Indie hackers build businesses, not just products. The mindset: ship fast, validate early, keep costs low, grow organically. No VC means no pressure for hypergrowth—sustainable beats explosive.
Start with customer discovery: talk to users before building. Find problems worth solving. Validate willingness to pay—pre-orders, waitlists, LOIs. Then build the minimum that solves the problem.
Metrics that matter: revenue, user count, retention. Vanity metrics mislead. Runway: know your burn rate, plan for profit before spending.