Discuss: How would I flat-start indie business in 2021?
I am Paul, live in Russia, have 20+ years of programming and a balalaika under my belt. My passion is to discover the world, in practical ways by creating value, and sharing best of what I've found.
Well, here is what I see coming for 2021, from my experience and current research.
1. The rise of indie hackers. It is already a reported trend in 2020, and in coming year or two will only strenghten, due to unfortunate but highly likely global recession. Millions of people will be urged to make a living by new ways, after demolition of what was known as "jobs".
2. The rise of Telegram platform. +100,000,000 users just in January 2021, and Durov has already released import tools to make migration even easier. Also they is known to seek funding at the moment — and one may bring a hell crowd of new users if able to PAY for acquisition. Also Telegram announced more business-specific features, like those in Slack, which makes it more and more useful for work stuff. Besides, I am personally amazed at how well-thought and capable Telegram platform is, having a couple of years buliding chatbots, and seeing companies like WhatsApp or VK chasing to copycat its features.
I plan to start small, build in public, eagerly seek for feeback and share my findings. Everything is a hypothesis unless proven by the world out there.
My first practical hypothesis is a simple chatbot service that would help businesses of any size to communicate to their customers in Telegram. It allows an owner (indie hacker?) to set up a single, branded point-of-contact in Telegram for their audience, by few clicks, needing no coding skills (I'll cover your back on these).
If you are interested in what's next, feel free to follow me at the links I leave there below in first comment, and leave your feedback!
I wish you a great 2021!