How I’m Forcing Myself to Hit $10k MRR—Or Die Trying
Published 2025-09-22
The cricket still haunts me.
Silence. No traffic. No user. After I built such a beautiful and useful website.
Project #64 was supposed to be different. I’d learned from the previous 63 failures, right? Built a beautiful SaaS, wrote clean code, even did some user interviews. But three months later, I was staring at <100 monthly traffic and declining.
Same story. Different graveyard.
The Pattern I Couldn’t Ignore
Here’s what killed most of my projects: I was great at building, terrible at growing.
Not “bad at marketing” terrible. I actually knew marketing theory. I’d read the books, consumed the courses, knew all about funnels and metrics and product-market fit.
The problem? I had zero discipline around growth activities.
I’d ship a feature, feel productive, then… crickets. No systematic user outreach. No consistent content. No structured experiments to move the needle. Just “build it and they will come” delusion, wrapped in a prettier package.
Project #65 died the same death. But this time, something clicked.
What if the problem wasn’t my products? What if it was my process?
The Workshop vs. The Graveyard
I started sketching what a “growth gym” would look like. Not another project management tool. Not another marketing automation platform. Something different.
What if there was a system that forced me to:
Ship growth experiments as religiously as I shipped code?
Track revenue impact, not just vanity metrics?
Build habits around user acquisition, not just feature development?
I called it the TenK6 methodology. Six loops that indie devs actually need to hit $10k MRR:
Build → Ship lean, ship fast
Launch → Get eyeballs on your thing
Audience → Convert lurkers to followers
Revenue → Turn followers into paying customers
Retention → Keep the money flowing
Expansion → Scale what works
Simple. Obvious. Brutally effective.
But here’s the kicker: I needed software to enforce it. Because knowing what to do and actually doing it? Two different animals.
Why Indie10k Had to Exist
This wasn’t about building another SaaS. This was about building the tool I desperately needed.
Something that would:
Track my progress across all six loops, not just “tasks completed”
Force me to ship real experiments that move metrics
Give me a clear path from $0 to $10k MRR
Keep me accountable to growth activities, not just feature development
Indie Hackers is the public square where we share stories and celebrate wins. But where’s the workshop? Where’s the place you go to systematically work on growth, day after day, until you hit your numbers?
That’s Indie10k.
The Messy Truth About Building It
I shipped it, from day 1.
I built the MVP. Used it on my own projects. Started hitting my weekly growth targets (100 users) for the first time in… ever.
The difference? Having a system that treats growth activities as seriously as development tasks. That measures progress toward revenue, not just toward “done.”
What It Actually Is
Indie10k isn’t trying to replace your project management tool. It’s not trying to automate your marketing.
It’s a growth discipline enforcer.
You pick your current revenue goal. The system breaks it down into weekly targets across the six loops. You ship experiments, track results, and compound your way to $10k MRR.
AI helps you brainstorm experiments and refine your approach. But you’re the boss. Always.
Because the last thing indie devs need is another black box making decisions for them.
The Real Test
Here’s what I’m betting on: Most indie devs don’t need more features. They need more discipline around the activities that actually grow revenue.
If I’m wrong, Indie10k will become project #67 in my graveyard.
If I’m right, it might be the workshop indie devs have been missing.
👉 Want to help me find out? Try the beta and tell me what feels useful (or useless). Your feedback literally shapes this thing.
Because after 65 dead projects, I’m done building in the dark.