Go where it's crowded
jasonleow • 1 Mar 2026 •
James Clear, the patron saint of indie hackers, was spot on again:
If the path is crowded, differentiate.
If the path is empty, validate."
There’s many paths, but indie hackers tend to stick to the latter one.
If someone already built it, they drop the idea.
If it’s not world-changing, curve-jumping, they drop the idea.
If it’s not a billion dollar startup idea, they drop the idea.
If the path ain’t empty, they don’t walk there.
What a shame.
Because it’s much simpler to start as a solo indie hacker when the path is crowded. It’s already all figured out by your competitors. You just need to add your own little spin to it. Just 10% different enough. It’s simpler to be 10% different and to convince someone to open their wallet for you at 10% difference, because they were already opening their wallets to something similar before. But note, simpler doesn’t mean easier.
It’s way more complicated—and harder—to ask someone to trust you on a 100% difference. There’s simply no precedence.
If I were to start over as an indie hacker, I would start where the path is crowded.
There’s always space for another neighbourhood bakery down the street.
Comments
@Winkletter The Japanese are so good at that!
The research I did on Lawson’s Premium Roll Cake comes to mind for me. They took a Swiss roll, sliced it, laid it flat on a plate, and optimized the $#!+ out of it.