# Track 04 — Canon Research: Independent Developer & Micro-SaaS

> Industry: Single-person or tiny-team (≤3) sustainable recurring-revenue software businesses, distinct from freelancing, enterprise SaaS, and open-source maintainership.
> Locale: global | EN primary (~75%) | zh-CN secondary (~20%)
> Last compiled: 2026-05-24

---

## Source Manifest

| source_id | url | bucket | last_checked | author/host | one-line note |
|-----------|-----|--------|--------------|-------------|---------------|
| T04-S001 | https://robwalling.com/start-small-stay-small/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Rob Walling | vendor docs (作者一手) — the indie dev bible, stair-step + MicroConf founder |
| T04-S002 | https://robwalling.com/the-saas-playbook/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Rob Walling | vendor docs (作者一手) — 2023 sequel covering modern bootstrapped SaaS |
| T04-S003 | https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/zero-to-sold/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Arvid Kahl | vendor docs (作者一手) — Zero to Sold, full bootstrapped SaaS lifecycle |
| T04-S004 | https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/the-embedded-entrepreneur/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Arvid Kahl | vendor docs (作者一手) — audience-first building methodology |
| T04-S005 | https://sahillavingia.com/reflecting | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Sahil Lavingia | vendor docs (作者一手) — Gumroad founder reflection / Minimalist Entrepreneur |
| T04-S006 | https://basecamp.com/books/rework | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jason Fried & DHH / 37signals | vendor docs (作者一手) — Rework, anti-VC, small-team philosophy |
| T04-S007 | https://basecamp.com/books/calm | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jason Fried & DHH / 37signals | vendor docs (作者一手) — It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work |
| T04-S008 | https://momtestbook.com/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Rob Fitzpatrick | vendor docs (作者一手) — The Mom Test, customer interview validation |
| T04-S009 | https://www.aprildunford.com/obviously-awesome | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | April Dunford | vendor docs (作者一手) — Obviously Awesome, product positioning |
| T04-S010 | https://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-hits/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Patrick McKenzie (patio11) | vendor docs (作者一手) — greatest hits blog, SaaS pricing + email |
| T04-S011 | https://paulgraham.com/articles.html | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Paul Graham / YC | vendor docs (作者一手) — canonical essays: default alive/dead, do things that don't scale |
| T04-S012 | https://dvassallo.com/small-bets | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Daniel Vassallo | vendor docs (作者一手) — Small Bets course + portfolio theory |
| T04-S013 | https://levels.io | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Pieter Levels (@levelsio) | vendor docs (作者一手) — 12 startups/12 months, NomadList, extreme minimalism |
| T04-S014 | https://www.indiehackers.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Courtland Allen / Stripe | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — canonical indie dev community + interviews |
| T04-S015 | https://microconf.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Rob Walling / MicroConf | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — annual bootstrapped SaaS conference, talk archive |
| T04-S016 | https://starterstory.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Pat Walls | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — thousands of revenue-transparent founder interviews |
| T04-S017 | https://www.producthunt.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Product Hunt | vendor docs (平台一手) — launch platform, upvote dynamics, community |
| T04-S018 | https://stripe.com/atlas | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Stripe | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — global incorporation service for founders |
| T04-S019 | https://baremetrics.com/blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Baremetrics | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — SaaS metrics benchmarks + open startups data |
| T04-S020 | https://justinjackson.ca | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Justin Jackson | vendor docs (作者一手) — Build Your SaaS co-host, MegaMaker, practical indie essays |
| T04-S021 | https://transistor.fm | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Justin Jackson & Jon Buda | vendor docs (作者一手) — Transistor.fm product + Build Your SaaS podcast |
| T04-S022 | https://www.joelonsoftware.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Joel Spolsky | vendor docs (作者一手) — Joel on Software, pricing / developer management canon |
| T04-S023 | https://blog.asmartbear.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jason Cohen (WP Engine) | vendor docs (作者一手) — A Smart Bear, bootstrapper growth essays |
| T04-S024 | https://nathanbarry.com/authority/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Nathan Barry / ConvertKit | vendor docs (作者一手) — Authority, audience-building for indie creators/devs |
| T04-S025 | https://www.bannerbear.com/blog/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jon Yongfook | vendor docs (作者一手) — Bannerbear founder, API-first micro-SaaS + revenue transparency |
| T04-S026 | https://tonydinh.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Tony Dinh | vendor docs (作者一手) — Vietnamese indie dev, Twitter growth strategy, BlackMagic |
| T04-S027 | https://ycombinator.com/startupschool | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Y Combinator | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — Startup School, free curriculum, essays |
| T04-S028 | https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Kevin Kelly | vendor docs (作者一手) — 1000 True Fans essay, micro-scale business theory |
| T04-S029 | https://saastr.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jason Lemkin / SaaStr | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — SaaS metrics + growth benchmarks (enterprise-leaning but cited) |
| T04-S030 | https://plausible.io/blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Marko Saric + Uku Taht | vendor docs (作者一手) — Plausible Analytics, bootstrapped transparency, EU privacy focus |
| T04-S031 | https://www.firstbase.io | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Firstbase | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — US entity formation alternative to Stripe Atlas |
| T04-S032 | https://failory.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Failory | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — failed startup post-mortems, survivorship bias antidote |
| T04-S033 | https://www.priceintelligently.com/blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | ProfitWell / Price Intelligently | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — SaaS pricing research + methodology |
| T04-S034 | https://w2solo.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | w2solo 社区 | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — 中文独立开发者社区, 出海讨论 |
| T04-S035 | https://sspai.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | 少数派 | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — 中文独立开发者专栏, 产品评测与方法论 |
| T04-S036 | https://v2ex.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | V2EX | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — 中文技术社区, 独立开发者讨论节点 |
| T04-S037 | https://ghost.org/resources/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Ghost Foundation | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — Ghost open-source CMS, bootstrapped growth case study |
| T04-S038 | https://www.christophjanz.blogspot.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Christoph Janz | vendor docs (作者一手) — SaaS VC, "Five ways to build $100M business" + micro-SaaS benchmarks |
| T04-S039 | https://supabase.com/blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Supabase | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — backend-as-a-service for indie devs, tech architecture |
| T04-S040 | https://lemonsqueezy.com/blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Lemon Squeezy | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — Merchant of Record payments for indie devs, VAT/tax handling |
| T04-S041 | https://paddle.com/resources/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Paddle | vendor docs (工具厂商一手) — Merchant of Record SaaS payments, churn + billing docs |
| T04-S042 | https://arvid.blog | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Arvid Kahl | vendor docs (作者一手) — The Bootstrapped Founder newsletter / blog |
| T04-S043 | https://news.ycombinator.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Hacker News / YC | vendor docs (社区平台一手) — canonical technical founder discussion forum |
| T04-S044 | https://openviewpartners.com/blog/ | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | OpenView Partners | vendor docs (作者一手) — product-led growth PLG research + SaaS benchmarks |
| T04-S045 | https://longform.asmartbear.com | surrogate_primary | 2026-05-24 | Jason Cohen | vendor docs (作者一手) — A Smart Bear long-form essays, pricing + positioning |

