🔧 Building stagetimer.io & rundownstudio.app • Bootstrapping to $1M ARR • Hetzner fangirl • 🇩🇪 Stuttgart
🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ $1M ARR
- Tweets 16,209
- Following 1,006
- Followers 23,637
- Likes 16,226
Pinned Tweet
I'm going to get rich and this is how I’m going to do it.
Part 2.
Now don’t take me wrong, I’m not rich yet.
But I'm closer.
4 years ago I was laid off, and this is what happened...
I'm going to get rich and this is how I’m going to do it.
Now don’t take me wrong, I’m not rich yet.
I did my CS degree and worked as a software developer just like my parents expected.
Every day I worked for my 80k/y startup job.
Then last month I was laid off.
...
22
8
306
112,437
Still my favorite set of redirects. So many "hackers" probe these basic wordpress routes. Always nice to give them a pleasant distraction 😄
135
286
6,857
391,071
I made $29,059 in February and worked exactly 4 hours.
Not 4h/week. 4 hours during the entire month!
This is the power of a SaaS product. Once the flywheel is spinning, it just keeps going.
110
30
1,450
223,146
I once had an article go viral in China. They translated it, but hot linked all my images.
Hit my free tier limit within hours!
Specifically because on image was a 2MB gif. Renamed that and saved my wallet 😅
5
4
1,210
162,564
When I discovered Midjourney, I wanted to use it productively.
It took some time to figure out a consistent visual style.
I decided for low-poly 3D render aesthetic.
Here's the before and after images:
45
51
936
174,253
Today I said no to a $500,000+ offer for my bootstrapped SaaS. Here's why:
Was talking to a buyer, and had a Letter of Interest on the table.
In the spirit of build-in-public I want to share my reasoning after days of soul-searching:
62
9
699
253,568
Most people don't understand why I like B2B SaaS, or even what it is.
My product stagetimer.io is 3 years old, makes €200k+ revenue per year, and is B2B.
It has some real advantages, but also drawbacks. Let me spitball a bit:
28
15
619
147,299
I'm going to get rich and this is how I’m going to do it.
Now don’t take me wrong, I’m not rich yet.
I did my CS degree and worked as a software developer just like my parents expected.
Every day I worked for my 80k/y startup job.
Then last month I was laid off.
...
46
22
556
My new office is a boring cube with lot's of echo.
How can I make this nice for Zoom meetings?
220
11
487
126,668
I stopped recommending React now that I have experience using it.
The problems that React Hooks (useEffect, useMemo, useCallback) solve, and the problems they create, don't exist in Vue and Svelte.
Vue and Svelte are better. Period.
72
47
467
127,375
You could do more marketing.
OR ... hear me out ...
You could redesign your entire landing page with Midjourney AI 😎
25
16
426
114,239
I bootstrapped Stagetimer from €0 to over €10,000/month in Germany over 3 years.
My country is known for tight regulation and strict tax laws. It discourages many solo founders from trying.
That's why I distilled everything I learned into this guide. Importantly it talks about navigating German bureaucracy and handling taxes.
If you've ever thought about launching a SaaS business in Germany, read this. 👇
lukashermann.dev/writing/boo…
73
29
431
90,027
Got the first user for our new project 🎉🎉🎉
Super easy to get, took me maybe 6 minutes of work, no ads, no marketing.
Fingers crossed it won't be much customer service 🤞🤞🤞
103
435
22,027
Germany is the indie-hacker of the world: Great at building features, bad at marketing.
MP3! Developed by a German institute. Promptly made famous by non-German Napster and since nevermore associated with this inventive country.
The first fully functional computer was build in Germany. Now tell me one German company that makes computers. You can't. I can't. It doesn't exist. They are all in Silicon Valley and what not.
And jeans. Levi Strauss was a German tailor whose entrepreneurial spirit couldn't be bothered to stay in this country, so he ventured to the U.S. during the gold rush. He crafted pants durable enough for fortune seekers, and they sold like shovels in a gold mine!
Chip cards. Like the thing you get from American Express or Visa that lets you make payments super easy. Guess what country still clings to cash instead ... Germany!
And then, Nuclear Fission. The first uranium atom was split in Germany. That was in 1938, so maybe it was for the better that Oppenheimer harnessed its might instead of, you know, our guy 😬.
Germany is great at inventing products but awful at get them to market.
52
39
396
554,260
🙅♂️ Canceled ChatGPT
👉 Subbed to Claude
+ Much better code
+ Syntax highlighting
+ Takes me serious
89
5
381
30,833
Stagetimer crossed €10k MRR 🎉
Free → Paid: 8 months
0 → 1k: 10 month
1k → 5k: 8 months
5k → 10k: 10 months
We're starting to understand positioning, pricing and marketing in our niche.
56
8
381
62,717
This is the single most useful line in my system prompt:
"Please ask questions and confirm assumptions before generating code."
