Welcome to the indie-hacker-playbook — a collection of Claude Code skills that guide you through the 9 essential stages of building a sustainable business, from validating your first idea to growing sustainably. This isn't theoretical advice; it's battle-tested methodology distilled from Sahil Lavingia's The Minimalist Entrepreneur, implemented as practical, executable skills for AI-powered development.
Most entrepreneurship frameworks fail because they're built for venture-backed startups, not solo founders who need to make money from day one. The indie-hacker-playbook flips the script: instead of building first and hoping people will pay, it teaches you to validate, sell, and deliver value before writing a single line of code.
The core philosophy is simple but powerful: validation happens through selling, not building. Most founders spend months building products nobody wants. Instead, this framework shows you how to solve problems manually first, then processize those solutions, and finally productize them into software.
The indie-hacker-playbook contains 10 distinct skills, each representing a critical milestone in the entrepreneurial journey:
Let's walk through how these skills work together in practice:
Step 1: Validate Your Idea — Before spending weeks on development, use the validate-idea skill to answer four critical questions: Can you ship it in a weekend? Is it making customers' lives better? Are customers willing to pay? Can you get feedback quickly? If you can't answer yes to at least three, go back to the drawing board.
Step 2: Build Your MVP — Once validated, use the mvp skill to build the simplest possible version. Start manually (Stage 1), document every step (Stage 2), then automate only what you've proven works (Stage 3). This prevents scope creep and ensures you're building something people actually want.
Step 3: Set Your Price — Use the pricing skill to determine your initial price point. Remember the "zero price effect" — there's a massive difference between free and $1. Charge something from day one to establish value and enable learning.
Step 4: Get Your First Customers — The first-customers skill helps you identify where your ideal customers already hang out and how to engage them authentically, without expensive advertising or complex funnels.
These skills are designed to work seamlessly within Claude Code, requiring no special setup beyond installation. Each skill follows consistent patterns:
The skills integrate with common tools like Stripe, PayPal, Carrd, Gumroad, Airtable, and Notion — prioritizing existing infrastructure over custom development whenever possible.
Ready to apply these principles to your own business? Here's exactly what to do: