Why I hate the indie hackers community on Twitter

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I hesitated a long time to write such a post. Being negative is not my taste of tea, and I don't like those who raise critics too easily. I hope it will raise some interesting debates.

I follow a lot of Indie Hackers on Twitter. I have quickly noted four BIG issues.

1) A lot of Indie Hackers build products for other Indie Hackers

Sometimes, I have the feeling that it's a big Ponzi scheme. People sell tools, books, templates or methods to make other entrepreneurs "successful".

To find gold, you need a shovel and dedication. Many entrepreneurs sell the next shovel (better than others, with a fantastic grip and AI to spot gold easily lol).

But hey, you already have a shovel as you are an entrepreneur! Your success will not come with "better tools" in my view.

2) Most tweets are focused on personal development

I start to be ALLERGIC of any personal development stuff. I have read personal development books since I am 12 years old, and I now have more than 40. I have never learnt anything actionable consistently, except a few simple basic ideas.

Unfortunately, most solopreneurs tweets are focused on personal development. They pass their time speaking about bullshit ideas and tips.

3) They manage their Twitter account like a community manager, and it's boring

Most of them retweet themselves several times, plan their tweets, and they try to answer anyone commenting on their tweet, usually with empty words and open questions. It's so artificial.

The goal is clearly to sell, sell, sell to naive people following them.

One day, I spotted one entrepreneur selling his startup (basically a LP and some ideas, with no revenues and no clients) to a newbie, and then called it "a successful startup" as it has been sold.

So, I commented with an ironic comment. Blocked immediately.

4) It's a closed system

On Twitter, most indie hackers follow other indie hackers. It's a deep closed system. But worst: sometimes they help each other. You may consider this "fraternity" as good, but it leads to an artificial success, reinforcing the Ponzi scheme.

You follow someone thinking that he had success with a startup, but most of the time, it's wrong: he just raised a community of people like you, selling them a shitty Notion template or whatever tool.

SO, WHAT'S THE GOAL OF THIS POST?

You noted that I didn't disclose any name in this post.

I will do the opposite: quoting a counter-example of what is an interesting account. Levelsio is well known I guess here, this is a good example of an entrepreneur I like. Why?

• Because his business is not us, at least not directly.
• He's speaking about a lot of things
• He's spontaneous

Strangely, IndieHackers.com is still interesting, despite being intensively exploited by those entrepreneurs selling to other entrepreneurs. But I think it will not last, it's already a very closed system where most of the discussions are about entrepreneur tools, success and personal development.

My end message would be a call to diversify ourselves. Stop selling to other entrepreneurs, the world is BIG, sell to other communities! There is more money to make outside our community.

And no, personal development for entrepreneurs is not a niche: it's bullshit.