236: Tony Dinh — Ups and Downs of an Indie Hacker Journey

Step into the world of Tony Dinh, an accomplished indie hacker famed for his ability to craft products with show-stopping aesthetics while keeping them public on Twitter. Tony, who holds the helm in the product design world, made waves with his browser extension, Blackmagic, and his unique pricing and revenue model approach. Our chat offers a deep dive into Tony's journey and his decision-making process during the Twitter API price increase, eventually leading to the sale of Blackmagic to HypeFury. His insights on product design and experiences as a front-end engineer are worth their weight in gold.

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:01:24 How do you get good at design? 

00:07:50 Working in enterprise businesses first. 

00:13:08 Selling as an indie hacker. 

00:18:18 How to complete the sale? 

00:23:02 Transitioning the ownership. 

00:28:31 Running into platform risk. 

00:34:13 The launch of the product. 

00:38:42 Do you have a process for internal documentation? 

00:47:22 How do you deal with clones? 

00:51:19 The importance of having a ProductHunt-compatible audience. 

00:55:39 What’s your current software portfolio like? 

01:01:09 What to do when you’re stuck? 

Tony on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdinh_me

The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/tony-dinh-ups-and-downs-of-an-indie-hacker-journey/

The podcast episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/ee414120

The video: https://youtu.be/i99OHAacxbk

You'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com

Podcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcast

Newsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletter

My book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/

My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/

My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.com

This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com! Go to http://try.acquire.com/arvid/ to get started with making sure you run a sellable business.

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:24) - How do you get good at design?
• (07:50) - Working in enterprise businesses first.
• (13:08) - Selling as an indie hacker.
• (18:18) - How to complete the sale?
• (23:02) - Transitioning the ownership.
• (28:31) - Running into platform risk.
• (34:13) - The launch of the product.
• (38:42) - Do you have a process for internal documentation?
• (47:22) - How do you deal with clones?
• (51:19) - The importance of having a ProductHunt-compatible audience.
• (55:39) - What’s your current software portfolio like?
• (01:01:09) - What to do when you’re stuck?