3 ms·

Seems like fluff junk. I've noticed a lot of these indiehackers posts are either a 1000 word post that could be distilled to a few bullet points of common sense

Seems like fluff junk. I've noticed a lot of these indiehackers posts are either a 1000 word post that could be distilled to a few bullet points of common sense or are just extrapolating on survivorship bias.

countryqt30 9y ago
1) I think the blog article is really worthwhile reading, and a bullet-point only list is at the end of the article. Please keep it that way! 2) Yes, this ENTIRE SITE IS 100 % survivor bias - it shares the success stories of startups, nothing else! :)
ljf 9y ago
@countryqt30 - looks like you were shadow banned about 200 days ago - might want to ask a mod why, as I can't see anything bad IMHO - but I didn't look hard.
thanatropism 9y ago
So I spent a few days mesmerized by Jocko Willink, the ex-marine turned motivational coach until I realized all of these people are saying the same: stop daydreaming and keep doing something until it hurts and then continue some. This is obviously survivorship bias. Everyone who has gone out and achieved success has started by starting. There is no success story that starts without this initial spark and usually a lot of hard work. But all of these are necessary not sufficient conditions. This (again) goes down to the nature of skill: even in technical or service roles, etc. much of how we go about our jobs (sufficient conditions) is implicit and nonverbalizable; moreover because that, we can't peel our skills to their "core", to their necessary conditions. We clumsily apply an abundance of skill to get by. This is compounded in the case of entrepreneurs by the fact that besides not being fully aware of what their magic sauce is, they can't also cleanly decompose what was blind luck and favorable timing from the moxie they brought to the table. --- Summary for nihilists: every lottery winner starts by going to the store and buying tickets and following the draws and praying a lot and at times cursing at God in the rain at midnight. This is the nature of great achievement.
- packetslave 9y ago
  tiny little nitpick: Jocko was a Navy SEAL, not a Marine.
michaelbuckbee 9y ago
I think there's a real problem with bootstrapped (as compared to VC funded) business getting any coverage/press recognition and IndieHackers neatly fills that void. I know a handful of people making $350k+ a year with a bootstrapped business (small SAAS, info products/courses, etc.) but even with that knowledge I'm consistently impressed with the different paths that the people interviewed on IndieHackers have taken. I don't know you or your background, so there's a decent chance you're already one of these people. But, I do think there is value for many developers and technical people in seeing that you can do something reasonably sized on your own and make significantly more than you might at an office job.

countryqt30 9y ago

1) I think the blog article is really worthwhile reading, and a bullet-point only list is at the end of the article. Please keep it that way! 2) Yes, this ENTIRE SITE IS 100 % survivor bias - it shares the success stories of startups, nothing else! :)

ljf 9y ago

@countryqt30 - looks like you were shadow banned about 200 days ago - might want to ask a mod why, as I can't see anything bad IMHO - but I didn't look hard.

thanatropism 9y ago

So I spent a few days mesmerized by Jocko Willink, the ex-marine turned motivational coach until I realized all of these people are saying the same: stop daydreaming and keep doing something until it hurts and then continue some. This is obviously survivorship bias. Everyone who has gone out and achieved success has started by starting. There is no success story that starts without this initial spark and usually a lot of hard work. But all of these are necessary not sufficient conditions. This (again) goes down to the nature of skill: even in technical or service roles, etc. much of how we go about our jobs (sufficient conditions) is implicit and nonverbalizable; moreover because that, we can't peel our skills to their "core", to their necessary conditions. We clumsily apply an abundance of skill to get by. This is compounded in the case of entrepreneurs by the fact that besides not being fully aware of what their magic sauce is, they can't also cleanly decompose what was blind luck and favorable timing from the moxie they brought to the table. --- Summary for nihilists: every lottery winner starts by going to the store and buying tickets and following the draws and praying a lot and at times cursing at God in the rain at midnight. This is the nature of great achievement.

packetslave 9y ago
tiny little nitpick: Jocko was a Navy SEAL, not a Marine.

michaelbuckbee 9y ago

I think there's a real problem with bootstrapped (as compared to VC funded) business getting any coverage/press recognition and IndieHackers neatly fills that void. I know a handful of people making $350k+ a year with a bootstrapped business (small SAAS, info products/courses, etc.) but even with that knowledge I'm consistently impressed with the different paths that the people interviewed on IndieHackers have taken. I don't know you or your background, so there's a decent chance you're already one of these people. But, I do think there is value for many developers and technical people in seeing that you can do something reasonably sized on your own and make significantly more than you might at an office job.