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PRESENTED BY

Here's what you'll find in this issue:

This founder ghostwrote tweets instead of building a SaaS. Now he’s at $1.7M/year.
5 vibe coding tools. Some of the latest apps for coding with AI.
Yesterday's build board winners, including three new product launches from indie hackers.
30-second growth tip: Turn your product into an accidental billboard.

Most businesses use AI to save time. The smartest ones use it to transform how they operate. Join Agency Advantage 2026 to learn how founders, operators, and agency leaders are building AI-native businesses.

From $20 Upwork gigs to $1.7M/year 🪺

Marcos Ruiz spent five years lighting money on fire. Day trading wipeouts, a failed Amazon agency, a crypto round trip that ended at $10k. So when he finally launched The Birdhouse from a $1,700 NYC studio with three months of runway, he started by taking $20 ghostwriting gigs on Upwork. Now he’s pulling multiple six-figure MRR and crossed $1.7M in 2025.

The Birdhouse is a personal branding agency for founders and execs. Marcos has tracked tens of thousands of content pieces across 100+ niches, mapping which hooks actually convert strangers into buyers. Then he ditched flat retainers for a revenue sharing model. As his clients make more money, his paycheck grows too, allowing him to make three times as much as his old flat fee with no extra fulfillment cost.

Lots to learn here. Enjoy!

Read the full article →

AI assistants are evolving. Hatch is the next generation. 🧠

AI models have evolved. ChatGPT has not.

We're still using the same old AI assistant products we were using in 2022, even though the models underneath them keep getting better.

It's time for the next generation of AI assistants.

Introducing Hatch, the most productive AI assistant ever made.

From the creators of Indie Hackers, Hatch was thoughtfully crafted to help you get real work done. From floating windows to tagging documents, we've reimagined every aspect of your daily AI assistant to help you operate at a higher level.

Try Hatch free. Use code INDIE30FREE for 100% off for 1 month.

Vibe coding tools to try 🧑🏻‍💻

Hatch: Ditch ChatGPT. Use the most productive AI assistant ever made. Thoughtfully crafted by the founders of Indie Hackers.
Aider: Pair program in your terminal with AI that commits clean, test-ready code.
Bolt.new: Prompt an app — Bolt spins up and deploys the full-stack in one click.
Apidog MCP Server: Let AI assistants read your API docs directly for instant code and test generation.
Tabnine: Code completions from a fast AI model you can run locally.

See all 30 tools in the directory →

Bite-sized growth tip 🍪

Turn your product into an accidental billboard.

Mike Slaats built Upvoty, a feedback tool for businesses, and hit $20K a month by baking a sneaky referral engine right into the code. Basically, every form included a tiny “Powered by Upvoty” watermark at the bottom.

Whenever a client used his tool, they accidentally advertised it to hundreds of their own users. Some of those users ran companies too. They'd see the slick form, realize they needed one just like it, and sign up.

Instead of burning cash on ads, Mike just let his own app generate his leads.

Read the full growth report →

The Build Board 🪧

Every day, indie hackers post updates about the products they're building. Here's what the community voted to the top yesterday!

	1. Markhub: Turn conversations into execution. Most teams don't have a communication problem. They have an awareness problem.	▲ 39

	2. Donely: Computer Use AI Hermes-powered security agent is absolutely bonkers.	▲ 31

	3. Mood Garden: Watch your emotions grow into a living garden. What if your emotions could grow?	▲ 15

Enjoy building in public? Post an update to your product page on Indie Hackers, and it will automatically be added to the daily leaderboard.

Channing's Tweet Pick 🐦

I know so many cracked software engineers whose skills don't translate to entrepreneurship. Shipping means you don't just do the thing you're good at. You do the thing the business needs right now. And that changes all the time!

—Channing

We'd love your feedback! 🙃

Did you like today's stories? Did they suck? Which ones?

We're constantly changing things up to make this newsletter more useful, so let us know what you think by replying directly to this email. We read every reply!

Special thanks to Yushavel Calderon for the graphic design, and to James Fleischmann for contributing a post.

—Channing

Indie Hackers | 522 W Riverside Ave #6526, Spokane, WA, 99201

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🗞️ What's New: $1.7M/year from $20 Upwork gigs, accidental billboard marketing, coding is 1 of 9+ biz skills