The Pure Amateur is Vanishing: Why Everyone’s a Performer Now
Explore the evolution from pure amateurs to performer-practitioners in a social media-driven world and its implications for entrepreneurs.
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Market Analysis
Explore market analysis essays and podcast conversations from Arvid Kahl’s Bootstrapped Founder archive.
The Podcasting Infrastructure Crisis: A $2 Billion Industry Built on Digital Duct Tape
Discover the challenges and opportunities in podcasting's infrastructure. Learn how fixing these issues can drive industry innovation.
Read the essay →You’re Not “Too Late”: Capitalizing on Pre-Validated Ideas
Today, I want to discuss a problem some founders face when they discover someone else has already created their idea. I certainly felt deflated when my cool idea was already being done by someone…
Read the essay →∀𝑦∃𝑥 ≠ ∃𝑥∀𝑦: The Dangerous Misconception Founders Have About Their Market
(The mathematical notation in the title means “’For all 𝑦 there exists a 𝑥’ is not the same as ‘There exists an 𝑥 for all 𝑦”.) We’re always on the hunt for the silver bullet. The Golden Ticket.…
Read the essay →ChatGPT: Goldmine or Minefield for Indie Hackers?
Everybody in the indie founder community is talking about ChatGPT. Some founders discover how powerful it is as a writing tool, others have it build their products, and some entrepreneurs are even…
Read the essay →Find Business Ideas on Social Media
In my conversation with Daniel Vassallo this week, I learned that Daniel uses social media —Twitter in particular— to find inspiration for his own work as a teacher and content creator. Intentionally…
Read the essay →Market Analysis for Calm SaaS Businesses
Few fundamental choices impact the trajectory of your business as much as choosing the market you’ll be operating in. If you get this wrong, it will mean pivots, corrections, and many stressful days.…
Read the essay →Don’t blame the market; blame your marketing
Many unsuccessful founders believe their business failed because of a “market problem.” They think it’s “the market” that wasn’t ready for their product or that “the market” made the wrong choice.…
Read the essay →The SaaS Market Maturity Paradox
SaaS businesses are most impactful in entirely new markets and the markets they have been serving for a long time. Anywhere in between, starting a new SaaS business has the potential to create a…
Read the essay →Competition Isn’t Always a Business
When founders do market research, they are well-advised to look for competition. But many entrepreneurs have a very limited understanding of what “competition” means and therefore overlook many…
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