It's pretty nerve-wracking when you devote your entire life to something and not really

finding success. It's very easy to tell yourself that you should quit and give up because I'm a

developer. I can get a job as a software engineer. I could go work at Google or Facebook or

Amazon or something and get a great salary and live a great life without working nearly as hard

as I worked during the bulk of my 20s, trying to start my own thing.

And so by the time I was 27, 28, I had spent six years doing this and didn't have very much a show for it,

I was pretty, I don't want to say upset with myself, but just questioning, you know, is this the path that I should have gone down?

You know, if it's not, should I continue going down this path in the future to try to make something work. My name is Corland Allen, and I'm the creator of Andy Hackers.

This is Code Story, a podcast bringing you interviews with tech visionaries,

who share in the critical moments of what it takes to change in industry and build and lead a team that has your back.

I'm your host, Noah Laphart, and today how Cortland Allen found his startup sweet spot by building the largest community of indie hackers around.

All this and more on Code Story.

Cortland Allen grew up totally opposite of his twin brother,

Channing, but influenced by him nevertheless.

His family was rooted in entrepreneurship, and as such,

Cortland was heavily inspired to build and run his own

thing. After going through Y Combinator and trying out different startups, he landed on the

idea for indie hackers and it checked all the boxes for what he wanted to work on. He spent

three weeks and built a community for creators who want to find freedom in making a living for themselves online.

Andy Hackers is a community of mostly developers and creators who want to make a living for themselves online.

And their sort of primary driving factor is freedom. They want the freedom to work from wherever they want. They want the creative freedom to work on whatever they want. They want the financial independence to be able to control their own destiny without having a boss or any particular working hours, to be able to work with whoever they want to hire and work alongside of. They just want to run their own business because of the freedom that it grants them in almost every aspect of their lives. And Indie Hackers is an online and

in-person community nowadays where these founders can basically come together, swap ideas, give each other

...