---

## Section 1 — Canonical Books

### B01 — Rob Walling, *Start Small, Stay Small* (2010)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S001]

- The first systematic treatment of bootstrapped micro-ISV/SaaS as a distinct business model, written by the founder of MicroConf. Introduced the **Stair-Step Approach**: start with a single-customer one-time-sale product (plugin, theme), graduate to recurring-revenue SaaS. evidence: [T04-S001][T04-S014][T04-S015]
- Core thesis: niche-first, not product-first. Find an underserved market with money and intent, then build minimum viable product. Opposite of VC "TAM expansion" logic. evidence: [T04-S001][T04-S011]
- Published pre-App Store dominance; some distribution advice (SEO, Google Adwords) needs updating, but underlying decision logic remains the community standard reference. evidence: [T04-S014][T04-S015]
- **Endorsement signal**: repeatedly cited as the single most influential book in IndieHackers founder profiles [T04-S014], MicroConf talks [T04-S015], and Starter Story interviews [T04-S016].
- **Decay note**: pricing chapter assumes 2010 SaaS landscape; superseded in parts by The SaaS Playbook (2023).

### B02 — Rob Walling, *The SaaS Playbook* (2023)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S002]

- Modern update/companion covering SaaS metrics at micro scale, pricing experiments, churn playbooks, and the TinySeed-era indie ecosystem. More data-driven than Start Small. evidence: [T04-S002][T04-S015]
- Adds coverage of PLG (product-led growth) adapted for solo-operator constraints, and the "stair-step 2.0" for the AI-era product landscape. evidence: [T04-S002]
- **Endorsement signal**: MicroConf 2023-2024 talks consistently reference it [T04-S015]; Arvid Kahl recommended on The Bootstrapped Founder newsletter [T04-S042].

### B03 — Arvid Kahl, *Zero to Sold* (2020)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S003]

- Documents the full lifecycle of building, growing, and exiting FeedbackPanda ($55K MRR at exit), with explicit attention to emotional and psychological costs of solo building. evidence: [T04-S003][T04-S042]
- Covers audience-building before product, community-first validation, and the mechanics of a real bootstrapped exit. Antidote to "passive income" mythology. evidence: [T04-S003][T04-S014]
- **Endorsement signal**: cited in IndieHackers community as a must-read alongside Start Small Stay Small [T04-S014]; recommended by Rob Walling on MicroConf podcast [T04-S015].

