What's New: Zapier acquires Makerpad as demand for no-code tools skyrockets

(from the latest issue of the Indie Hackers newsletter)

Zapier has acquired Makerpad, a no-code education community:

• Zapier recently hit $100M ARR, and Makerpad is its first acquisition. Makerpad founder and longtime indie hacker Ben Tossell called the acquisition a no-brainer, especially for a non-developer who isn't looking to go the VC route.
• SXSW kicks off this weekend with 75 new feature films, and 53 of those are debuts from first-time filmmakers. As indie productions regain momentum, new platforms are offering filmmakers the opportunity to "create their own Netflix."
• This founder landed 20 pre-sales with no prior audience. Her top strategy? Use relevant hashtags to engage with potential customers well before launch.

Want to share your ideas with nearly 70K indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing

🤝 Zapier Acquires Makerpad as Demand for No-Code Tools Skyrockets

from the Indie Economy newsletter by Bobby Burch

No-code automation company Zapier has acquired Makerpad, a no-code education service and community. Makerpad founder (and indie hacker!) Ben Tossell told Techcrunch that the acquisition will help advance the future of no-code tools and create more accessible opportunities for non-developer founders.

Acquisition expedition

What is no-code? For a long time, software development required the ability to code. Companies like Zapier and Makerpad are changing that. No-code development tools help users create apps and software through graphical user interfaces and configurations instead of using code.

Zapier 101: Zapier is one of the most successful no-code companies. Its products include team features and inclusive pricing tiers, and Zapier recently catapulted to $100M ARR. The company raised $1.3M in seed equity funding in 2012; today, than 30M people visit Zapier daily, and the company recently announced 3K partner apps on its platform.

Makerpad 101: Makerpad offers tutorials and templates to teach users how to build apps or software without code. The Makerpad community includes a wide variety of creators discussing no-code and their projects. Ben told TechCrunch that no-code has surged in popularity beyond his expectations and the company has expanded its users 4x within the last year. Makerpad will remain a "stand-alone" company, Ben added.

Why it's a big deal: Makerpad is Zapier's first acquisition. No financial details about the deal were shared, but this acquisition is major for both companies. By acquiring Makerpad, Zapier will beef up its offerings, add new customers, and potentially boost the broader use of no-code tools. By joining forces with Zapier, Tossell and the Makerpad team can chase a dream from its founding days. In 2019, Ben told Indie Hackers:

At the end of the day, I'd love to teach as many people as possible to build without code.

With a new major partner onboard, Makerpad is well on its way towards accomplishing that goal.

Do you use no-code tools in your business? What are your thoughts on Zapier's new acquisition? Sound off in the comments.

Discuss this story, or subscribe to Indie Economy for more.

📰 In the News

from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani

🤔 1 in 3 Americans have considered investing solely due to one of Elon Musk's tweets.

👀 A group of hackers has breached over 150K security cameras inside Tesla facilities, schools, police departments, and prisons.

🛍 Walmart is hosting a livestream shopping event on TikTok; its pilot livestream event, hosted in December, garnered 7x more views than expected.

🏛 Russia is suing Facebook, Twitter, and Google for failing to delete posts urging children to participate in protests. Lawsuits were also filed against TikTok and Telegram.

🎤 Triller Network has acquired Verzuz and added its creators, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, to the management team as brand visionaries.

Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.

🎥 "Create Your Own Netflix" as an Indie Filmmaker

from the Exploding Topics newsletter by Josh Howarth

SXSW kicks off this weekend with its first ever virtual conference, including an impressive lineup of 75 feature films. 53 of the features are debuts from first-time filmmakers. As the $10B creator economy expands, independent filmmakers have new opportunities to showcase their work.

Create your own Netflix

Uscreen is a tool for "creating your own Netflix." In other words, it's a platform for building, hosting and monetizing video-on-demand services. You can grow your own streaming channel and access a host of analytics to help inform decisions. Popular streaming services on the platform include Wanderlust TV, STAGE, Horse TV, Magic Stream, and Bodyrock+.

Uscreen is part of the "over-the-top"(OTT) media meta trend. OTT media is any streaming media that bypasses traditional TV and cable networks. A year ago, about 44M households streamed OTT content. Today, as the pandemic drags on, that number stands at 300M households.

With the film industry taking a hit during the pandemic, filmmakers had to get creative. Although the film production (independent and otherwise) nosedived last year, streaming services and festivals like SXSW are committed to showcasing emerging projects as things pick back up. Many filmmakers have pared down, and are completing projects more quickly to push them out while people are still at home consuming countless hours of media.

The most well-known OTT streaming services are Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video, Hulu, and Disney+. These five players alone make up 83% of the market (as measured by total viewing time). But there are dozens of startups launching OTT streaming services to compete with the Netflixes of the world, including Crunchyroll (anime), Britbox (English TV), and Shudder (horror movies).

Other growing platforms in the "create your own Netflix" space include Conviva, Vimeo OTT and Kaltura.

Check out the full post to see this week's other three exploding topics. And join Exploding Topics Pro to see trends 6+ months before they take off.

Have you picked up any tips and tricks for showcasing content on a streaming service? Please share in the comments.

Discuss this story, or subscribe to Exploding Topics for more.

🤥 Marketing Lie: You Should Send a Welcome Email Immediately After Signup

from the Demand Curve newsletter by Julian Shapiro

The lie: Send a welcome email immediately after signup.

The truth: Don't. People will reflexively discard it as spam.

Instead, delay your welcome email by 15-45 mins.

The delay removes the subscriber's mental connection between signup and your email, bypassing their reflex to ignore.

This might lead to more opens.

Subscribe to Demand Curve for more.

🧾 Founder Meisuleen Kased's Tips on Landing Pre-sales With No Audience

By Meisuleen Kased

I just launched my new product, Startup Without Code, and received 20 pre-sales with no prior audience!

Strategies that worked

Engage with people: In order to sell to people, you need to first build relationships and trust. 3-4 weeks before launching on Twitter, I started engaging more with like-minded makers and potential customers.

A great way to do this is by using relevant hashtags to engage with different communities. If you're feeling shy about jumping into connecting with others headfirst, start with the #buildinpublic hashtag. It's a seamless entry into a strong community, and could be the start of many fruitful conversations.

Audience doesn't equal customers: I learned this from fellow developer Farez Rahman. Although engaging with like-minded people is encouraging, it doesn't mean they'll buy your product.

The communities we tend to hang around are full of people doing the same thing as us! You need to find your customers and their communities.

I found threads on Twitter where potential customers hang out. When well-known people in their circles ask followers to share what they're working on, I give my pitch and drop my Gumroad link.

If you don't talk to people about your product, no one will know it exists. Don't be too pushy, though. Be helpful and add value to conversations whenever possible.

Promote as you build: Don't make the mistake of hiding in your basement for a year and then coming out with a product to sell. It doesn't work. You need to build in public and talk about the benefits and features of your product. Also, create engaging content that compliments your product.

It's a lot of legwork, but it's worth it in the end. Not only will you sell your product, but you've built solid relationships along the way that can help you get unstuck and encourage you when you're feeling burnt out. You can also do the same for your new Twitter friends when the time comes. Helping and supporting others is fun!

All-in-all, the communities and alliances I've been a part of have had a major impact on my sales growth. My final piece of advice is: don't bother trying to be a one-person show. You might end up disappointed.

Discuss this story.

🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Nathalie Zwimpfer for the illustrations, and to Bobby Burch, Priyanka Vazirani, Josh Howarth, Julian Shapiro, and Meisuleen Kased for contributing posts. —Channing