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Pieter Levels on Programming, AI Startups, and the Digital Nomad Lifestyle

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Twindie Point
August 25, 2024

Hey 👋

You’re reading the weekly wrap-up Sunday newsletter of what’s going on in the Indie-Hacking community on X.

This is our 11th edition of TwindiePoint.

If you’re building a new product, the first thing you should do is create awareness about what you're building. Use platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Threads/Instagram, Facebook Groups, Hacker News, and relevant Subreddits. After that, you can submit your product to directories to gain SEO juice. Next, do a Product Hunt launch, sponsor a newsletter or influencer, and start writing BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) SEO-focused articles.

This guy tweeted about which AI tools are worth purchasing a subscription for: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, Anthropic AI, Cursor AI, Vercel’s V0, and Claude AI. I personally felt that, ChatGPT’s quality goes down, In my opinion, Perplexity and Claude is great for content creation as well coding.

If you're looking to promote your business for free, consider engaging with various online communities where submissions are allowed. Here’s a curated list of 42 startup-focused Subreddits, Discord, and Slack communities that can help you connect with potential customers and receive valuable feedback.

Reddit Communities 👇

  1. r/RoastMyStartup

  2. r/AlphaandBetausers

  3. r/GrowthHacking

  4. r/Digitalnomad

  5. r/Promotereddit

  6. r/Entrepreneur

  7. r/EntrepreneurRideAlong

  8. r/IMadeThis

  9. r/IndieBiz

  10. r/SideProject

  11. r/SmallBusiness

  12. r/Startups

  13. r/Growmybusiness

  14. r/Linkbuilding

  15. r/SEO

  16. r/Freepromote

  17. r/SocialMediaMarketing

  18. r/Analytics

  19. r/Content_marketing

  20. r/Advertising

  21. r/PPC

  22. r/AskMarketing

Discord Communities 👇

  1. Hack2skill

  2. GCES

  3. Tech Startup Community

  4. Everything Startup

  5. Startup Growth Hub

  6. Furlough

  7. Startups and Entrepreneurship

  8. Starthub

  9. Art Code

  10. Million Dollar Weekend

Slack Communities 👇

Posting Tips 🚀
For optimal engagement, the best time to post on business-related subreddits is between 5 PM and 10 PM CET, particularly on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Baretto from tiny.host shares valuable lessons on launching and pricing a startup. He emphasizes the importance of introducing a paid plan early based on user feedback, building features that users request, and releasing them exclusively for Pro plans. He advises not to shy away from pricing higher than expected, as perceived value often correlates with price, and a higher price can validate your value proposition.

Baretto also highlights the effectiveness of promo codes for market testing, sharing his success of offering a 50% discount during a Product Hunt launch, which led to their first sale. He stresses the need for a balanced marketing approach, utilizing both short-term strategies (like leveraging platforms such as Hacker News and Product Hunt) for immediate visibility and long-term strategies (like SEO and content marketing) to establish a sustainable online presence.

He points out the importance of actively promoting marketing materials, as even great content can get overlooked without proper visibility. Finally, Baretto encourages founders to keep pushing forward, learning, and listening to user feedback, as this is key to achieving success in their entrepreneurial journey. 


Instant Writing Remixer: Rewrite As
Different Authors

You are my personal "writing remixer."
I am going to give you a sentence. Then you are going to rewrite it in 6 different "authors"
1. Gary Vaynerchuk
2. Maya Angelou
3. George R.R. Martin
4. Winston Churchill
5. Brene Brown
6. J.K. Rowling
7. Ernest Hemingway
Here are the steps:
1. You will ask me for the sentence.
2. Then you will rewrite the sentence in each tone.
3. And finally you will store the output in a table.
Here is the table output:
• Column headers: tone, rewritten sentence
• Rows: each of the authors I listed
• The first row should be the original sentence.
• The "author" for that one should be "Original sentence" 
Are you ready for the sentence?

Most controversial podcast between Pieter Levels & Lex fridman. What an amazing journey & philosophy of Pieter.

After exploring alternatives to Stripe following its acquisition of LMSqueezy, I evaluated Paddle as a potential payment processor for a $20K monthly recurring revenue (MRR) scenario. Here’s a detailed analysis:

  1. Fee Structure for $20K MRR:

  • Paddle: 5% + $0.50 per transaction = $1,050

  • Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction = $580

  • This indicates that using Paddle costs approximately 1.7 times more than Stripe across various MRR levels.

  1. Chargebacks:

Paddle includes chargeback fees, while Stripe charges $15 per chargeback. Estimating 5-10 chargebacks per month, this results in an additional $75-$150 for Stripe.

  1. Additional Fees for Stripe Services:

Stripe requires separate payments for services like fraud protection and subscription management, which are included with Paddle. For small businesses, this can be a significant advantage.

  1. Accountant Costs:

Since Stripe is not a Merchant of Record (MoR), hiring an accountant may cost an additional $750-$1,200 per month. Paddle eliminates this need, simplifying financial management.

  1. Conclusion:

While Paddle incurs higher fees (1.7x more), Stripe's additional costs for services and the need for an accountant can offset this difference. After evaluating for a $100K MRR with increased accountant fees, the net profit remains similar. Using Paddle as an all-in-one MoR solution may reduce headaches and streamline operations.

Overall, while Paddle is more expensive, it offers comprehensive services that could be beneficial for many businesses, especially those looking for a hassle-free payment solution.

We hope you enjoyed the updates and stories from the Indie-Hacking community on X.

If you have any questions, feedback, or stories to share, feel free to reach out.

To sponsor our newsletter, reach out to us at our email.

See you again next Sunday!

— Avinash (@avinashvagh)

🌐 www.twindiepoint.com
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