From a 15K Monthly Salary to 360K Annual Revenue

My 347-Day Journey as an Indie Hacker A Former Meta Engineer's Candid Retrospective on Entrepreneurship

"Rent is due again this month. Bank balance: ¥8,247."

This was a screenshot I sent to a friend late at night on March 31 last year. It had been exactly three months since I quit my job at Meta, full of ambition and ready to become a “free and independent developer.”
Eight months later, my product was making over $70,000 per month.
But this isn’t a feel-good story about a miraculous comeback. It’s a raw, painful account of how a programmer learned business thinking from scratch over 347 days.

My First Startup Failure: I Thought Being Good at Tech Was Enough

In the first month after I resigned, I crafted a confident plan based on my product experience at Meta:

• Identify a promising niche
• Build a tool that solves a real problem
• Use my technical background to iterate quickly
• Replicate Silicon Valley’s success model

I spent two full months building a “smart time management tool.”
It had polished features, a slick UI, and even a professional-looking marketing site. I did everything I thought I should: posted on Reddit, reached out to tech blogs, ran targeted ads.

The result?

• Total users in 30 days: 156
• Paying users: 3
• Revenue: $89

The issue wasn’t my lack of marketing knowledge — it was a fatal mistake: I built a “solution in search of a problem.”
No matter how skilled I was at promotion, I was marketing something people simply didn’t need.
It felt like preparing a gourmet feast only to realize none of the guests were hungry.

Turning Point: A $10K Product Built in Just One Week

By month four, I was close to giving up.
I had just over ¥5,000 in my account and 10 days until rent was due. I even started updating my LinkedIn resume.

Then I saw a complaint in a developers' Slack group:

“I’m going nuts reformatting code snippets for docs. Isn’t there a decent tool for this?”

That seemingly mundane complaint hit me like lightning.
I had it all backwards. I shouldn’t start by building a product — I should start by identifying a real pain point.

So I took action immediately:

• Launched surveys in five dev communities
• DMed 20 tech bloggers for interviews
• Lurked for a week, collecting over 50 similar complaints
• Analyzed reviews and pain points of competitors

The results shocked me: over 80% of developers had this exact pain point.

But this time, I didn’t jump into coding:

• Day 1: Designed a minimal viable solution
• Days 2–3: Built an interactive Figma prototype
• Day 4: Tested with 10 seed users
• Day 5: Iterated based on feedback
• Days 6–7: Built the MVP

Seven days later, SnippetsBox went live.

First-month data:

• Registered users: 1,200
• Conversion rate: 8%
• Monthly revenue: $11,600

That experience finally taught me what a business loop truly means.

My Framework for a Successful Indie Business Loop

1. Validate the Pain Point — the “Dumb” Way

Wrong way:

• Guessing the market need based on gut feeling
• Coding for months in isolation

Right way:

• Dive deep into niche communities
• Observe real user discussions
• Conduct structured interviews
• Collect 50+ pieces of genuine feedback
• Analyze negative reviews of competitors

My approach:
Instead of asking “What features do you want?”, I asked, “What was the last frustrating experience you had when doing X?”
I recorded users’ exact words — especially emotional rants.

“The cost of one full-featured prototype is enough to validate 50 different hypotheses.”

2. Low-Cost Customer Acquisition: Be the Big Fish in a Small Pond

Wrong way:

• Build first, worry about growth later — then get no traction

Right way:

• Offer free value in niche communities
• Build a personal brand through content
• Nurture a small, engaged seed group
• Reach out directly to potential users

My tactics:
While building SnippetsBox, I shared “best practices for code snippet management” in dev forums.
I published weekly tech articles — no product pitch, just useful insights.
I grew a 500-subscriber email list before launch.

Result:
My first 100 users came entirely from direct engagement. Customer acquisition cost? Virtually zero.

3. Design a Product That Builds Habits

Wrong way:

• Add a bunch of features, then slap on a paywall

Right way:

• Design a usage loop that brings repeated value

My product philosophy:
SnippetsBox wasn’t just a snippet storage app. It also:

• Automatically generated code usage analytics
• Recommended relevant snippets based on behavior
• Supported team collaboration and knowledge sharing
• Integrated with popular dev tools

Data-backed results:

• Average daily usage: 3.2 times
• Monthly retention: 75%
• Annual retention for paid users: 90%

The Real 347-Day Struggle: What No One Tells You About Starting Up

Financial Pressure: Counting Every Dollar

• Months 1–3: Anxiety
  • Savings dropped from ¥500K to ¥50K
  • Paid rent with a credit card
  • Calculated transportation costs before leaving home
• Months 4–6: Cautious Optimism
  • First meaningful income
  • Still avoided unnecessary spending
  • Made excuses to skip social events
• Months 7–12: Gradual Stability
  • Consistent monthly revenue
  • Started feeling real security
  • Allowed for the occasional indulgence

Mental Pressure: Self-Doubt Is the Hardest Part

Worst period: Months 2–3
I checked my bank account every morning.
When friends asked, “How’s work going?” I mumbled vague answers.
My parents kept urging me to “get a real job.” I couldn’t even explain what I was doing.

