Indie Hackers
Community and newsletter for bootstrapped founders that Stripe acquired in 2017 and sold back to its founders in 2023.
- Brand
- Stripe
- Status
- Ended
- Launched
- 2016
- Acquired
- Acquired from
- Courtland Allen
- Deal
- undisclosed (TechCrunch)
- Founders
- Courtland and Channing Allen
Facts last checked on
Visit channel →Built, bought by Stripe, and sold back
Indie Hackers is the rare owned-media story with a complete arc: built independently, bought by Stripe, then sold back to its founders. Courtland Allen created the site in August 2016 as a run of interviews with founders of small, profitable internet businesses. Stripe acquired it in April 2017 for undisclosed terms, its third acquisition, and Allen joined Stripe full time to keep running it while his brother Channing joined as co-founder.
The fit was direct: every indie hacker who starts charging for a product is a prospective Stripe customer. Under Stripe the forum, podcast and newsletter grew, and by 2022 the newsletter had close to 85,000 subscribers. On 6 April 2023, six years to the day, Stripe spun Indie Hackers back out to the Allen brothers, who became majority owners, with Stripe staying on as an investor. The site still publishes independently, which is why this entry is marked as ended.
Sources: TechCrunch, The Irish Times, Indie Hackers, They Got Acquired
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