"Earned $1.2M, launched 5 startups" in 2024: indie hackers share their year-in-reviews

• 2024 was huge for indie hackers — Nico Jeannen made $350K, and Marc Louvion hit $1.2M.

• Burnout, failed launches, and health sacrifices hit hard, but they taught valuable lessons.

• Hard work, timing, and balance are key — grind smart, stay open, and take care of yourself.

As 2024 wraps up, we, indie hackers, are looking back on a year full of highs, lows, and everything in between. Some of us crushed it with life-changing big wins, others had their fair share of setbacks. But one thing’s for sure: the indie hacking hustle is alive and kicking.

Some of the wins in the indie hacking community include Nico Jeannen, for whom this was a life-changing year. 2024 saw him making $350K from exits and projects. This gave him more freedom to travel and meet tons of cool people.

Marc Louvion hit it big, raking in cash and blowing up his social media following like crazy.

Josh Mohrer, founder of Wave AI, grew his SaaS from 200 to a whooping 22k paid subs, pulling in $450K in MRR. The crazy part is he wrote 99% of the code himself, using AI, as a first-time programmer.

Ankit’s year wasn’t too shabby either:

Idan Masas, at just 20 years old, moved to Canada with his girlfriend. He took his X account from 700 followers to nearly 5k and cranked up his SaaS revenue to $60K this year.

Let’s not forget about JK Molina, who went from making $630K in 2023 to $1.23M in revenue in 2024. His MRR made a big jump from $4K MRR, to now $80K-$95K. He's got 4.5x more clients (90 total), his profit margins shot up from 40% to 96%, and his costs plummeted from $58K to just $3K. Oh, and he's reduced his workday from 12 hours to just 4.

The setbacks

Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Wins are great to look back on, but let’s be real — it's the screw-ups and missteps that teach us the most.

Jason Leow called it a year full of "dead ends" — consulting gigs that flopped, product launches that went nowhere, and a job hunt stuck in neutral. But he found a bright side: those dead ends pushed him to pivot and ditch the stuff that wasn’t working. As he put it, "A definitive no is better than a half-hearted yes."

Nico? His wins came with a big price tag:

Even Marc had his share of drama that nearly blew up his business.

Lessons

If there’s one thing 2024 taught us, it’s that indie hackers are rewriting what it means to “make it”, and it all boils down to two key elements: mindset and hard work.

Nico nailed the reality of hard work:

"Hard work alone won’t make you succeed. Timing plays a big part too (call it timing, luck, or opportunity, all the same). But hard work is what allows you to find those opportunities. I see it like prospecting for oil.

The work is the same no matter if oil is there or not. But if you never prospect the terrain, you’ll never find oil. Work hard and you might eventually get something working"

But hard work alone isn’t enough — your mindset matters just as much. You’ve got to keep that work-life balance in check if you want to stay in it for the long run.

Take scheduled and regular breaks to recharge. Do the things you love outside of work, and don't forget to reach out to others. This will help you fight off the loneliness that so many indie hackers deal with.

The lesson? Success isn’t just about grinding; it’s about balancing the work with the right self-care. Go into 2025 ready to dig deep, stay open to opportunities, and take care of yourself along the way.

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