Most hopeless day: Day 78
My first product had completely failed.
That night, I sat alone in my tiny rented room, watching the city lights, feeling incredibly small.
I opened LinkedIn and sent out five job applications.
The next morning, I declined every interview.

Why?
Because if I quit then, the 78 days of pain and struggle would’ve meant nothing.

Milestone Moments: Small Wins That Kept Me Going

• Day 123: First monetization
  • Earned $500 from a paid consultation — proof my knowledge had value.
• Day 156: First product profit
  • SnippetsBox hit $10K in its first month.
• Day 234: Passive income
  • Revenue kept coming in — even when I didn’t work.
• Day 347: Major milestone
  • Monthly income stabilized at $30K. I could finally call myself an indie hacker.

Why Endure So Much Uncertainty?

People often ask: “With your skills, why not just get a high-paying job at a big tech firm?”
My answer: I trade short-term uncertainty for three types of long-term freedom.

1. Financial Freedom: From Salary Ceiling to Income Autonomy

At Meta:

• $180K annual salary
• Raises decided by others
• Clear income ceiling

Now:

• ~$45K monthly revenue
• I decide pricing and business models
• I can run multiple products simultaneously

2. Time Freedom: From Forced Overtime to Intentional Work

Before:

• Irregular hours + 2-hour daily commute
• Needed approval for time off

Now:

• 6–8 hours of work per day
• Fully remote
• Take breaks whenever I need

3. Decision-Making Freedom: From Executor to Owner

Before:

• Product managers chose what to build
• Tech leads chose the stack
• Company strategy dictated customers

Now:

• I decide what to build
• I choose the tech stack
• I choose who I serve

“This sense of control is something no paycheck can buy.”

My Timeline: From Confusion to Clarity

• Months 1–3: The Messy Start
  • Built 3 failed products
  • Burned most of my savings
  • Learned the importance of validating demand
• Months 4–6: The Skill-Building Phase
  • First $10K month
  • Mastered content marketing
  • Built my seed user community
• Months 7–12: The Scaling Phase
  • Revenue stabilized at $20K–30K/month
  • Passive income from products
  • Started building a second product
• After One Year: Diversified Growth
  • Income: product + consulting + education
  • True work-life balance
  • Helping other indie hackers succeed

5 Key Tips If You’re Just Starting Out

1. Validate Before You Code

Checklist:

• Create structured surveys
• Do 20+ deep user interviews
• Observe niche communities for a month
• Collect 50+ real user pain points

My advice:

It’s better to spend 1 month validating a need than 3 months building a product no one wants.

2. Prepare a Financial Runway

Suggested buffer:
6–12 months of living expenses

Purpose:
Not for comfort, but to avoid panic-driven decisions when it matters most.

3. Treat Failure as Tuition

My cost of failure:
3 failed products = 6 months + ¥100K

But I gained:

• Business sense
• Demand validation skills
• Sustainable growth strategies

4. Build a Support Network

Take action:

• Join indie hacker communities
• Find like-minded founders
• Attend events and meetups
• Seek mentors

This journey is lonely — but you don’t have to walk it alone.

5. Start Narrow, Then Expand

My strategy:

• Solve one clear problem
• Serve a focused user base
• Dominate a niche before expanding

A Deep Reflection After 347 Days

Looking back, my greatest takeaway isn’t the $30K/month revenue —
It’s the ability to thrive and grow in uncertainty.

That includes:

• Making decisions with incomplete information
• Learning quickly from failure
• Staying focused under pressure
• Thinking independently to solve complex problems

These skills are more valuable than any programming language.
Whatever the future brings, I know how to start from scratch and create value.

A Final Note: For Everyone On This Journey

If you’re considering becoming an indie hacker, remember:
This path isn’t easy — but it’s absolutely worth it.

Success doesn’t come from being the smartest or luckiest, but from:

• Continuous learning and adaptation
• Managing the anxiety of uncertainty
• Finding direction through failure
• Believing in your ability to create value

If you’re already on this path, share in the comments:

• What’s your biggest current challenge?
• How do you handle financial and emotional pressure?
• What’s your first product idea?

I’ll respond to every comment — because we’re on this road together.
If this article helped you, please like and share it with someone who needs the encouragement.

Let’s face this challenging path together and live our own version of a meaningful life.

About the Author
Former Meta engineer turned indie hacker, focused on dev tools and productivity products. Every mistake on the startup path became a lesson — now used to help others.