Here's what you'll find in this issue:

• This founder guaranteed a 2x ROI instead of going with a standard subscription model.
• 5 vibe coding tools. Some of the latest apps for coding with AI.
• Yesterday's build board winners, including three new product launches from indie hackers.
• 30-second growth tip: Raise prices by hiding the old plan.

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Andrew Alex launched Spendbase just three weeks before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. His team scattered across Europe and North America overnight, forcing him to rebuild everything from scratch. Today, the bootstrapped company has an eight-figure ARR and a team of 200+. That's a different kind of resilience test than most founders face.

Spendbase helps companies stop hemorrhaging money on unused SaaS licenses. The wedge is a bold, outcome-based pricing model: for every dollar you pay, they guarantee two dollars in savings. (If they don't find waste, they don't get paid.) The consumer confidence generated by this kind of guarantee has done a lot to drive sales results.

So, to be honest, I don't know what else to say: war, bootstrapping, and a no-savings-no-fee guarantee. This one's worth your time!

Read the full article →

Early-stage startups don’t struggle with ideas—they struggle with systems. Too many tools, disconnected data, and manual work slow everything down.

HubSpot for Startups’ AI Tech Stack brings it all together. It’s a curated bundle of AI-powered tools, integrations, and partner discounts designed to help founders move faster and scale smarter.

Startups get access to a unified CRM, built-in automation, and AI tools that streamline marketing, sales, and operations — without the usual complexity. On top of that, partner perks like cloud and ad credits, enrichment tools, and workflow automation from companies like AWS, Gamma, and Apollo help extend runway and unlock growth earlier.

The result is a stack that works as a system—not a patchwork.

Whether validating an idea, acquiring first customers, or pushing toward meaningful revenue, this AI stack helps turn effort into momentum.

Explore how startups are building smarter with the AI Tech Stack.

1. Hatch: All-in-one AI workspace for chats, documents, and files that understands your whole project. Built by us. :)

2. Augment Code: Context-aware AI agent that navigates huge repos and writes fixes like a senior dev.

3. Cody: AI assistant that understands your entire codebase to write and fix code faster.

4. GitHub Copilot: Suggests code and entire functions in real-time within your editor.

5. Pieces: Store snippets of code offline and use a “long-term memory agent” to search, fix, reuse.

See all 30 tools in the directory →

Raise prices by hiding the old plan.

James Mooring and Jonathan Power built Astalty, software for Australian disability service providers. When they wanted to charge more, they faced the classic dilemma: raise prices and risk upsetting existing customers, or leave money on the table with new ones.

Their solution was sneaky. They created a new premium tier at the higher price point. Existing customers got first dibs at a discount. About 30% upgraded. Then they simply hid the old plan from the pricing page. New customers only saw the premium option. Conversion rates didn't drop. Existing customers never felt a price hike because nothing changed for them unless they chose to upgrade.

If a price increase feels risky, don't force it. Build something slightly better, price it higher, and quietly retire the old tier from public view.

Read the full growth report →

Every day, indie hackers post updates about the products they're building. Here's what the community voted to the top yesterday!

	1. Betterlytics: Simple, privacy-first, cookieless web analytics Why most analytics dashboards are lying (even when the data is correct)	▲ 16
	2. AutomateLab: AI Automation Agency I built an AI automation agency - live demos on the site	▲ 11
	3. Ekcho: Real voices without real names I launched an anonymous voice broadcasting app this week, here's what I built and why	▲ 6

Enjoy building in public? Post an update to your product page on Indie Hackers, and it will automatically be added to the daily leaderboard.

Find 2–3 big things that are heavy, difficult, and important. Ignore everything else.

—Channing

Did you like today's stories? Did they suck? Which ones?

We're constantly changing things up to make this newsletter more useful, so let us know what you think by replying directly to this email. We read every reply!

Special thanks to Yushavel Calderon for the graphic design, and to James Fleischmann for contributing a post.

—Channing