Don't get me wrong, I think IndieHackers is cool and enjoy reading these stories but I also think people who are running very profitable SaaS businesses may be hesitant on doing an IndieHackers interview.
We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.
I would agree with this. Several years ago we were averaging $50k/mo with me and one employee, and we are now bigger in terms of both revenue and people. However I consider myself a profitable bootstrapped startup, not a side project or anything of that nature.
You should consider doing an interview, too! Indie Hackers is for both businesses and side projects, and features interviews with lots of startup founders. As long as you have a venture that people could learn from, it'd be awesome to feature your story on the site or in the upcoming podcast! If you're interested, hit me up at courtland@indiehackers.com.
> We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.
That's a fair point and maybe something csallen could take into consideration for branding.
The success story for side projects should generally be that they cease to be side projects. I'd be very interested in hearing about more businesses which started as bootstrapped side projects.
Interesting, I haven't spoken to anyone from a bigger company who's given me this feedback before. Usually if they decline to be interviewed, it's because they're not comfortable sharing their revenue. I've had a lot more success getting interviews for people in this category for my upcoming podcast, where I don't require revenue to be shared. Hopefully their interviews will help make it clear that the Indie Hackers label isn't only for side projects.
(The tagline on the homepage does say "profitable businesses and side projects, after all.)
By the way, I'm not sure what company you're from, but if you're interested in appearing, feel free to get in touch :D
We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.