a term for this - “Overemployed”.

Check out the subreddit r/overemployed. (🔴Warning: This is NOT life advice - don’t come at me if your employer finds out. Always check your employment terms!)

(Yes, ChatGPT is trending in r/overemployed too!)

3️⃣Run one-off workshops

You already know your stuff. Find charities, local companies, or go through your contact lists to find other organizations you could run a one-off workshop for, in exchange for testimonials. Then do more and start getting paid.

Take me as an example. I run growth hacking & incubator workshops for Allia’s accelerator programs (<< Say hi to me on LinkedIn)

4️⃣Consider passive income sources

As interest rates go up, this becomes more important. (The opportunity costs of inaction is higher)

💎 Create tools to help people build their portfolio careers

Here’s where it gets interesting. Remember the saying “During a gold rush, sell shovels”? Let’s unpack a few “shovels” opportunities.

1️⃣Help people figure out WHAT to start

Start a community (Escape The City), a podcast (Portfolio Career Podcast), a job board (The Portfolio Collective), or even a newsletter for new ideas (like this one you are reading!)

2️⃣Help people figure out HOW to start 

Everyone has an app or product idea in their head that they want to build. Leverage the No Code momentum and help people build (Example: Max Haining’s 100days Of Nocode or Alex Fasulo’s book Freelance Your Way To Freedom)

3️⃣Job boards for new identities

The biggest change when people move from a 9-5 to a new portfolio career, is a change of identity. They no longer self-identify as “an accountant”, but rather, “a new father experimenting with working for themselves”.

Find what people identify as, and build a job board for that target audience.

This is Milly building Generalist World for everyone identifying as a Generalist (yes, NOT niching down is a niche too!)

4️⃣Help people with time management

During the exploratory stage, you will be doing a lot, and the biggest constraint is time. So any tools that save time during the portfolio career transition (like Moimaere’s Twitter AI automation tool or any automation widgets will be helpful)

5️⃣Platform ideas

Job sharing is now a thing. Build a platform to share ideas, collaborate on projects, facilitate collective client pitching etc…

💀 Risks 

• Remember the old adage - “A jack of all trades”…… and a master of none. Whilst diversifying your income sources, avoid tackling multiple big changes all at once to avoid burnout.

• Not knowing what to pursueThe best way to learn what you’d like to do is NOT to read and analyse your options (Been there, done that). Try a few things, see where you find joy and momentum and take it from there.

Links to learn more

• Taking Ownership of Your Portfolio Career - Seth Godin

Was this email useful?

My entire purpose in creating these emails are to highlight unusual opportunities for you to find your next big business idea. 

I hope it's doing that. If it is, let me know by replying. 

Until the next one, 

Hazel

❤️ If you like What The Hype and want to support my work

• Share What The Hype with a friend and invite them to subscribe here.

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