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Fewer startups, more indies: Why we shouldn't buy into startup culture

  1. 2

    I would think though, that any Indie would arrive at one of two avenues

    • Grow and become a startup
    • Stagnate and/or slowly navigating towards the end

    At the same time, I do believe Indie is a more organic way of building something up, doesn't seem as forced as a startup by any means, artificially pushed and inflated with a dump of money.

    1. 2

      I suppose you could also call this stagnation, but there is a third outcome for indies, and that is a passive (or low-effort) income stream. The way folks build here, their products require very little investment or maintenance after launch, and unlike a startup, there is no mandate for growth. It's perfectly fine, and even ideal, for a side project to chug along making money without being the next big thing.

      1. 1

        Indeed, you are right. I was thinking about stagnation meaning steps back, eventually bringing it to an end.

        But this is also a good position to be in as an indie, create something once and maintain it with minimal effort. If it pays your rent, the passive income you are getting is really valuable.

  2. 1

    Nice food for thought article. I'd say a positive aspect for startups taking the VC route is the ability for them to launch wild ideas that wouldn't succeed under the bootstrapped path. Having massive amounts of cash being injected into the startup helps founders grow a company to the point where it could be viable.

    Plus there's also the ego aspect of many startup founders wanting to be the next Steve Jobs or Elon musk and not actually caring about the fact they're working for "The Man".

  3. 1

    This tension you've framed between VC money leading the way on business decisions vs indie makers retaining control of vision and capital is, I think, going to become more and more pronounced as we veer toward recession territory, too. Good thoughts, and long live the indie entrepreneur!

  4. 1

    I am in total agreement with this article. It's like the equivalent of mom and pop shops vs bog corps. DIY indie startup culture is where it's at for me.

  5. 1

    I think this is pretty subjective. You can be a startup founder and still have a low-budget, do-it-yourself attitude and not be a sell-out.

    1. 1

      Depends if you take VC.

  6. 1

    Love this take on startups vs. indies. At the beginning, I couldn't think of that many things to differentiate the two. Your 6 differentiators really helped. Thanks

  7. 0

    yeah its the indies mindset
    before i was scared of that idea of having a side project too its just hard to have that mindset of being your own boss but here i am now launching my new dev company https://criov.com/
    THE BEGGİNNİNG İS ALWAYS HARD

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