### B04 — Arvid Kahl, *The Embedded Entrepreneur* (2021)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S004]

- Systematic methodology for **audience-first building**: find a community with a pain you understand deeply, embed yourself authentically, build in public from day one, validate before writing a line of code. Distinct from "scratch your own itch" — the audience replaces the founder's personal problem as signal source. evidence: [T04-S004][T04-S042]
- Introduces the concept of "community-as-distribution" as a built-in channel advantage unavailable to later entrants. evidence: [T04-S004]
- **Endorsement signal**: endorsed by Rob Walling in the foreword [T04-S001]; repeatedly cited in MicroConf talks [T04-S015].

### B05 — Sahil Lavingia, *The Minimalist Entrepreneur* (2021)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S005]

- Gumroad founder's philosophy after raising $8M, failing to raise a Series B, and pivoting to sustainable small-team operation. Argues for "community → audience → product" and explicit anti-growth-at-all-costs framing. evidence: [T04-S005][T04-S014]
- "Creator economy meets indie dev" bridge text — relevant to developers selling digital products and software simultaneously. evidence: [T04-S005]
- **Endorsement signal**: IndieHackers founder interview [T04-S014]; cited in multiple MicroConf talks [T04-S015]; reviewed positively on Hacker News [T04-S043].

### B06 — Jason Fried & DHH, *Rework* (2010)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S006]

- 37signals manifesto against conventional startup wisdom: no business plan, no investors, start with constraints, embrace limitations. "What's our marketing strategy? We make a good product." evidence: [T04-S006][T04-S022]
- Philosophically upstream of most indie dev community norms — the "small by choice" aesthetic traces to 37signals. evidence: [T04-S006][T04-S014]
- **Endorsement signal**: IndieHackers lists it in canonical reading [T04-S014]; cited by Pieter Levels as a formative influence [T04-S013]; Rob Walling acknowledged influence [T04-S001].

### B07 — Jason Fried & DHH, *It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work* (2018)
**Status**: Tier-2 recommended | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S007]

- Sequel to Rework, deeper treatment of sustainable pace, calm company culture, remote work norms. Directly applicable to solo operator burnout prevention. evidence: [T04-S007]
- **Decay caveat**: written from a 50-person company perspective; some team-management sections not directly applicable to true solopreneurs.
- **Endorsement signal**: cited in bootstrapper discussions on HN [T04-S043]; recommended in Build Your SaaS podcast [T04-S021].

### B08 — Rob Fitzpatrick, *The Mom Test* (2013)
**Status**: Tier-1 required reading | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S008]

- The most cited customer interview methodology in the indie dev community. Core insight: people lie when asked if they'd use/pay for your product — design questions to elicit behavior, not opinions. Title refers to: questions so good even your mom can't give you false positives. evidence: [T04-S008][T04-S014]
- Practically the community standard for pre-build validation, adapted to solo-operator context where there's no dedicated researcher. evidence: [T04-S008][T04-S015]
- **Endorsement signal**: cited in IndieHackers top resources [T04-S014], MicroConf talks [T04-S015], and Starter Story interviews [T04-S016].

### B09 — April Dunford, *Obviously Awesome* (2019)
**Status**: Tier-2 recommended | surrogate_primary evidence: [T04-S009]

- Positioning methodology: define your competitive alternatives, isolate unique attributes, identify the best customers for those attributes. Used by solo founders to escape "nobody understands what we do" positioning failure. evidence: [T04-S009]
- Particularly valuable for micro-SaaS founders competing with larger players in adjacent categories — repositioning as the "right tool for X narrow context" is a viable indie strategy. evidence: [T04-S009][T04-S014]
- **Endorsement signal**: recommended in Lenny's Newsletter; cited in MicroConf 2022 talk on pricing [T04-S015]; IndieHackers community threads [T04-S014].

### B10 — Peter Thiel, *Zero to One* (2014)
**Status**: Tier-3 context / with significant caveat
- Competitive moat theory: the best businesses occupy a monopoly position, even in small markets. Relevant to indie dev in reframing "what's my defensible niche." evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S043]
- **Critical caveat**: Thiel's thesis is explicitly VC-oriented — "build a $1B+ monopoly or don't start." The indie dev community has largely inverted this: build a defensible $10K MRR niche product you can sustain solo. The *competitive analysis framework* is transferable; the growth imperative is not.
- **Endorsement signal**: cited on Hacker News in indie dev context as a useful intellectual foil [T04-S043].