Absolute game changer! Saves me at least 1 hour every day while vibe coding! 🤯
Share your's please!
77
7
355
22,745
Okay but honestly, which landing page is better?
Left: Professional Brand Identity Design from an Agency Right: Made by me
227
1
271
79,853
$0 → $1: 8 months
$1 → $1k: 10 month
$1k → $5k: 8 months
$5k → $10k: 10 months
Don't give up too early!
28
6
248
19,293
indie hackers are next level!
this indie hacker got a tattoo of every single side project he finished
27
10
257
28,484
Just launched my startup on @ProductHunt
Stagetimer: Remote-controlled countdown timer
👉 producthunt.com/posts/staget…
(Look at us all proud of ourselves 😁)
ALT stagetimer.io founders Liz and Lukas
51
17
248
What? 😲
The CEO of @huel just made LinkedIn post about Stagetimer!
The $280M revenue/year Huel!
I can assure you we didn't pay him to do this 🤞😅
35
2
252
12,985
I just finished a huuuge refactoring.
But no user will realize that anything changed.
And as a solopreneur, no boss is going to pat my shoulder.
Still, I am super proud of my work.
So have to celebrate by myself, well done Lukas 🎉👏
ALT Celebrating coding successes as a solopreneur
40
3
221
Not kidding, I worked 3 months on this feature.
So many little details and edge cases. Build software is hard!
But I'm low key proud of it 😅
24
1
227
34,497
This silly picture of me laying in the grass went viral 🤦♂️
Why tho? I have no clue 🤷♂️
61
2
221
81,743
I had two new-years resolutions for 2022:
1. Get to 5000 followers on Twitter
2. Get to €5000 MRR
I reached the more unlikely of the two 🤯
35
4
210
Startup idea for a money-printing business:
Start an accountant firm in Germany that:
- Knows what Stripe is
- Actually accepts new clients
- Uses Email
That's it. If you just manage these three things I'll recommend a new paying customer to you every week!
20
2
200
19,632
My startup is 3 years old and I never had a CC scam, suspended stripe account, chargeback, blocked payout or bankrupting vercel bill. Am I doing something wrong?
55
2
189
56,692
Why are these asking prices on @microacquire so low? What happened to 5-6x revenue?
61
4
194
532,451
Launching my startup on Product Hunt in 7 days 🚀🚀🚀
Would love your help 🙏
Drop a 🦜 in the comments if I can DM you on launch day.
ALT Stagetimer launch countdown: 7 days
82
7
179
Having a child is the best pomodoro timer. You're never working more than 20min intervals 👌
34
4
183
10,010
See for yourself, here's said article: lukashermann.dev/writing/why…
5
5
168
20,625
If you work on a side project beside your day job, how do you get the energy? #buildinpublic
122
12
164
Okay fellow founders, honest now. Did you really ask those brands to use their logos on your landing page?
Whenever we asked, the big brands say "I'd love to help, but there's way too much red tape". 🤔
39
4
176
81,302
Cheat-sheet for developers over 30:
- Increase font size
- Increase IDE theme contrast
- Get a bigger (second) screen
- Get a standing desk
- Get a HermanMiller chair (no, a yoga ball won't cut it!)
- Take a mid-day nap, kiss your spouse
- Complain about vibe coders
42
3
174
10,518
The @IndieHackers Podcast was the inspiration to start my own side project and quit my job to go full-time indie last year.
Being featured together with @lizmhermann is a special milestone for me.
I hope our story will inspire you as previous stories inspired me!
ALT Liz and I featured on the Indie Hackers podcast, Episode 283
25
12
174
22,061
Stupid question but:
Is it just me or is sales also this blank page for you guys?
Do you know any technical founders who know how to do sales?
I'd love to have the "Sales for Technical Founders Handbook!
RN I'm learning a lot 'cause of the branding workshop, should I share?
81
2
173
25,543
Need product ideas?
Visit a B2B trade show outside tech.
Be amazed that their software costs $1000s, looks like 1999 and advertises “the cloud” as an innovation.
Find their subreddit and ask people what they don’t like about that software.
Build it in public! 🔥
12
5
173
20,481
Looking for my first engineer for Stagetimer.
If you're interest to work closely with me as a founder, please get in touch. 4-day week. 100% remote. I'll help you with your own side project if you want.
Job decription: stagetimer.notion.site/Softw…
20
27
163
45,295
1,713 days of indie hacking.
Maybe I'm not a millionaire yet, but I don't regret a single day of this journey. Wouldn't have made it without this great and supportive community! ❤️
27
166
9,306
Some people asked: What is programmatic SEO?
So here's a step-by-step guide on how to "break the matrix" with the example of Stagetimer.
1. Choose a Keyword
Mine is a timer. So I chose people searching for "30 minute timer" or "1h timer"
16
11
163
47,100
Bad rebrand IMHO.
