Indie Bites

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder of Acquire, previously known as MicroAcquire, the largest startup acquisition marketplace. I’ve spoken to many indie hackers about selling their businesses, many of whom have done so using Andrew’s platform. Before starting the Acquire, Andrew spent 8 years bootstrapping Bizness Apps to $10m ARR before being acquired by a private equity firm. You might also know of Boostrappers.com, the site Andrew started, sharing stories of bootstrappers. Finally, he also wrote a book called Getting Acquired, which tells his story and outlines exactly how you can sell your business.
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - Startup and acquisition trends Andrew is seeing
03:34 - Ideal time to sell your business
05:10 - Should you build to sell?
07:19 - How to make your business look good to a potential acquirer
08:59 - Twitter/X and bootstrapping
10:24 - How would Andrew Gazdecki start a business today
11:52 - The best marketing channel for a bootstrapped business
12:56 - The most unlikely acquisition outcome
13:35 - Which business types have the highest multiples
15:26 - The future of acquire.com
15:56 - Recommendations
Recommendations
Book: Impossible to Inevitable
Podcast: All In Podcast
Entrepreneur: Jack Dorsey

Today I’m talking with Flo Schirmer about "sweaty startups", a term for old-fashioned, low-risk businesses that are often service based and unsexy. I’m talking window cleaning, car washing, self-storage, house moving and more. We’re going to discuss if you can do this as a side hustle, if you should do this over a regular software business, and what you need to do to get started with some ideas along the way.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:38 What is a sweaty startup?
03:18 From window cleaning to home security
04:37 How to start a sweaty startup
06:41 Growth for a sweaty startup
07:26 Sweaty startup vs software - what is best for indie hackers?
08:45 Injecting a tech edge into old fashioned businesses
11:34 Examples of successful sweaty startup brands
13:58 Two free sweaty startup ideas
15:57 Recommendations
Recommendations
Book - $100m Leads
Podcast - My First Million
Indie Hacker - Alex Hormozi
My links
Twitter
Indie Bites Twitter
Indie Bites YouTube
Join the membership
Personal Website
2 Hour Podcast Course
Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙
EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Marie Martens is the co-founder of Tally, a form builder she started with her partner Filip, now used by half a million people and are over $150k MRR. Marie was on the pod 3 years ago when they’d scaled to 16,000 users and $8k MRR in 1 year. In that episode we discussed the origin story, getting their first 100 users and how they’d grown so quickly. Today, we’re going to be finding out how they’ve built such a robust business over the past 3 years and 15x’d their revenue.
Listen to Marie's first episode:
https://indiebites.com/43
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:09 From small lifestyle business to larger sustainable business
04:50 Retaining the fun in the business
06:02 Struggles in hiring a remote team
07:32 Building an in-person team in Belgium vs remote
08:17 Running a startup as a parent
10:06 How Tally has grown to $150k MRR
13:07 The pros and cons of building in public
15:08 Growing the product while keeping it simple
15:49 The future of Tally
16:43 Recommendations
Recommendations
Book - First Round Capital
Podcast - Lenny's Podcast
Indie Hacker - Olly Meakings
My links
Twitter
Indie Bites Twitter
Indie Bites YouTube
Join the membership
Personal Website
2 Hour Podcast Course
Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙
EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Tom Fishburne is the founder of Marketoonist, a bootstrapped marketing cartoon business he started in 2010. He started drawing and sharing cartoons in 2002, and it took him 8 years to make the leap, despite having a successful career in marketing. 15 years later, Tom is still going strong, with the business making money from cartoon licensing, speaking gigs, brand deals, his book and more.
Listen to the extended version of the show here: https://indiebites.com/membership/

Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
01:23 - Moving to Czech Republic out of college
02:16 - From Czech Republic to MBA
03:19 - Starting cartooning
04:03 - Tom's first client
04:37 - Imposter syndrome
05:20 - Pricing too low
06:01 - Making the leap to full time
07:08 - The terrifying moment of taking the leap
08:08 - How Tom executed on his plan as a full time cartoonist?
09:20 - Marketoonist revenue breakdown
10:45 - Why Tom still does client work
12:45 - Dealing with sh*tty clients
13:55- Dealing with AI and competition
15:55 - Recommendations
Recommendations
Book - Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Podcast - Fly On The Wall
Indie Hacker - David Hieatt
My links
Twitter
Indie Bites Twitter
Indie Bites YouTube
Join the membership
Personal Website
2 Hour Podcast Course
Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙
EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.

Jack Ellis is the co-founder of Fathom Analytics, a simple, privacy focused analytics tool launched in 2019. I last spoke to Jack on the podcast in 2021, where he talked about the inception and growth of Fathom, taking on a massive incumbent and why Jack loves working with a co-founder. In December 2024, Jack acquired his co-founder’s share in the business, making him the sole owner (i think). Today, we’re going to talk about why he made this unique move and what’s next for Fathom.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:20 Jack finds out about EmailOctopus
02:34 Why Jack acquired Fathom
05:03 How can Jack afford this?
05:28 Why did they not get an external buyer?
07:17 Back to being a solo founder
08:19 Innovating the the crowded analytics space
11:09 Fathom's marketing and growth in 2025
12:34 How is Jack having fun?
13:14 Recommendations
Recommendations
Book - Dopamine Nation
Podcast - Huberman Lab
Indie Hacker - Ruben Gamez
My links
Twitter
Indie Bites Twitter
Indie Bites YouTube
Join the membership
Personal Website
2 Hour Podcast Course
PodPanda (hire me to edit your podcast)
This Indie Life Podcast
Sponsor - EmailOctopus 🐙
EmailOctopus is an independently owned email marketing platform, built to support other small growing businesses. With a focus on affordability and ease of use, EmailOctopus contains all of the features you need to reach and grow your audience. You can start today, with their industry leading free plan where you can contact up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a penny.