### B11 — Eric Ries, *The Lean Startup* (2011)
**Status**: Tier-2 with decay annotation
- Introduced build-measure-learn loop, MVP terminology, pivot language to mainstream business discourse. Heavily adopted by indie dev community in early 2010s. evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S014]
- **Decay note**: The indie dev community has partially **rejected** the Lean Startup framework by 2020s — criticism: (1) MVP as defined by Ries often leads to "minimum" product rather than "viable" product, damaging early reputation; (2) the framework optimizes for investor-ready learning loops, not sustainable solo businesses; (3) community increasingly favors "landing page with Stripe link before code" (smoke test) over the more elaborate LS testing apparatus. evidence: [T04-S014][T04-S043]
- **Endorsement signal (historical)**: foundational, endorsed by virtually every startup school [T04-S027].

---

## Section 2 — Canonical Essays & Blog Bodies

### E01 — Paul Graham Essay Corpus
**Source**: [T04-S011]

- **"Default Alive or Default Dead"** (2015): the most-cited essay in indie dev money/burn discussions. A company with growing revenue and decreasing costs will survive by default ("default alive"). If expenses > revenue growth, it is "default dead." Solo founders apply this as the first financial health check. evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S014][T04-S015]
- **"Do Things That Don't Scale"** (2013): canonical permission structure for doing manual, unscalable customer acquisition early — esp. relevant to indie devs who mistake "this doesn't scale" for "this is wrong." evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S043]
- **"Startups = Growth"** (2012): definitional essay separating startups (growth-obsessed) from small businesses (sustainable). Indie dev community uses this to self-identify outside the VC startup paradigm. evidence: [T04-S011]
- **"Ramen Profitable"** (2009): coined the term defining the indie dev financial floor — making enough to eat (survive) while continuing to build, without external funding. evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S014]

### E02 — Patrick McKenzie (patio11) Blog Corpus
**Source**: [T04-S010]

- **"Charge More"** series: empirically-grounded argument that indie SaaS founders systematically underprice by 2-10x. Includes survey data and psychological pricing analysis. evidence: [T04-S010][T04-S014][T04-S015]
- **"Don't Call Yourself a Programmer"** (2011): positioning advice reframing developer identity from "person who codes" to "person who solves business problems" — relevant for pricing power and marketing copy. evidence: [T04-S010][T04-S043]
- **Email and SaaS series**: foundational treatment of email as distribution channel for bootstrapped SaaS, pre-dating the "build in public" era. evidence: [T04-S010]
- McKenzie is considered the highest-signal single-author blog in the indie SaaS community based on citation frequency. evidence: [T04-S014][T04-S015][T04-S043]

### E03 — Kevin Kelly, "1,000 True Fans" (2008, updated 2016)
**Source**: [T04-S028]

- Theoretical framework: any creative or software product needs only 1,000 fans willing to pay $100/year to generate $100K/year — a sustainable living without mass market. evidence: [T04-S028][T04-S014]
- Applied by indie dev community as the mathematical counterweight to "you need millions of users" — justification for choosing small, loyal niches over broad markets. evidence: [T04-S028][T04-S005]
- **Endorsement signal**: cited by Sahil Lavingia in The Minimalist Entrepreneur [T04-S005]; referenced in IndieHackers discussions [T04-S014].

### E04 — Jason Cohen, A Smart Bear Blog
**Source**: [T04-S023][T04-S045]

- Cohen (WP Engine founder) writes long-form, rigorously analytical posts on bootstrapped growth, SaaS pricing, and founder psychology. Considered highest-signal "practical bootstrap theory" blog alongside patio11. evidence: [T04-S023][T04-S045]
- Key essay: **"Pricing determines your business model"** — argues that price point ($10/mo vs $100/mo vs $1000/mo) fundamentally changes customer profile, support burden, churn rate, and viable marketing channel. Directly used in micro-SaaS pricing decisions. evidence: [T04-S023][T04-S015]
- **Endorsement signal**: cited in MicroConf talks [T04-S015]; linked in IndieHackers resources [T04-S014].

### E05 — Pieter Levels (@levelsio) Writing + NomadList Transparency
**Source**: [T04-S013]

- **"12 Startups in 12 Months"** (2014): the catalyst essay for the modern build-in-public movement. Levels committed to shipping 12 products in 12 months, documenting everything publicly. NomadList survived and grew to $2M+ ARR solo. evidence: [T04-S013][T04-S014]
- Technical philosophy: PHP + vanilla JS, single VPS, no frameworks, no team. Extreme anti-abstraction stance that influenced a generation of "boring tech" advocates. evidence: [T04-S013][T04-S043]
- **Survivorship caveat**: Levels explicitly acknowledges 11 of 12 products failed; NomadList success is exceptional, not representative. evidence: [T04-S013]

---

## Section 3 — Canonical Courses & Podcasts

### C01 — MicroConf Talk Archive
**Source**: [T04-S015]
**last_updated**: Annual (most recent: MicroConf 2024)

- Annual conference entirely focused on bootstrapped/indie SaaS founders. Talks are recorded and published. Covers pricing, churn, distribution, hiring first employee, and mental health. evidence: [T04-S015]
- The Rob Walling "State of Independent SaaS" annual talk is the closest thing to an industry census the indie dev world has. evidence: [T04-S015]
- **Endorsement signal**: referenced in virtually every "resources for indie devs" compilation [T04-S014][T04-S016][T04-S042].

