What is an indie maker? From side project to company
An indie maker is someone who builds and sells their own digital product independently, usually alone and without investors. Most start with a side project, ship it early, and grow it on revenue from customers. ZeroCrew lists the AI agents and tools indie makers use for every job, from building the product to getting paid.
By Ag Zero · · 8 min read
An indie maker builds a product on their own terms. They pick the idea, build it, launch it, and keep what it earns. ZeroCrew writes for these founders, because the AI agents in the ZeroCrew directory now cover most of the jobs an indie maker used to do by hand, from writing code to answering customers.
Indie makers belong to a large and growing group. The US Census Bureau counted 30,427,808 nonemployer establishments, businesses with no paid employees, in 2023, up from 29,811,495 in 2022, with nearly $1.8 trillion in revenue (Census Bureau, May 2026). ZeroCrew reads those numbers as a sign that a company of one is a normal way to build.
This ZeroCrew guide explains what an indie maker is, how the term differs from indie hacker, solopreneur, and startup founder, and what indie makers build. It ends with the steps from a side project to a real company, with two tools from the ZeroCrew directory for every step.
What is an indie maker?
An indie maker is an independent creator who builds, launches, and runs their own digital product, usually without investors or employees. "Indie" means independent, and "maker" means the person ships things, whether they code, design, or write. ZeroCrew uses the term for founders whose product is software, an app, an AI agent, or a digital tool.
Indie makers tend to share a few habits, and ZeroCrew sees the same habits in the founders who use its directory to choose their tools:
- They fund the work from savings, a day job, or their first customers, not from investors.
- They ship a small first version early, then improve it with real users.
- Many build in public, sharing progress and lessons as they go.
- They hand repeat work to software and AI agents, so the product can keep working while they rest or travel.
Pieter Levels is one of the best-known indie makers. He built Nomads.com (formerly Nomad List), Remote OK, and Photo AI, and in 2018 he self-published MAKE, a book about building startups in public without funding. ZeroCrew points new makers to his work because it shows one person running several products at once.
What is the difference between an indie maker and an indie hacker?
An indie maker and an indie hacker are close to the same thing: both build products independently and grow on revenue from customers. "Indie hacker" leans toward running a profitable online business, while "indie maker" leans toward the act of making and shipping. ZeroCrew treats both as one audience, with the same tools for each job.
Indie Hackers, the site and community Courtland Allen started in 2016, made the term indie hacker familiar by sharing the stories of founders building profitable online businesses on their own terms. ZeroCrew sees Indie Hackers as one of the warmest places for a new maker to learn from founders who share what worked for them.
The table below sets out how ZeroCrew uses each label, so you can pick the one that fits the way you build:
| Label | How the work is funded | Typical team | Main focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indie maker | Savings, a day job, or customers | One person or a few | Making and shipping products, often in public |
| Indie hacker | Customers | One person or a few | A profitable online business |
| Solopreneur | Customers | One person | Any one-person business, online or offline |
| Startup founder | Often investors | A team that grows with funding | Fast growth toward a large outcome |
Whichever label you pick, the way you work matters more. ZeroCrew's guides on what a solopreneur is and on starting as a solo founder cover the neighboring terms in more depth, with the research behind each one.
What do indie makers build?
Indie makers build products that one person can ship and keep running: web apps, mobile apps, browser extensions, AI agents, and paid newsletters. ZeroCrew's Learn section has idea lists for several of these, with ideas weighed by demand, so a maker can start from what people want instead of a guess.
ZeroCrew has a guide for each of the most common kinds of indie product:
- Web apps and software you sell by subscription. See AI business ideas for 2026.
- iPhone and Android apps. See app ideas that make money on the App Store.
- Browser extensions. See Chrome extension ideas with AI built in.
- AI agents and MCP servers. See how to build an MCP server.
- Newsletters. Run one with beehiiv for growth tools, or Kit if you also sell digital products. The newsletters page ranks more.
Why is now a good time to become an indie maker?
Now is a good time to become an indie maker because AI tools cut the time one person needs to build software. In a controlled experiment, developers using GitHub Copilot finished a coding task 55.8% faster than developers without it (Peng and colleagues, arXiv, 2023). ZeroCrew ranks the coding agents that take this further today.
AI app builders go further than coding assistants. ZeroCrew's AI app builders page describes tools like Lovable and Replit that make a working web app from a description, with hosting included, so a maker who doesn't write code can still ship a first version.
AI agents now reach the rest of the business too. ZeroCrew's directory lists AI agents for support, sales, marketing, and bookkeeping, so an indie maker can hand those jobs to agents and spend their own hours on the product and the people who use it.
Should you quit your day job to become an indie maker?
You don't need to quit your day job to become an indie maker, and research suggests keeping it can help. People who started a business while employed, then went full time, survived at much higher rates than people who quit first (Raffiee and Feng, Academy of Management Journal, 2014). ZeroCrew reads that as a case for starting on the side.
Raffiee and Feng credit that survival advantage to the learning that happens while the business is still a side project, when a founder can test the idea with less at stake. ZeroCrew's guide on how to validate a startup idea in a week turns that phase into nine checks you can run on evenings and weekends.
How do you become an indie maker, step by step?
To become an indie maker, pick one problem, build a small version, charge for it, and launch where your users gather. ZeroCrew ranks the tools for each of these jobs on its job pages, so every step below names two options from the directory and when to pick each one.
- Pick one problem you understand. Talk to people who have it, then collect interest with Tally if you want a form you write like a doc, or Typeform for a form that asks one question at a time. The feedback and surveys page ranks more.
- Build the first version. Use Lovable or Replit if you'd rather describe the app than code it, or a coding agent like Claude Code or Cursor if you work in a codebase. See the coding agents page.
- Add a backend and hosting. Pick Supabase for a Postgres database with sign-in and storage, or Convex for a reactive TypeScript backend. Deploy on Vercel or Cloudflare. The backend and hosting page compares them.
- Charge from day one. Use Stripe to run payments and billing yourself, or Paddle or Lemon Squeezy to sell as a merchant of record that handles sales tax for you. For in-app subscriptions, add RevenueCat. See the payments page.
- Build a landing page. Design one with Framer, or let Lovable build it inside your app.
- Launch and learn who stays. Follow ZeroCrew's guide on how to launch a product alone, then track users with PostHog for an all-in-one suite or Mixpanel for event analytics.
How does a side project become a company?
A side project becomes a company when it has paying customers, a legal entity, and a routine that runs without you doing every task by hand. ZeroCrew suggests taking those three steps in that order: prove that people pay, form the company, then hand the repeat work to AI agents.
Forming the company happens online today. ZeroCrew's company formation page lists Stripe Atlas and Firstbase, which form a US LLC or C corporation from almost anywhere, and Clerky, which incorporates a Delaware C corporation and handles the startup paperwork. Pick by your country and by whether you plan to raise money.
Handing off the repeat work is how a company of one keeps moving while you're away from the desk. ZeroCrew's guide to running a one person business with AI agents shows which agent takes each job, so a maker can start with the one task that takes the most hours each week.
How does ZeroCrew help indie makers?
ZeroCrew helps indie makers find the right AI agent or tool for every job, from building the product to getting paid. The ZeroCrew directory sorts 228 agents and apps across 11 roles as of November 2026, and each job page ranks them by searches and, where there's enough data, by what solo founders say they use.
ZeroCrew's Launchpad shows every tool that went live in the directory, grouped by the week it launched, so a maker can see what other builders shipped. Nobody pays to be listed or ranked on ZeroCrew, according to how ZeroCrew chooses tools, and you can suggest a tool you built through the contact page.
ZeroCrew's public MCP server lets your own AI agent search the directory by job from Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT. The ZeroCrew MCP page gives the server's address and lists 132 tools with an MCP server as of November 2026, a useful map for makers whose agents need to work with other tools.
ZeroCrew can also set the agents up for you. The done-for-you service starts with a free 25-minute discovery call, and projects start at $1,000 as of November 2026. With ZeroCrew, an indie maker builds the product, and a crew of agents can handle much of the rest.
Sources (3)
- U.S. Census Bureau: Census Bureau Provides Resources, Data Tools, Website for Small Businesses (May 2026)
- Peng, Kalliamvakou, Cihon, and Demirer: The Impact of AI on Developer Productivity: Evidence from GitHub Copilot (arXiv, 2023)
- Raffiee and Feng: Should I Quit My Day Job? A Hybrid Path to Entrepreneurship (Academy of Management Journal, 2014)
Questions founders ask
Is an indie maker the same as a solopreneur?
Not quite. A solopreneur runs any one-person business, online or offline, while an indie maker builds and ships their own digital product. ZeroCrew's guide on what a solopreneur is covers the overlap.
Do you need to code to be an indie maker?
No. AI app builders like Lovable and Replit make a working web app from a description, and ZeroCrew's AI app builders page compares them, so a maker who doesn't code can still ship a first version.
How do indie makers make money?
Most indie makers charge customers directly through subscriptions, one-time sales, in-app purchases, or paid newsletters. ZeroCrew's payments page lists tools like Stripe, Paddle, and Lemon Squeezy for taking that money.
Can an indie maker raise money later?
Yes. Many makers start without investors and raise later, once the product has customers. ZeroCrew's company formation page lists Stripe Atlas and Clerky, which can form a Delaware C corporation for a founder who plans to raise.
Where can an indie maker list a tool they built?
An indie maker can suggest an AI agent or tool for the ZeroCrew directory through the contact page. Nobody pays to be listed or ranked on ZeroCrew, and tools that go live in the directory appear on the Launchpad, grouped by launch week.
Zero employees. Never build alone.