Hey everyone,

I've been on a rollercoaster of a journey for the past year, bootstrapping my startup. Everyone says marketplaces are the toughest businesses to crack but also the most rewarding if they work. After building a marketplace from scratch twice (yep, you read that right, I'll get back to that), I can tell you firsthand – those people aren't lying.

Today, I'm launching the rebuilt version of Indiedoers on Product Hunt, and your support would mean the world to me:

https://www.producthunt.com/products/indiedoers

*The Frustration That Sparked an Idea
*
Like many of you, I've had that entrepreneurial itch – the dream of building a marketplace or a social media platform. Back when I was publishing mobile games on app stores, I was also selling them as templates on those big template marketplaces. That's where my frustration began to build. (I wrote about this in more detail here if you're curious).

Indiedoers is Born... and Then Reborn

I decided enough was enough. I wanted to build a fair marketplace where products and services could live side-by-side, without sellers getting gouged. That's how the hybrid marketplace Indiedoers was born.

Six months of hustle later, I launched... and reality hit hard. Marketplaces aren't a one-person show. I needed a team and money to make it work. But I didn't want to go the VC funding route – I wanted to stay bootstrapped.

Pivots, Lessons, and a New Direction

In the meantime, I learned a ton about marketplaces. I saw why niche-focused marketplaces were thriving, while the big horizontal ones were struggling. I also discovered the world of productized services – the idea of offering unlimited or recurring tasks for a set monthly fee.

Two big mistakes became clear: an attempt to cater to both products and services, and targeting every category imaginable instead of focusing solely on mobile games. It was time for a pivot. My focus narrowed to one category, and I embraced the productized service business model. The tricky part was figuring out which services had the highest retention. My expertise was in mobile app games, but development services didn't fit well with subscriptions.

So, I turned to Upwork for insights. It turned out that video-related services had the highest hourly rates and the most recurring jobs. Customers needed video experts for the long haul, unlike design or development, which were often one-off projects.

Indiedoers 2.0: A Video Services Subscription Marketplace

With a heavy heart, I deleted six months of work and rebuilt Indiedoers from the ground up. This time, it was all about video services subscriptions. Video experts could offer their skills on a recurring basis, and customers could get the help they needed without breaking the bank.

After another six months of building and promoting, we're finally seeing traction. We have customers who love the platform and keep coming back. We're even profitable, with an average order value of $500+ and a 70% free trial conversion rate.

But here's where I need your help. Launching on Product Hunt is a big deal for us. Your support – whether it's an upvote, a comment, or just sharing the news – would make a huge difference.

Thank You! if you have any thoughts or feedback, I'd love to hear them!

Once again, your support on Product hunt would mean a lot to me:

https://www.producthunt.com/products/indiedoers

Would also love to hear your thoughts & feedback :)