Your Whole Goal Is to Not Quit

Allen describes spending two days generating business ideas and studying Hacker News threads about profitable side projects. He noticed people wanted both examples to learn from and transparent stories about businesses, which led him to create Indie Hackers.

Allen says a forum needs a topic people enjoy discussing, a steady way to bring in visitors, and active conversations from the start. He used interviews as content marketing to send readers to the forum, and initially replied to every thread so new members would find useful discussion.

Allen recommends YC for its mentorship and the support of being surrounded by other founders, while stressing that accelerator investment terms can raise the bar for success. He argues most founders should weigh that risk against building a smaller profitable business, such as one earning $10,000 or $20,000 a month.

Allen says building Indie Hackers alone made time management difficult, and he nearly quit when he struggled with ad sales. His view is that startups are a slog: keep working through setbacks, seek support by sharing progress publicly, and use community to stay motivated.

Allen advises starting with what people want and then finding a suitable way to provide it. He encourages founders to study other businesses, share ideas on a forum, and learn from feedback rather than disappearing into a two-month solo effort.