The Unconventional Side of Tech: Indie Hackers and Wild Success Stories

When you think of a tech company, you probably think of a visionary founder, starting from a garage, building a revolutionary product, raising millions of dollars from investors, and growing faster than ever. But there's a whole other side to tech that no one is talking about, and these stories are far more interesting.

Meet Craig, the Accidental Entrepreneur

In 1995, Craig Newmark started a simple email list collecting events happening in San Francisco. The list, known as Craigslist, spread quickly, and Craig turned it into a website in 1996. Instead of seeking millions in investments, Craig focused on expanding to other cities and kept the website simple. Today, Craigslist is one of the top 100 most visited websites in the world, with 6.2 billion page views per month.

The Rise of Indie Hackers

Indie hackers are a new breed of tech entrepreneurs who don't dream of changing the world or disrupting the market. They just want to use technology to build a small but profitable business that solves a specific problem and gives them freedom and a good life. They focus on the basics, with little to no marketing, and do everything on their own.

Building in Public, Documenting the Journey

Indie hackers are known for building in public, documenting their journey, and sharing transparently how much they're making. They learn from each other's successes and failures, and some have gotten to the point where they're making really good money from their projects.

The Future of Tech

For the last decade, tech companies funded with tens of millions of dollars in investments became the norm. But Venture Capital funding peaked at the end of 2021, and today, the story is different. Many people are realizing that you can still build something big and meaningful from scratch without asking for money and without having to change the world.

In this new era of tech, the unconventional side of the industry is emerging, and it's an exciting space to watch.