What I Learned from Studying 5 Indie Developer Entrepreneurs Who Went Global
Learning from 5 indie developer entrepreneurs who went global, I gained insights on product thinking, marketing mindset, and personal positioning.
Preface
Just like readers follow me to "recharge and get motivated," I also follow successful people who share knowledge for my own learning.
I've shared two articles about valuable content creators before. Today's topic is slightly "alternative": they are a group of individual developers who went global; some aren't even bloggers, just programmers who simply enjoy sharing.
Why Follow Indie Developer Entrepreneurs
Because I admire certain traits they have, which I didn't have as a marketing BP in my corporate days.
Programmers tend to be more "single-minded": pure product thinking. They think: "What kind of product can I make, and deliver it to what kind of customer?" Everything starts with having a tangible product; everything else is "nonsense."
What's the opposite of that? People in marketing circles like myself, who have no products - no physical products, no virtual products; at best, we create non-standardized knowledge-based products (selling courses).
The characteristics of such products and people have created today's messy knowledge-payment chaos.
Most programmers are product-driven, spending大量精力和时间 every day writing and optimizing products. Because they know products can't lie - if they're good, they're good, the data is right there.
5 Indie Developer Bloggers I Share
1. polebug23
This is a blogger I stumbled upon 2 years ago when I was deciding to try web3 after being "optimized." Her content is quite special - no practical dry goods, no specific project sharing. She records her daily learning, building, and even life as vlogs.
During that time Bilibili was popular with content like "How I took off the gown and quit social society, earning a hundred million a year." When I saw her content, I expected it to be another upgraded version waiting to harvest me. But she kept updating for over 2 years, from my painful exit from web3 to cross-border e-commerce, she still insists on sharing this quiet and down-to-earth real life.
Her content gave me two insights:
- Compared to the flashy money-making trends, maintaining charging and silent building without direct income is not embarrassing.
- Share the real you, and you'll gain an audience that matches your vibe. Authenticity even outweighs informational altruism.
2. 艾逗比
Systematic product matrix thinking + precise and beautiful product positioning and presentation that programmers wouldn't normally think of + super strong execution. This is the indie entrepreneur who inspired me most in 2024-2025.
He started with broad consumer products (like AI red envelopes), then began targeting a specific small business group: individual developers going global. For example, paid communities (1024.is), templates for going global apps (shipany.ai), and more.
His content and projects gave me two insights:
- As you dive deeper into a business and industry, there's no need to target end consumers. You can simply cut into one link of the entire chain and serve participants in that chain.
- Everything can be a product, everything must be a product!
3. javay_hu
Similar to the previous one, but his business and products are more segmented and vertical. He segments templates to【Navigation Sites for Going Global Apps】.
The so-called【Navigation Sites】, we've all used hao123 since childhood, right? Users can quickly access functions they need daily through hao123. For the merchant side, if they can be listed on hao123, doesn't that mean they can get user traffic?
His content and projects gave me two insights:
- Segmentation, segmentation, segmentation. For indie entrepreneurship, stand out from small and beautiful segments.
- Identify individual pain points and hit them directly with the most efficient approach.
4. 哥飞
I won't elaborate on this one since I introduced this expert in the first article. I'm also in his paid community. The core takeaway: Just do it.
5. More & More
There are many excellent programmers online who share knowledge selflessly, like max community members 卫染风, 崽奥达, and others in the code x independent website field, continuously finding more various business opportunities.
Core Takeaways Summary
Don't from the start think about "How can I monetize by sharing xxx" or "How can I make money by doing xxx." Just share, just do it first.
- Product Thinking: Don't underestimate your product ability. Actually, most programmers just lack a determined and keen sense of direction.
- Marketing Mindset: When you choose the path of indie entrepreneurship, you need to learn to put yourself and your products in front of the public.
- Segmentation Thinking: Identify individual pain points and hit them directly with the most efficient approach.
