Latest / The Indie Hacker Podcast with Fexingo: Solo Developers, SaaS Side Projects, and Independent Tech / How a Solo Dev Built a SaaS in Public on TikTok
Transcript
- Lucas: There's this assumption in indie hacker circles that building in public means Twitter threads, maybe a blog, or at most a YouTube dev log. Luna: Right, the classic 'ship on Twitter' playbook. Lucas: Exactly. But a solo developer named Mia Chen flipped that completely. She built her SaaS, SnapReply, entirely in public on TikTok. Luna: TikTok? For a B2B content repurposing tool? That feels like a mismatch. Lucas: It does, until you hear the numbers. She livestreamed her coding sessions to an average of 2,000 concurrent viewers. One of her videos — a clip of her fixing a bug in real time — hit 1.2 million views. That single piece of content generated a 500-person waitlist for a tool that didn't yet have a pricing page. Luna: Wait, so people watched her debug and thought, 'I want to pay for that'? Luna: She essentially used TikTok as a focus group. Lucas: More than that. She used the comments as a real-time feature request board. Someone would say, 'Can it auto-generate captions in Spanish?' and she'd add it to her Trello board during the next break. Within two months, SnapReply had 47 features directly requested by viewers. Luna: That's wild. But also risky — you're showing competitors exactly what you're building. Lucas: That's the flip side. Mia told me that three copycats popped up within her first month. One even used the same UI layout. But her advantage was the community. Her users felt invested in her success. They'd tag her in competitor posts and say, 'This is a clone, I'm waiting for the real thing.' Loyalty built through transparency. Luna: So the audience becomes a moat. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just loyalty — it's distribution. Every time she posted a coding update, TikTok's algorithm pushed it to people who already followed her. She never spent a dollar on ads. Her entire customer acquisition cost was the time spent filming. Luna: What about the pressure? Livestreaming coding means you can't just stare at a blank editor for twenty minutes. Lucas: She structured her streams around specific tasks — 'Today I'm building the export pipeline.' That way she had a clear narrative. And she didn't stream every day. Three times a week, 45 minutes each. The rest of the time she worked offline on the boring stuff — database migrations, payment integrations. Luna: Smart. The audience doesn't need to see the tedious parts. Lucas: They don't. And they actually appreciate that she's honest about what's not streamable. She'd post a TikTok explaining 'No stream today, wrestling with Stripe webhooks,' and people would hype her up in the comments. The transparency built more trust than any polished demo. Luna: It sounds like a full-time job just managing the content side. Lucas: She treats it as part of the build process. She estimates she spends about 10 hours a week on TikTok — filming, editing, engaging. That's not trivial, but compare it to running Facebook ads or writing SEO blog posts. The feedback loop is hours, not months. Luna: And she hit 8,000 MRR in about five months, right? Lucas: Yeah, as of June 2026, SnapReply is at 8,000 MRR with 340 paying customers. She charges $29 a month for the starter plan, $79 for the pro. The average customer is a solo creator or small agency owner. Luna: That's impressive for a tool that didn't exist half a year ago. Lucas: And it grew without any of the traditional indie hacker levers — no Product Hunt launch, no Hacker News post, no Twitter thread. Just short-form video, built in public, on a platform most B2B founders dismiss as entertainment. Luna: It makes you wonder how many other platforms are underutilized for this kind of thing. YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels... Lucas: Totally. But TikTok's algorithm is uniquely good at surfacing niche content. A video about 'building a video repurposing tool' can find exactly the people who need it. On Twitter, you're shouting into a timeline. On TikTok, the algorithm listens. Luna: One thing I want to ask: did she face any backlash for building in public? Like people accusing her of just doing it for attention? Lucas: A few comments, sure. But she framed it as a documentary, not a tutorial. She wasn't teaching people to code — she was showing what it's like to build a business. And that resonated with a lot of creators who'd thought about building their own tools but didn't know where to start. Luna: So the content itself became a form of marketing for the indie hacker mindset, not just the product. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a key insight. Her most popular video isn't about SnapReply's features — it's her talking about the fear of launching and how she overcame it. That emotional connection is what turns viewers into customers. Luna: It's a reminder that people buy from people, not from logos. Lucas: And building in public on TikTok forces you to be a person, not a brand. You can't hide behind polished marketing copy. You're on camera, live, answering questions in real time. It's vulnerable, but that vulnerability is the asset. Luna: I think a lot of indie hackers hearing this will want to try it. Any practical advice for someone starting from zero followers? Lucas: Mia's advice is simple: start before you're ready. She began streaming when SnapReply was just a rough prototype. She didn't wait for a beta or a landing page. She just said, 'I'm building a tool, here's the first line of code.' That authenticity attracted early adopters who felt like co-creators. Luna: Don't wait for polish, just ship the story. Lucas: Exactly. And she also recommends niching down hard. Her TikTok bio says 'Building a video repurposing tool for creators.' That's it. No generic 'indie hacker' or 'SaaS founder.' The specificity helps the algorithm match you with the right audience. Luna: That makes sense — you're not trying to appeal to everyone. Lucas: And the final piece: engage obsessively with the comments. She replies to almost everyone. That signals to TikTok that your content is driving conversation, which boosts reach. Plus, those conversations often lead to feature ideas and bug reports. Luna: So the algorithm becomes a growth engine if you feed it the right signals. Lucas: It does. But it's not a set-it-and-forget-it thing. You have to show up consistently and genuinely. Mia's been doing it for six months straight. No breaks. That kind of commitment is rare, and it's why she succeeded where others might burn out. Luna: I wonder if this