### C02 — Build Your SaaS Podcast (Justin Jackson & Jon Buda)
**Source**: [T04-S020][T04-S021]
**last_updated**: Active (ongoing as of 2024; last checked 2026-05-24)

- Documents the real-time building of Transistor.fm (podcast hosting, $30K+ MRR) from $0 to profitable. The most transparent "building in public" audio record available. evidence: [T04-S020][T04-S021][T04-S014]
- Topics: co-founder dynamics, customer support burden, AppSumo deals (and why they regretted it), pricing changes. evidence: [T04-S021]

### C03 — Indie Hackers Podcast (Courtland Allen)
**Source**: [T04-S014]
**last_updated**: Active (Stripe-acquired, ongoing; last checked 2026-05-24)

- Over 200 founder interviews with explicit revenue transparency requirements. The interview format probes specific MRR numbers, acquisition channels, and churn rates. evidence: [T04-S014]
- Community forum and newsletter complement the podcast, making it the single largest aggregation of indie founder knowledge. evidence: [T04-S014]

### C04 — Y Combinator Startup School
**Source**: [T04-S027]
**last_updated**: 2023 cohort curriculum (free, self-paced)

- Free online program covering ideation, customer discovery, revenue models, legal basics. YC perspective skews toward high-growth but the early-stage validation modules apply to indie dev. evidence: [T04-S027]
- **Calibration caveat**: YC optimizes for venture-scalable startups, not lifestyle/micro businesses. Apply early modules; be skeptical of growth/fundraising sections. evidence: [T04-S011][T04-S027]

### C05 — Starter Story (Pat Walls)
**Source**: [T04-S016]
**last_updated**: Active (ongoing; last checked 2026-05-24)

- Database of 4,000+ founder interviews with structured data on revenue, growth tactics, tools. Searchable by revenue range, business model, industry. evidence: [T04-S016]
- Unique signal: the aggregated "what tools do $10K MRR founders use" cross-sectional data. evidence: [T04-S016]

### C06 — Daniel Vassallo, Small Bets Community & Course
**Source**: [T04-S012]
**last_updated**: 2023 (community ongoing; last checked 2026-05-24)

- Former Amazon engineer who left high-paying job to pursue small, diversified product bets. Course documents the portfolio theory of indie products: spread risk across 5-10 small bets rather than betting everything on one SaaS. evidence: [T04-S012][T04-S043]
- Contrarian to the "find one thing and go deep" advice — argues for explicit risk diversification at the solo level. evidence: [T04-S012]

---

## Section 4 — Reference Tools & Data Sources

### R01 — Baremetrics Open Startups
**Source**: [T04-S019]

- Opt-in MRR/churn/LTV data from real SaaS companies (many indie-sized). The only public dataset of actual SaaS financial metrics at micro scale. evidence: [T04-S019][T04-S014]
- **Caveat**: selection bias toward founders comfortable with transparency; non-representative of median indie performance.

### R02 — ProfitWell / Price Intelligently Research
**Source**: [T04-S033]

- Systematic SaaS pricing research: value metric selection, packaging strategies, discount policy effects on churn, willingness-to-pay studies. The most cited empirical source for "how to price your SaaS" in the indie community. evidence: [T04-S033][T04-S015]

### R03 — Stripe Atlas Documentation
**Source**: [T04-S018]

- Canonical reference for non-US founders incorporating a US entity (C-Corp or LLC in Delaware). Covers bank account setup, EIN, registered agent. evidence: [T04-S018]
- **Caveat**: not legal or tax advice; consult a qualified professional for your specific jurisdiction.

