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

This founder turned busywork into AI Directories, a $9.5k/mo business.
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: Launch without billing and let demand prove you need it.

Dyad is the local, open-source AI app builder built by indie hacker Will Chen. Bootstrapped, 100% customer-funded, zero lock-in. Your apps are always on your computer, you can use any AI model, switch tools anytime, and deploy anywhere. The team ships improvements every week based on user feedback. Download Dyad.

This founder turned launch busywork into $9.5k/mo 📚

Sergiu Chiriac kept launching products and running into the same chore: submitting each new AI product to dozens of directories for backlinks, visibility, and early users.

So he built an internal tool to do it for him. And as is often the case, other founders wanted it too. Now AI Directories has helped 900+ founders launch through 100+ curated directories. (In Sergiu's record month, it generated $9.5k of his $15.7k in total revenue!)

I really loved this interview and recommend you check it out. It gets into how Sergiu validates directories, expands with the same customers, and treats distribution as part of his product.

Read the full article →

Ads stop working the moment you stop paying 💸

Most SaaS teams respond to slowing growth by buying more traffic. The smartest teams build assets instead.

Authority is one of the few marketing investments that compounds:

Better rankings
More referral traffic
Higher brand trust
Greater visibility in AI search
Lower dependence on paid acquisition

That's exactly what dofollow.com helps you build.

Through strategic backlinks, editorial brand mentions, and expert-led campaigns, we help SaaS brands build the credibility that Google and AI systems reward.

Build your authority

Vibe coding tools to try 🧑🏻‍💻

Hatch: The next-generation AI assistant for getting real work done.
Devin: Autonomous AI software engineer managing local and cloud agent fleets from a single command center.
Fine: AI-powered rapid application development tech, now integrated as the core engine for HoneyBook.
Roo Code: Discontinued AI coding agent for VS Code.
Snyk Code: Find, prioritize, and auto-fix security issues with developer-focused SAST solutions.

See all 30 tools in the directory →

Bite-sized growth tip 🍪

Launch without billing and let demand prove you need it.

Michele and Mathias Hansen built Geocodio, a tool that turns street addresses into latitude and longitude coordinates. They put a barely functional MVP on Hacker News, expecting very little. It spent the whole day at the top of the site instead.

But there was a problem. They hadn't built billing. Even so, the pain was real enough that people were asking how to give them money anyway. That was all the validation they needed before investing in payment infrastructure. Geocodio now makes $80,000 a month.

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. Launch Nest: Launch Better. Get Discovered. Grow Together. Your Product Is Built. Now Let People Discover It.	▲ 28

	2. Launch Nest: Launch Better. Get Discovered. Grow Together. Great Products Deserve Great Discovery	▲ 20

	3. Career Suit Ai: Land Your Dream Job Faster with AI Why I Built CareerSuite AI	▲ 12

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.

Channing's Tweet Pick 🐦

One of the first times I've found myself nodding in agreement to a Gen Z trend…

—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: $9.5k from AI directories, launch before billing, Gen Z goes indie?