approach works better for certain types of products. SnapReply is visual — you can show it repurposing a video. What if you're building a backend API? Lucas: Good question. Mia thinks any B2B SaaS can work, but you have to find the visual angle. If you're building an API, show how it processes requests in real time. If you're building a dashboard, show the charts updating. The key is to make the abstract tangible. Luna: So it's about translating the technical into the experiential. Lucas: Exactly. And remember, your audience on TikTok isn't other developers — it's potential users. They don't care about your tech stack. They care about the problem you solve. So show them the problem, then show them the solution, and let them watch you build it. Luna: That's a fundamentally different approach from most indie hacker content, which is very developer to developer. Lucas: Right. Mia's content is user to user. She speaks the language of her customers, not the language of coders. And that's why her conversion rate from viewer to paid customer is around 8 percent, which is really high for a freemium SaaS. Luna: What's her churn look like? Lucas: She's only been live for five months, so churn data is still early. But her monthly retention is around 92 percent. The customers who sign up after watching her streams tend to be more engaged — they've already seen the product in action and know exactly what they're getting. Luna: That makes sense — no expectation mismatch. Lucas: None. And because she's constantly iterating based on their feedback, they feel heard. That creates a sticky product. One customer told her, 'I suggested this feature three weeks ago and it's already live. That's why I pay you.' Luna: That's a powerful retention loop. Lucas: It is. But it also means she has to ship fast. If she falls behind on feature requests, that goodwill erodes. So the building-in-public model creates a cadence — you have to deliver regularly because people are watching. Luna: It's almost like having a thousand product managers. Lucas: Exactly. And you have to be comfortable saying no sometimes. Mia's gotten requests that don't fit her vision — like adding a full video editor — and she's learned to politely decline while explaining why. The audience respects that if you're transparent. Luna: So it's not just about saying yes to everything. Lucas: No. And that's actually a lesson for any indie hacker: building in public doesn't mean outsourcing your roadmap. It means inviting people into your process, not handing them the steering wheel. Luna: We've been talking about what works, but I want to press on the downsides. What are the hidden costs? Lucas: The biggest one is mental fatigue. Mia told me she felt like she was performing 24/7 at first. Every bug became a public spectacle. She had to learn to set boundaries — like not checking TikTok after 8 PM, and taking one full day off per week. Luna: So it requires discipline to avoid burnout. Lucas: Absolutely. And there's also the risk of overexposure. If you share too much about your revenue or metrics, you might attract the wrong kind of attention — trolls, competitors, or even regulators if you're in a sensitive space. Luna: Mia shares her MRR publicly, right? Lucas: She does, but only the top-line number. She doesn't break down churn or customer segments. And she stopped sharing exact pricing after a competitor used it to undercut her. So there's a balance between transparency and strategic opacity. Luna: That's a good lesson — share enough to build trust, but not so much that you give away the farm. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a judgment call every indie hacker has to make for themselves. Mia's threshold is: if sharing something helps her customers understand her product better, she shares it. If it only helps competitors, she keeps it quiet. Luna: That's a useful framework. Lucas: I think the biggest takeaway from Mia's story is that building in public isn't a tactic — it's a mindset. You're not just building a product; you're building a community that believes in your mission. And that community becomes your distribution, your feedback loop, and your moat. Luna: And for solo devs who feel like they can't compete with big marketing budgets, this levels the playing field. Lucas: Completely. Your only investment is time and authenticity. If you're willing to be vulnerable and consistent, you can build an audience that rivals any paid campaign. Luna: We deliberately keep this podcast ad-free, because we believe the value should be in the conversation, not in the interruptions. If you want to support that choice, there's a link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just if it feels right. Lucas: Yeah, that's the whole idea. And speaking of authentic connections — Mia's approach proves that when you build with your audience, they'll support you in ways that go beyond just paying for a subscription. Luna: Like what? Lucas: Her users refer each other. They share her TikToks. They defend her against competitors. One user even offered to help with beta testing for free. That kind of organic advocacy is impossible to buy. Luna: So the community itself becomes a growth channel. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the flywheel Mia's built. The more she builds in public, the more people invest emotionally, the more they support her, the more she can build. It's a virtuous cycle that starts with a single TikTok video. Luna: It makes me wonder: is this the new default for early-stage SaaS? Should every indie hacker consider a short-form video strategy? Lucas: I think it depends on the founder's personality. If you're comfortable on camera and enjoy real-time interaction, it's incredibly powerful. If you're more introverted, Twitter threads or a blog might suit you better. But the core lesson — building in public on a platform where your customers already hang out — is universal. Luna: So the platform choice should follow the customer, not the founder's preference. Lucas: Exactly. Mia's customers were on TikTok, so she went there. If your customers are on LinkedIn, build there. If they're on Reddit, build there. The principle is the same: show the work, invite participation, and let the community carry you. Luna: It's a new chapter for the indie hacker playbook. Lucas: It really is. And I think we'll see more founders following Mia's lead — not just because it works, but because it's more fulfilling than running ads. You get to connect with the people who use your product, every single day. Luna: That's the dream, right? Lucas: That is the dream. And Mia's living it, one TikTok at a time.