### R04 — Lemon Squeezy / Paddle (Merchant of Record)
**Source**: [T04-S040][T04-S041]

- For indie devs outside major markets, using a Merchant of Record (MoR) shifts VAT/GST collection and remittance obligations to the platform. The most common operationalization of cross-border tax compliance at zero headcount. evidence: [T04-S040][T04-S041][T04-S034]

### R05 — Failory (Post-Mortem Database)
**Source**: [T04-S032]

- Curated database of startup failure post-mortems. Critical survivorship bias antidote. Common failure modes for micro-SaaS: no distribution channel, building without validation, pricing too low, churn > growth. evidence: [T04-S032][T04-S014]

---

## Section 5 — Chinese Indie Dev Canon (中文圈正典)

### ZH01 — 独立开发者周刊 (IndieWeekly CN)
**Source**: community-aggregated; w2solo.com [T04-S034]

- Weekly newsletter aggregating Chinese indie dev news, tool reviews, founder interviews. Primary venue for 出海 ("building for global") tactical discussion among mainland China-based developers. evidence: [T04-S034][T04-S035]

### ZH02 — w2solo.com 社区
**Source**: [T04-S034]

- The primary Chinese-language indie developer forum. Discussions on: Stripe workarounds for mainland China, LLC vs Hong Kong entity for 出海, AppStore review strategies, V2EX cross-posting norms. evidence: [T04-S034]
- **Calibration**: quality varies; apply same source skepticism as any forum. High-signal posts are from founders with verified revenue.

### ZH03 — 少数派 (sspai.com) 独立开发者专栏
**Source**: [T04-S035]

- Quality editorial on independent developer products, tooling reviews, and methodology pieces. Higher editorial bar than w2solo; covers product design and user experience alongside business. evidence: [T04-S035]

### ZH04 — V2EX 独立开发节点
**Source**: [T04-S036]

- Technical developer community; indie dev node covers product launches, feedback requests, co-founder hunting, monetization questions. Signal density lower than w2solo but broader developer demographic. evidence: [T04-S036]

### ZH05 — 出海实操文档 (Stripe / Lemon Squeezy 替代方案)
**Source**: [T04-S018][T04-S040][T04-S034]

- Because Stripe does not support direct mainland China merchant accounts, the canonical solution chain is: (1) incorporate a US LLC or Hong Kong Ltd; (2) open business bank account (Mercury for US LLC, HSBC/ZA Bank for HK); (3) connect Stripe or LemonSqueezy to that entity. This is documented in multiple w2solo and V2EX threads. evidence: [T04-S018][T04-S034][T04-S036]
- **Caveat**: tax and legal implications vary by individual circumstances; consult a professional.

---

## Section 6 — Core Concepts Canon

| concept | definition | origin / coined by | evidence |
|---------|-----------|-------------------|----------|
| Ramen Profitability | Making enough recurring revenue to cover basic living expenses without external investment | Paul Graham, 2009 essay | [T04-S011] |
| Default Alive / Default Dead | If current revenue growth trajectory continues, will the company survive without new funding? A: default alive. No: default dead | Paul Graham, 2015 essay | [T04-S011] |
| Stair-Step Approach | Start with one-time-sale product (plugin), prove ability to generate revenue, graduate to subscription SaaS | Rob Walling, Start Small Stay Small | [T04-S001] |
| Scratch Your Own Itch | Build software that solves a problem you personally have; reduces risk of building unwanted product | 37signals / Rework origin point; broader maker culture | [T04-S006][T04-S013] |
| Build in Public | Share MRR, user counts, progress updates, learnings openly as a distribution and accountability strategy | Pieter Levels, NomadList, 2014 | [T04-S013][T04-S014] |
| MRR / ARR / LTV / CAC / Churn | SaaS financial metrics at micro scale: Monthly Recurring Revenue, Annual Recurring Revenue, Lifetime Value, Customer Acquisition Cost, churn rate | Industry standard; Baremetrics popularized micro-SaaS application | [T04-S019][T04-S029] |
| Boring Technology Thesis | Choose proven, well-documented, boring technology over new shiny tools — reduces debugging time, increases shipping speed | Dan McKinley, "Choose Boring Technology" essay (2015) | [T04-S043] |
| Monolith-First | Build a single deployable application before splitting into microservices — Martin Fowler adaptation for solo context | Martin Fowler (MonolithFirst); applied to indie dev by community | [T04-S043] |
| 1,000 True Fans | 1,000 people who will buy anything you make × $100/yr = $100K/yr sustainable income | Kevin Kelly, 2008 | [T04-S028] |
| Small Bets Portfolio | Spread risk across multiple small, inexpensive product experiments instead of betting everything on one SaaS | Daniel Vassallo, 2021 | [T04-S012] |
| Audience-First Building | Find a community, embed authentically, understand their pains, build for them — community is both validation and initial distribution | Arvid Kahl, The Embedded Entrepreneur, 2021 | [T04-S004] |
| Lifestyle Business vs Growth Business | Lifestyle: optimized for founder's quality of life and autonomy; Growth: optimized for expansion and exit valuation. Indie dev explicitly chooses the former | Community-wide distinction; Rob Walling articulated early | [T04-S001][T04-S014] |
| Product-Market Fit at Micro Scale | At micro-SaaS scale, PMF = ≥40% of users say they would be "very disappointed" if the product went away (Sean Ellis test) | Sean Ellis / Superhuman; adapted for indie dev by community | [T04-S014][T04-S015] |
| Distribution Moat | A sustainable indie SaaS needs at least one distribution channel that compounds over time (SEO, integration marketplace, community) | Rob Walling, MicroConf corpus | [T04-S001][T04-S015] |
| 出海 (Chūhǎi) | Chinese indie dev term: building for global English-speaking markets from China, to escape domestic competition, regulation, and payment friction | Chinese indie dev community; w2solo, V2EX | [T04-S034][T04-S036] |
| Freemium vs Free Trial | Two distinct acquisition models: Freemium = permanent free tier (conversion 1-5%); Free Trial = time-limited full access (conversion 15-25% if well-designed) | ProfitWell / Price Intelligently research | [T04-S033] |
| Merchant of Record | A third-party company that handles payment processing, VAT/GST collection, and remittance on behalf of the seller, enabling global sales without per-country tax registration | Lemon Squeezy / Paddle model | [T04-S040][T04-S041] |
| AppSumo Lifetime Deal Trap | LTD cash injection boosts early MRR but creates permanent low-revenue customer base that strains support and infrastructure without upgrade potential | Documented on IndieHackers + Build Your SaaS | [T04-S014][T04-S021] |
| $10K MRR Milestone | Community-defined first major psychological inflection point: enough to cover costs in most geographies, validation of model, but still requiring growth to replace full-time income | MicroConf + IndieHackers community discourse | [T04-S014][T04-S015] |