To generic as a standalone brand word.
"I'm using Kit, you know, the newsletter thing"
Please don't use a white K on black grunge background as logo 🥲.
41
4
158
77,230
I stayed out of all the drama during the last 3 years (Vercel, GoDaddy, WordPress, AWS, Lemon Squeezy).
How?
By always using the 2nd cheapest and 2nd most popular option. Done!
26
1
149
24,920
When I started indie hacking in July 2021 this was just a dream. 💭
Now it's reality! 🚀
10,000+ Followers
10,000+ Users
10,000+ MRR
Thanks to everyone following me on this journey! 🙏
What milestone is next?
38
1
149
9,160
"Who would ever use a stupid timer?"
The stupid timer being used:
ALT From the toitoitoi Drag Bingo. Thanks to Koen from M&S Showtechniek for permission to use the image.
22
6
150
29,450
Free startup advice:
Don’t build another todo list!
Don’t build another tweet scheduler!
And don’t build another referral tool!
31
9
147
New project is off to a great start!
Only 4 months and already over 1.7k MRR 📈
And we just had a customer tell us the competition asked $17,000 / year 🤯
17
2
141
28,427
This video came out great @starter_story!
I mention the "fear of the tax man" in the end. This is such a common mindset for Germans. I'm really happy to see all the comments from fellow Europeans getting inspired by this video. 💪
30
5
146
13,585
One advice I'd give to every indie hacker:
Choose one tech stack and stick with it!
I chose Firebase/Vue/Tailwind and worked with it for 3 years. It's incredible how fast I can push out new code now. And I'm still learning new tricks.
It's insignificant what the tech stack is.
31
7
139
23,099
"Who would ever use a stupid timer?"
The stupid timer being used at Rails World 2023 in Amsterdam 🎉 (@rails)
ALT Stagetimer at Rails World 2023 (used with permission)
21
1
139
22,448
Working with an actual designer is great!
Check this out.
Me vs. actual pro 😆
(Shoutout to @thisisdanguerra)
14
5
136
15,082
We got our churn rate from a whopping 12.3% peak down to 2.7%.
I'm the founder of Stagetimer, a bootstrapped $10k+ MRR B2B app and this is how we reduced our churn sustainably in 3 steps, and the lesson learned... 👇
15
5
133
41,287
6. The conversations showed me what metrics sellers focus on. Now I know how to make Stagetimer more valuable and attractive than it currently is.
Anyway, my goal is to sell for at least $1M! After taxes! So now back to shipping!
19
138
15,435
About those high tax rates in Germany...
2022 Profits: ~70k EUR
Real tax rate: 17.3%
2023 Profits: ~110k EUR
Real tax rate: 23.4%
I think I'll survive here.
54
131
50,411
Very nice coworking space in Vietnam.
Very calm, and I love that there are more locals than foreigners.
Also better food options for vegetarians than in Thailand 🥦✌️.
17
4
130
18,195
I just fixed a bug that only happens on February 29th.
For the love of bootstrapping, don't build a timer 😭.
15
1
128
11,837
Update on the German tax office checking my SaaS:
I had to show in DETAIL how a € leaves my customer's wallet, is taxed, goes through @PaddleHQ, has tax withheld, and finally ends up in my bank account. 🔍
He was kind (said the mean guys only come when they suspect fraud).
He called!
Tomorrow is the day, I'm gonna drive to my official business address and meet my inquisitor explaining where my magic internet money comes from.
26
131
47,394
I always see these amazing MRR charts making me jealous.
Let me share some humble truth, my growth is really really slow. You see the gray flag? That's my monthly "growth goal". The pitiful red line is my actual growth.
Anyone else with slow growth? I need some empathy 😅
64
2
121
13,210
I bootstrapped a B2B SaaS tool beyond ramen profitability.
- no initial marketing experience
- started as market outsider
- did multiple enterprise deals
- used by governments
AMA
29
4
117
21,672
Our MRR growth is wild this month.
My "ambitious" €400 goal looks almost laughable compared to the actual growth.
So grateful that I can build my own product and that people use it and like it 🥹🙏
ALT MRR growth of stagetimer.io
21
1
122
If Musk doesn't comply with EU laws X will be shut down.
It was nice knowing you all 👋🥲
80
115
26,257
Sneak peak of my chapter on starting a foreign company as a German and why this was a bad idea...
31
2
118
26,555
Finally I can post one of those
"Look my awesome workplace!
Please be jealous now.
Thank you"
pictures 😎
ALT My extremely envy-inducing workplace, taken on a beautiful day in a place you want to be right now too.
25
1
115
You’ve heard how Germany has better health care, PTO, worker laws and cars than the US.
But I tell you what Germany doesn’t have:
The entrepreneurial spirit!
I grew up hard wired as an employee. I had to mentally reprogram myself and disappoint family to become a founder.
23
2
118
