Indie developer dictionary

Annual Recurring Revenue - the yearly value of recurring subscription revenue. Calculated by multiplying MRR by 12.

💡 The bigger brother of MRR. While indie hackers track MRR daily, ARR is what you brag about when you hit milestones. "$100K ARR" sounds way better than "$8.3K MRR."

Building a company using personal savings and revenue from the business itself, without taking outside investment from VCs or investors.

💡 The indie hacker default mode. Bootstrapping means you own 100% of your company and answer to customers, not investors. Slower growth, but total control.

The practice of sharing your entire startup journey publicly - metrics, failures, wins, and lessons - typically on social media platforms like X/Twitter.

💡 The transparent approach to building. Sharing your revenue numbers, user count, and even mistakes in public builds trust, accountability, and an audience before you even launch.

Customer Acquisition Cost - the total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing, advertising, sales efforts, and any other expenses directly related to converting a prospect into a paying customer.

💡 The metric that determines if your business is sustainable. Divide your total marketing spend by new customers acquired. If your CAC is higher than your LTV (Lifetime Value), you're burning money. Aim for LTV to be at least 3x your CAC.

The rate at which customers cancel their subscriptions or stop using your product. Usually expressed as a monthly or annual percentage.

💡 The silent killer of SaaS businesses. You can have amazing growth, but if your churn rate is too high, you're just filling a leaky bucket. Aim for under 5% monthly churn.

Call to Action - a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action, like "Sign Up Now," "Start Free Trial," or "Join Waitlist."

💡 The button or link that converts visitors into users. Indie hackers obsess over CTA copy and placement because changing "Learn More" to "Start Building Free" can double conversion rates.

The practice of using your own product extensively ("eating your own dog food") to experience what your customers experience and identify issues before they do.

💡 The best indie hackers build products they actually use daily. If you're not dogfooding, you're probably building something nobody wants - including yourself.

Creating intentionally polarizing, controversial, or rage-bait content designed solely to maximize likes, comments, and shares - not to provide genuine value.

💡 The dark side of building in public. Posting "hot takes" like "React is dead" or fake product screenshots for engagement. It works short-term but damages credibility long-term.

Ideal Customer Profile - a detailed description of the fictional company or person who would get the most value from your product and happily pay for it.

💡 Instead of building for "everyone," successful indie hackers identify their ICP early. Who has the problem you're solving AND the money to pay for the solution? That's your ICP.

An independent entrepreneur who builds profitable online businesses, typically bootstrapped and often as a solo founder or small team, focusing on sustainable revenue over venture capital.

💡 This is you. The indie hacker movement was popularized by Indie Hackers (the community) and represents builders who want freedom, ownership, and profitability over billion-dollar exits.

The day you officially release your product to the public, typically on platforms like Product Hunt, Hacker News, or via a coordinated social media announcement.

💡 The most nerve-wracking and exciting day of the indie hacker journey. Will Product Hunt users love it or roast it? Either way, launch day is just the beginning, not the finish line.

Lifetime Value - the total revenue you can expect from a single customer over the entire duration of their relationship with your product.

💡 The magic ratio indie hackers chase: LTV should be at least 3x your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). If your LTV is $300 and CAC is $100, you have a sustainable business model.

A period of intense focus where a founder cuts out all social distractions, meetings, and "noise" to complete a specific technical milestone.

💡 Usually declared on X/Twitter before a founder goes "dark" for 48 hours to finish a v1.0 build.

Monthly Recurring Revenue - the predictable revenue a SaaS business generates each month from active subscriptions.

💡 The metric indie hackers obsess over. Tracking MRR growth is how you know if your product is actually gaining traction or just having a good month.

💡 The indie hacker mantra: ship early, ship fast. Stop overthinking and launch your MVP to get real user feedback instead of perfecting in a vacuum.

Product-Market Fit - the magical moment when your product solves a real problem for a specific market so well that customers actively seek it out and recommend it to others.

💡 The holy grail indie hackers chase. You know you have PMF when customers would be "very disappointed" if your product disappeared, and growth starts feeling easier, not harder.

A business state where the monthly revenue is just enough to cover the founder's basic living expenses (rent, food, and ramen).

💡 The point where you can technically quit your 9-5 job without starving, even if you can't buy a Tesla yet.

Someone who strategically replies to popular tweets or posts to gain visibility, followers, and engagement for their own brand or product.

💡 A common growth tactic on X/Twitter. Being a "reply guy" can build your audience, but do it wrong and you're just annoying. The key is adding genuine value, not just promoting yourself.

Software as a Service - a business model where software is hosted in the cloud and sold as a subscription, rather than a one-time purchase and download.

💡 The indie hacker favorite. SaaS businesses generate recurring revenue, scale globally without physical products, and can often be run by a single person or small team.

The act of releasing or deploying your product, feature, or code to production - moving from development to live. Stop perfecting, start shipping.

💡 The indie hacker battle cry. "Ship it" means launching imperfect products quickly to get real user feedback instead of endlessly polishing in private.

A project you build outside of your full-time job, typically evenings and weekends, often with the goal of eventually turning it into a full-time business.

💡 How most indie hackers start. Side projects are the low-risk way to test ideas and build products while keeping your day job paycheck as a safety net.

An entrepreneur who builds and runs their entire business alone, handling everything from development to marketing to customer support without co-founders or employees.

💡 The ultimate one-person show. Many indie hackers start as solopreneurs, wearing every hat until revenue justifies hiring help or staying solo by design.

The act of building software primarily using AI tools (like Cursor or Windsurf) by describing the desired outcome ("the vibe") rather than writing manual syntax.

💡 The 2026 way of building. It’s controversial, but it's how 80% of current waitlist projects are being prototyped.