The *Honest* Guide to Indie Making

About the Honest Guide

Indie Maker Twitter told me I could build a SaaS product and get to $10k MRR in a few months. Even with almost 10 years experience with product design and product management for early stage startups, I got a huge reality check.

I didn't get to $10k MRR. Not even close. Although I did get 1000+ organic signups with 0 marketing budget, 30+ paid customers, and won the $5k Product Hunt Maker Grant for my first side project, Harold, the biggest value was what I learned: that it's not as easy as Twitter makes it look.

This is the honest guide that shows the behind the scenes of what really happens when you try to turn a side project into a real business. It's a chance for you to learn the easy way, what I learned the hard way about:

• Getting your first users and building in public

• Validating ideas and getting user feedback
• Waitlists and running a beta
• Pricing
• Setting up analytics
• Marketing, SEO, and Growth Loops
• Going full-time, being a solo-maker

I answer questions like:

• Should I go full-time on your side projects?
• How do I validate my idea before building?
• What questions should I be asking my users?
• How do I get good feedback on my product?
• How do I get signups with $0 marketing budget?
• Should I do a free trial or free tier?

What You'll Get:

• Access to e-book (19 chapters, 48k words, ~2.5 hour read)
• A behind the scenes look–screenshots of my data, tools, conversations w/ users, marketing materials.
• Notion version for easy reading
• MOBI file for Kindle
• 100+ resources for further learning
• Templates, Tools, Tutorials and Build In Public ideas you can start using immediately

What people are saying:

"THIS IS AMAZING! I'm right on the validation stage and this is gonna help me so much!" -Shruthi

"Reading it again" - Hope

"It was one of the best books I read this year, and I mean it. Learned a lot from your experience and experiments with building products. It's very insightful and inspiring. I keep coming back to it every now and then." - Rutik

"I'm taking notes on almost every page. Highly recommend this and it's definitely worth an afternoon of your time" - Kevin

"I have read couple of chapters as of now, and I can definitely say that it’s the most interesting and well written book, it’s so relatable and I am hooked!" -Porush

"I bought your book yesterday and just wanted to let you know its really good. I'm currently on chapter 11 and was reading it until 2am last night."- Faraz

"Your book has cleared up so much for me, I’m so glad I’ve found it" - Kohl

"The most transparent and honest I've read" - Lawrence

"Just WOW. I wish I had written it! I'm still in the first half of the book, but my mind never stopped thinking at all the insights I've come thru. I love reading the journey of other makers, it makes me reflect on my steps and I can collect some new POVs along the way! This is really The Honest Guide to Indie Making. Thanks for sharing your story and struggles so openly!" - Mattia

"I just started reading your book and I just wanted to let you know it’s so amazing! It has so much practical advice. I’ve been reading other indie-maker books but I think this might be my favorite. I can’t wait to finish it." -Melinda

"Brutally honest...Something that is missing at the moment in the Indie Makers space where only success stories are told...I read the whole book in one go. Took a lot of notes. Great work Kyleigh!" - Katt

"I finished reading through your guide, and to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed it!! You've managed to capture all sorts of sage advice from thought leaders and weave it into your own story. I loved your learning about managing the beta process, moving in batches, and your approach to ad-spend! I had no idea that you could start with such affordable ad budgets and have been wondering (not actively looking) how to do this and you've provided an excellent starting point. I love the hot SEO tips as well, and you've basically demystified a lot of the SEO tools out there in a few pages. The guide is spot on" -Luke

"It's taught me how hard building a product is. So many things involved that I wasn't even aware of. I really feel for the main character in this story haha." - Lewis

"I finished reading it. It's great!" - Pablo

"Loving the beta version of the book so far!" - Ben

"I'm on the bit where you go through all the marketing channels you tried. SO INTERESTING." - Lewis

"As product developers, we need to be thinking more like this, earlier in our process. Kyleigh's book is worth buying just for the ideas she's laid out in her ["Evidence of a Great Idea"] framework." - Ryan

P.S.

• Happy to refund if the guide doesn't end up meeting your expectations. No problem, no questions asked 👍
• Students or anyone unable to afford the guide can email me at kyleigh@haroldthehabittracker.com and we can figure something out!