---

## Section 7 — Phase 2 Interface: Recurring Ideas → Mental Models + Playbooks

### 7.1 Candidate Mental Models (候选心智模型)

**MM01: The Niche-First Inversion**
- Conventional: "I have a product idea, now I'll find customers." Indie dev canon inverts: "I'll find an underserved market with money and intent, then build the minimum product they'll pay for." Walling's core thesis. evidence: [T04-S001][T04-S008]

**MM02: The Default Alive Stress Test**
- At any moment, a solo founder should be able to answer: "If I stopped all sales effort today, would my MRR cover my expenses within 12 months?" If yes, default alive. All spending decisions filter through this. evidence: [T04-S011]

**MM03: The Distribution Channel Must Compound**
- A micro-SaaS without a compounding distribution channel (SEO, integration marketplace, community) is permanently dependent on paid acquisition or launch spikes. The canonical indie dev moat is earned media that compounds. evidence: [T04-S001][T04-S015]

**MM04: Price Point Determines Everything**
- At $10/mo: high churn, high support, self-serve only, need thousands of customers. At $100/mo: sustainable with hundreds. At $500+/mo: need sales, but dozen customers = healthy indie business. The decision is structural, not cosmetic. evidence: [T04-S023][T04-S033]

**MM05: The Survivorship Bias Corrective**
- Every revenue screenshot is a survivor. The canonical correction: median indie hacker revenue is approximately $0; top decile is $1K-$10K MRR; Pieter Levels / AJ are statistical outliers, not the typical case. Apply to all success stories before generalizing. evidence: [T04-S032][T04-S014]

**MM06: Build Once, Sell Repeatedly (with honest caveat)**
- Recurring revenue is an asset, not passive income. It requires ongoing maintenance, support, and iteration. The "asset mindset" is valid directionally (vs hourly billing) but misleading without the maintenance caveat. evidence: [T04-S003][T04-S021]

**MM07: Portfolio Theory for Solopreneurs (Small Bets)**
- Alternative to the "go deep on one SaaS" orthodoxy: run multiple small bets in parallel, accept most fail, let winners compound. Mathematically reduces ruin risk. Vassallo's framework. evidence: [T04-S012]

**MM08: Community as Unfair Advantage**
- Embedded in a specific community before building = warm distribution, qualitative feedback loop, lower CAC, authentic positioning. Community-first is the indie dev equivalent of an enterprise sales moat. evidence: [T04-S004][T04-S014]

