Can I find customers on Indie Hackers?

Yes. Indie Hackers is a community of founders publicly describing their problems. Threads where people ask how to find customers, manage outreach, or solve the specific problem your product addresses are direct opportunities to reply with something useful.

Which Indie Hackers threads are worth replying to?

Ask posts about the problem your product solves, milestone posts where a founder describes a gap, and recent threads in the Latest feed. Avoid product showcase posts and off-topic discussions.

How do I reply on Indie Hackers without looking like spam?

Address the specific thing they said. Give something useful even if your product is not the fit. Mention your product only when it is the honest recommendation, and say you built it. Keep it short. Skip phrases like "Great post!" and "As someone who also struggled with this."

How do I follow up with someone I met on Indie Hackers?

Reply in the thread if they replied publicly. Send a short DM if they opened a conversation. Write a note to yourself with who they are and when to check back. The Founder CRM extension keeps that note next to the thread in your local list.

Does Founder CRM monitor Indie Hackers?

No. Founder CRM does not monitor Indie Hackers or any other site. You open the site in your browser, find the person, and save them manually. The extension keeps the list locally with notes and a follow-up reminder. You write every reply yourself.

Should I use Indie Hackers or Reddit for finding first customers?

Both. Indie Hackers has a founder-specific audience and threads stay visible longer. Reddit has more volume and threads age faster. A daily habit covering both is more effective than picking one. The subreddit finder on this site helps identify where your specific buyers talk.

Indie Hackers

How to find customers on Indie Hackers

Indie Hackers is one of the few places on the internet where founders publicly describe the exact problems they are trying to solve. Those threads are full of potential customers, early adopters, and people who will tell you exactly what they need if you reply like a person. This guide covers which threads convert, how to reply without looking like spam, and how to keep the people you meet.

Add to Chrome What is Founder CRM

Why Indie Hackers is worth your time

Indie Hackers is a community of founders at every stage: people building their first product, founders stuck at $500 MRR, and bootstrappers who have been at it for years. The conversation is unusually honest. People share their revenue, their failures, and their exact problems.

That honesty is the lead gen opportunity. A founder on Indie Hackers asking "how do I find my first customers?" is describing a live problem. They are not idly browsing. A genuine reply from someone who solved that problem is welcome. An ad is not.

Indie Hackers is different from Reddit in a few ways worth knowing. The audience is founders and side-project builders, not general consumers. The threads tend to be longer and more reflective. Comments stay visible for months. That means a reply you write today might reach someone who reads the thread next week.

Which threads are worth replying to

Not every thread on Indie Hackers is a lead. The ones worth replying to share a pattern:

Ask posts about the problem your product solves. "What do you use to track customers?", "How are you finding your first users?", "Any tools for managing outreach?" These are direct invitations to suggest your product if it fits.
Milestone posts where the founder describes a gap. "Hit $500 MRR, but I still cannot figure out X." If X is the problem you solve, reply to the gap, not the milestone.
Recent posts in active threads. Sort by "Latest" and look for threads posted in the past week. Older threads still get new readers but rarely get new replies.
Founder pages of people who described your target situation. Every Indie Hackers profile lists the products a person is building, their revenue range, and what they are working on. That is public information you can read before you reach out.

The threads not worth your time are the product showcase posts, the "share your project" threads, and the off-topic discussions. A product showcase is a place to be promoted, not a place where people are actively looking for a solution.

How to reply without looking like an ad

Indie Hackers readers have seen a lot of spam comments. A reply that looks like an ad is ignored. A reply that sounds like a person gets read.

A reply that works on Indie Hackers:

Addresses the specific thing they said, not the general topic. Quote the exact phrase if it helps.
Gives them something useful even if your product is not the right fit. A useful answer that does not mention your product at all is still worth writing.
Mentions your product only when it is the honest recommendation, and says you built it. Hiding that you are the founder will backfire if they check your profile.
Is short. One or two paragraphs. The thread is not about you.
Does not use phrases like "Great post!" or "As someone who also struggled with this." Those are the first two lines of a spam reply.

If you are unsure whether your reply looks like an ad, read it aloud. If it sounds like copy, rewrite it until it sounds like a person talking.

There is no auto-reply here. You write every comment yourself. That is not a limitation: a reply from a real person with a posting history converts better than anything automated.

How to follow up without being pushy

A good reply on Indie Hackers sometimes leads to a direct message. When it does, the conversation moves to their inbox and your follow-up matters. When it does not, the thread is still public and the comment still reaches new readers.

The follow-up that works is not a sales call request. It is:

A reply to their reply in the thread, if they replied publicly.
A short DM if they opened a conversation through their profile.
A note to yourself about who they are and when to check back.

The note to yourself is the piece most founders skip. A thread you found on Monday is forgotten by Friday. The guide to tracking outreach from public conversations covers what to write down and when to look again.

How Founder CRM fits in

Founder CRM is a free Chrome extension. When you find a founder on Indie Hackers worth following up with, you can save them to your local list from their profile page. The list keeps their name, the thread, a note you write, and a follow-up date. You decide when to look again.

What it does not do: it does not monitor Indie Hackers, it does not send messages, and it does not draft replies. You open the thread, write your reply yourself, and save the person if they are worth keeping. Add Founder CRM to Chrome for the follow-up habit.

Indie Hackers is one of three channels the extension covers. The same list holds people you meet on Reddit and X. The subreddit finder on this site helps map which subreddits your buyers use: try the free subreddit finder.

Where to go next

Indie Hackers is one channel. Reddit is another, and the motion is different because threads age faster. The guide to first customers from Reddit covers the Reddit-specific approach: which posts convert, how to spot buyer intent, and how to reply before the thread dies.

If you want the full free stack combining multiple channels without a subscription, the free Reddit lead-gen stack covers F5Bot, Reddit search, and the Chrome extension together. The Reddit Chrome extension lead gen guide covers how the extension fits into a daily habit.

Questions founders ask

Can I find customers on Indie Hackers?: Yes. Indie Hackers is a community of founders publicly describing their problems. Threads where people ask how to find customers, manage outreach, or solve the specific problem your product addresses are direct opportunities to reply with something useful.
Which Indie Hackers threads are worth replying to?: Ask posts about the problem your product solves, milestone posts where a founder describes a gap, and recent threads in the Latest feed. Avoid product showcase posts and off-topic discussions.
How do I reply on Indie Hackers without looking like spam?: Address the specific thing they said. Give something useful even if your product is not the fit. Mention your product only when it is the honest recommendation, and say you built it. Keep it short. Skip phrases like "Great post!" and "As someone who also struggled with this."
How do I follow up with someone I met on Indie Hackers?: Reply in the thread if they replied publicly. Send a short DM if they opened a conversation. Write a note to yourself with who they are and when to check back. The Founder CRM extension keeps that note next to the thread in your local list.
Does Founder CRM monitor Indie Hackers?: No. Founder CRM does not monitor Indie Hackers or any other site. You open the site in your browser, find the person, and save them manually. The extension keeps the list locally with notes and a follow-up reminder. You write every reply yourself.
Should I use Indie Hackers or Reddit for finding first customers?: Both. Indie Hackers has a founder-specific audience and threads stay visible longer. Reddit has more volume and threads age faster. A daily habit covering both is more effective than picking one. The subreddit finder on this site helps identify where your specific buyers talk.

Install Founder CRM

Free Chrome extension to find your first 100 customers. Save the people you meet on Indie Hackers, Reddit, and X. Notes, a follow-up date, and a reminder when the day arrives. You write every reply.

Add to Chrome Try the free subreddit finder