What's New: This new law is a SaaS game changer
(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)
The European Union's Digital Markets Act is a game changer for founders:
- Big Tech's "winner takes all" dynamic is ripe for disruption, and this law will make things more accessible for indie hackers. From payments to APIs, here's what to expect! Also: Features are currently being tested in US markets as well.
- Should your focus be on building up your strengths, or on improving your weaknesses? Here's why learning new skills may be slowing down the progression of your growth.
- Founder Hieu Nguyen made his first sale 5 days after kicking off development. Below, he shares how he used lifetime deals and strategic marketing to land that first sale, and hit $1,000 in revenue in a month.
Want to share something with over 100,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing
🏛 This EU Law Means New SaaS Opportunities
from the Growth & Acquisition Channels newsletter by Darko
On November 1, the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) was officially enacted.
This act went through multiple phases, and made headlines each time. What's all the fuss about? How can this change benefit indie hackers?
Let's take a closer look.
The EU wants to disrupt "winner takes all"
Platforms usually operate inside "winner takes all" markets. This means that, if a platform like Facebook takes off and becomes popular, it eats up the majority of the market share.
This has been the case with social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, search engines like Google, and app stores.
Here's how the DMA will change this:
1. Big platform features will become APIs:
With this change, big platforms (the "gatekeepers," according to the EU) will be forced to open up their features.
For example, messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage will need to become interoperable with smaller messaging platforms.
Here's a list of what those gatekeepers will be forced to do:
2. Platforms can't favor their own services:
Google, and others, will no longer be able to promote their own local, travel, or job services over those of rivals in search results.
Here's a list of things that those platforms won't be able to do anymore:
All of this means that we, the smaller players, will have more opportunities to compete in those industries.
Payments are included, also. Platforms like Google and Apple won't be able to force you to use their payment services if you want to sell apps on their platforms. This is already happening in countries like South Korea, and is being tested in the US:
What this means for indie hackers
There's now a plethora of new opportunities to build products that weren't possible before. This Hacker News comment gives a nice overview of what iPhone users will be able to do once this law is enforced:
- Install any software.
- Install any app store, and choose to make it default.
- Use third-party payment providers, and choose to make them default.
- Use any voice assistant, and choose to make it default.
- Use any browser and browser engine, and choose to make them default.
- Use any messaging app, and choose to make it default.
- Make core messaging functionality interoperable.
- Use existing hardware and software features without competitive prejudice.
There's a product opportunity behind each of the above bullet points! You'll be able to build products like:
- A unifying messenger that combines iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and others on a single interface.
- An alternative app store where users can download and install their own apps.
- Voice assistant features, or alternatives to Siri, Google, or Alexa.
- Use NFC inside your web app instead of having to build a separate App Store app.
And much more! That's pretty exciting, and it opens up thousands of opportunities for new products.
The first mover advantage is real
Shortly after Apple announced that it would enable third-party payment methods for its apps, Paddle came up with an in-app purchase alternative payment service:
Paddle didn't wait for Apple to publish the entire list of changes. It launched quickly, and probably has thousands of users on its waitlist now. Whenever Apple launches the official guidelines, Paddle will have a major first mover advantage.
Here are two things to note:
- These platform updates will take time. I expect that Apple, Google, and Facebook will move at a snail's pace to release APIs for their most popular features.
- You don't have to wait for a fully published version to make use of this opportunity. Like Paddle, you could publish a landing page with a waitlist, and start collecting subscribers once you get an official update.
2023 will be an interesting year!
What do you think of the DMA? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Discuss this story, or subscribe to Growth & Acquisition Channels for more.
📰 In the News
from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani
💻 This new coding language is gaining major steam.
📹 "Workfluencers" are turning LinkedIn into a side hustle, as #CareerTikTok hits 1.5B+ views.
🎧 Local libraries are launching their own music streaming platforms.
🔥 Buildings are banning e-bikes amid fatal battery fires.
🎵 The eight-track, tape deck, CD player, and iPod have come and gone, but what's stood the test of time? Record players.
Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.
🎓 Is Learning New Skills a Waste of Time?
Growing up, I was always told that if you're not good at something, and you want to become good at that thing, you should practice it. It makes sense.
It wasn't until I was a young adult that someone told me not to waste time on the things I'm not good at. Instead, I should focus on amplifying the areas where I'm already skilled.