### 7.2 Intellectual Genealogy Seeds (智识谱系种子)

```
Bootstrapper Philosophy:
  37signals / Basecamp (2003+) [T04-S006]
    → "Small by choice" aesthetic
    → Rob Walling + MicroConf (2009+) [T04-S001][T04-S015]
      → Stair-step methodology
      → TinySeed (2019+) — institutionalized indie funding
    → Pieter Levels (2014+) [T04-S013]
      → Build in public movement
      → Extreme minimalism / boring tech

Customer Discovery Lineage:
  Eric Ries, Lean Startup (2011) [T04-S011]
    → (partial rejection in indie community post-2018)
  Rob Fitzpatrick, Mom Test (2013) [T04-S008]
    → Current community standard

Pricing Theory:
  Joel Spolsky, Joel on Software [T04-S022]
    → Patrick McKenzie "charge more" [T04-S010]
      → ProfitWell / Price Intelligently empirical pricing research [T04-S033]
        → Jason Cohen long-form pricing framework [T04-S023][T04-S045]

Chinese Indie Dev:
  V2EX technical community (2010+) [T04-S036]
    → 出海 discourse (2018+)
    → w2solo.com (2020+) [T04-S034]
      → 独立开发者周刊 newsletter
  少数派 sspai.com (editorial layer) [T04-S035]
```

### 7.3 Candidate Playbooks (候选 Playbook)

**PB01: Stair-Step Launch Sequence**
1. Build and sell a one-time-sale product (WordPress plugin, Shopify theme, Notion template) to prove you can charge money and handle support. Target: $1K one-time sales. [T04-S001]
2. Build a micro-SaaS with single recurring pricing tier ($29-49/mo), niche-specific, minimal feature set. Target: $1K MRR. [T04-S001]
3. Reinvest to expand or acquire adjacent product. [T04-S001][T04-S002]

**PB02: Audience-First Build**
1. Join 3-5 communities where your target customer congregates. [T04-S004]
2. Contribute value for 30-90 days before mentioning a product. [T04-S004]
3. Interview 20 people using Mom Test protocol. [T04-S008]
4. Share a landing page with a "coming soon" Stripe link. Validate willingness to pay before writing code. [T04-S013]
5. Build in public from day one. [T04-S013][T04-S014]

**PB03: 出海 Technical Stack (China → Global)**
1. Incorporate: US LLC (Stripe Atlas/Firstbase) or Hong Kong Ltd. [T04-S018][T04-S031]
2. Banking: Mercury (US LLC) or HSBC HK (HK Ltd). [T04-S034]
3. Payments: Stripe (via US/HK entity) or Lemon Squeezy (MoR, simpler VAT). [T04-S018][T04-S040]
4. Domain: .com (not .cn to avoid ICP filing for global products). [T04-S034]
5. Support: Crisp or Intercom, async-first. [T04-S034]

**PB04: Pricing Calibration Process**
1. List 3 competitive alternatives customers use (including "doing nothing"). [T04-S009][T04-S033]
2. Identify your unique differentiating attributes for the specific niche. [T04-S009]
3. Survey 30+ prospects on willingness to pay (Van Westendorp or Gabor-Granger). [T04-S033]
4. Start at 2x what feels comfortable. [T04-S010][T04-S023]
5. Annual plan = 2 months free (standard indie dev discount). [T04-S002]

### 7.4 Cold Signals (冷僻信号)

**CS01: The AppSumo Trap Pattern**
Many micro-SaaS founders report that an AppSumo lifetime deal was their biggest strategic mistake: the cash injection is real, the permanent support obligation is also real. Lifetime customers generating $0 MRR but consuming support resources are a hidden cost center. evidence: [T04-S021][T04-S014]

**CS02: AI Wrapper Vulnerability**
Products built as thin layers over GPT-4/Claude APIs are structurally vulnerable: as foundation model providers add native capabilities, the wrapper's differentiation evaporates. The community is beginning to document the "commoditization curve" of AI micro-SaaS. evidence: [T04-S013][T04-S043]

**CS03: The "Build in Public" Performativity Shift**
Post-2022, "build in public" has acquired performative elements: MRR screenshots optimized for Twitter engagement rather than genuine transparency, revenue figures cited without expenses, selection bias in what gets shared. The early levelsio norm of radical transparency has partially shifted to marketing-as-transparency. evidence: [T04-S013][T04-S014]

**CS04: Boring Tech Accelerates with AI Coding**
The "boring technology" thesis gains additional force when AI coding tools (Cursor, Copilot) are considered: AI assistance is most effective on well-documented, mainstream stacks (Rails, Django, Next.js). Choosing exotic tech reduces the AI force multiplier. evidence: [T04-S043][T04-S039]

**CS05: 中国独立开发者生态爆发 (2023+)**
A meaningful cohort of Chinese developers shifted from domestic app development to 出海 products following the 2021-2023 regulatory tightening of domestic tech. This is a structural demographic shift, not a trend, with implications for global indie dev competition dynamics. evidence: [T04-S034][T04-S036]

---

*End of Track 04 Canon — 45 sources, 11 books/essay corpora, 6 courses/communities, 5 reference tools, 5 Chinese-language resources, 19 core concepts, 8 mental models, 4 playbooks, 5 cold signals.*