That resonated with me, and I think it could be useful for other founders!
What's working?
Don't waste your time trying to acquire a new skill. Just amplify what is currently working.
As a child, you're still developing all kinds of skillsets, so you have to practice, well, everything.
However, once you enter adulthood, you already have an affinity towards some disciplines. You would get a higher return by putting your effort, energy, time, and money into those areas.
Focusing on what makes you money, and enhancing those skills, is far more efficient.
Maximize return
As someone who has started a software company (now sold, and onto my second), you would think that learning how to write code would be beneficial. But, it's quite the opposite.
Learning to code would be an enormous waste of time for me. I am good at other things, and my time is best spent on those areas. Therefore, I focus on things like marketing, competing, networking, researching opportunities, and analyzing market trends.
If I spent $1K on a coding course, it would be a waste of money. But, if I spent $1K on a marketing course, I could generate an ROI in a very short amount of time. I would turn that $1K into $10K. Then, I could use some of that $10K to hire developers.
See what I'm getting at?
Top three
List the top three things that you're good at, then take the necessary steps to improve in those areas. This is where your focus should be if you are interested in making more money. Hone your talent to the point that, in a crowd of other talented folks, you are known as one of the top.
That's how you command a higher salary. That's how you make more money for your business.
Now, if you want to learn a new skill as a hobby, there's no harm in that at all. Always be learning. Keep challenging your mind.
But when it comes to revenue generation, stay focused on strengthening the skills where you already rise above the rest, and keep on rising!
Vacfle agrees:
Great stuff. Gallup did a study on this, and found that when employees were encouraged to focus on their strengths, the company had 4x greater earnings-per-share growth than when employees were encouraged to improve their weaknesses.
Also, when there is a barrier to getting your idea live (such as "I don't know how to code"), you slow down the momentum of growth.
Do you find it useful to focus on improving your weaknesses? Share below!
Discuss this story.
🧠 Harry's Growth Tip
from the Marketing Examples newsletter by Harry Dry
“Make your customer the hero.”
— Donald Miller
Go here for more short, sweet, practical marketing tips.
Subscribe to Marketing Examples for more.
💰 Hieu Nguyen Made His First Sale Five Days After Starting to Build
Hieu Nguyen, founder of ishim, Rebit, Captain Stack, and more, made his first sale for ishim within five days of kicking off development. He hit $1K+ within the first month.
Indie Hackers sat down with him to find out how he did it!
On development
My hobby is registering domain names, so I built a tool for myself. Since I knew I wasn't alone in this hobby, I thought it might be a good idea to make the tool available to others.
I often choose big ideas and take my time building things, but since ishim was a small side project, I wanted to try to quickly make revenue from it. I got my first sale five days after I kicked off development. I was able to build it quickly because I focused on only two features: Checking domain names and generating them. I chose those features based on what I personally wanted as a user.
The CLI version of the app that I used for myself was initially written in NodeJS. Then, I used that codebase to build the desktop app with ElectronJS. It supports NodeJS, and I can use familiar frameworks like ReactJS. I used BlueprintJS for the UI so I didn't have to worry about styling.
On marketing
The first version was created within 2-3 days. The only marketing I did was talking with people, and sharing it on Twitter, Hacker News, and Reddit. This helped me get initial feedback and purchases. Later on, I shared it in some Facebook Groups, which also helped increase sales.
On pricing
Two days after announcing it, I made my first dollar. It came from Hacker News. Within a month, I had made $1.1K+ in sales. Sharing lifetime deals (LTDs) online helped me get sales fast. One-time purchases are just easier for customers to make, in comparison to subscriptions.
If your software can offer LTDs, it's a good idea. But some products can't, like products that depend on third-party services. LTDs will drain your resources in the long run. I'll keep using LTDs for the desktop app, but since there are web servers and other costs, the web app is subscription-based.
I published ishim on AppSumo about a week after announcing it, and it helped me get sales without doing more marketing. It brought in ten sales: $290 of the $1.1K.
On building small
Small-scale products are easier to build and sell, which is important for a solo developer. It allows you to price them lower as well, which helps with sales. It's important to use existing libraries, tools, and templates to increase speed!
Discuss this story.
🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:
🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?
Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.
Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Darko, Priyanka Vazirani, Justin Ferriman, Harry Dry, and James Fleischmann for contributing posts. —Channing
