Who inspired you to start your own startup?
A few days ago, @busmark_w_nika Nika asked a great question here: has there been a launch that inspired you to take your own launch to the next level?
It got me thinking about something slightly different. Not just specific launches on Product Hunt, but the founders themselves.
Is there a specific entrepreneur, indie hacker, or startup founder who genuinely made you believe you could build something of your own?
For me, I was always drawn to what Tibo and JK Molina were doing with TweetHunter. The way they built in public, iterated fast, and turned a simple idea into a real business was hard to ignore. And sell it really quick. At the same time, Marc Lou and Pieter Levels have been constants on X for a long time. Both proving in very different ways that a solo founder with the right distribution can go incredibly far.
So I'm curious:
Who was the founder or builder that first made you think "I could do this too"?
Was it a specific moment: a tweet, a launch, a revenue milestone they shared publicly?
And do you still follow them today?
Replies
Back in 2017, I worked as a happiness hero, essentially a support and sales role for a SaaS company. That experience opened my eyes to the power of SaaS, its revenue potential, the scale of users it serves, and how efficiently it operates. It inspired me to build my own SaaS product.
After two years there, I was motivated by the founder's journey and launched my own SaaS in a completely different niche. Through that process, I realized I definitely could build SaaS and I enjoyed it. But what I enjoyed even more was marketing it. That's why I pivoted to consulting for SaaS companies, focusing on growth and distribution.
Building that product taught me something crucial. I enjoy marketing far more than building. That's why today, I specialize in distributing... the part that genuinely excites me, not the development side.
ZeroHuman.
@rohanrecommends Oh wow, I didn’t know that’s how your story in the SaaS world started, Rohan. That’s actually pretty interesting.
I feel the same way, I enjoy distribution more than building. Especially in 2026, I think it’s become relatively easy to build a product. But distributing it definitely hasn’t become easier. If anything, it’s harder now, because there are so many more competitors that probably wouldn’t have existed before AI.
That’s why I’m curious: how did your experience as a happiness hero push you toward starting your own SaaS? Was there a specific moment when you decided to do it? Or maybe a colleague or founder around you inspired you to start? Or was there a competing product you wanted to build your own version of?
What's interesting is how each generation of builders seems to have different role models. Ten years ago it was venture backed founders; now it's solo founders and indie hackers.
ZeroHuman.
@craig_bennett1Â haha absolutely
10-15 years ago Steve Jobs and Elon Musk were the top names for everyone.
For me it was Pieter Levels. Seeing one person ship multiple profitable products with no team made "I could do this too" feel real instead of delusional. It wasn't a single moment, more like watching him build in public over time until the idea sank in. Still follow him today.
ZeroHuman.
@builder_eden Oh yeah. It’s incredible how he’s still able to engage his audience so many years later.
Which of his lessons has been the most useful for you? Or is there something you’ve done by following his example?
@byalexai Mostly the "launch fast, in public, and let the market tell you" mindset. Honestly the habit change mattered more than any single product.
ZeroHuman.
@builder_eden
Oh, yes! This is actually quite important. Many founders spend years building without showing anything publicly. And that’s a big mistake because they don’t get any feedback. And feedback is incredibly valuable, especially in the early stages.
And in the last 2–3 years, what useful things have you learned from him?
It was a mix of my work experience with a personal pain what made me build something.
I worked for a couple of fast growing startups, I was close to the founders and saw them grow their product. That gave me a sense on what it means to build something. I was hired as a creative, but I spent enough time with the engineer team building features it removed the concerns of being a non technical founders.
Then I kept having the same pain point over a year and saw people around me dealing with the same. That's what made me built Norte. I wanted to solve something me and others around me was suffering from.
ZeroHuman.
@norteapp Amazing story Jose! But aside from the founder and the team around you, was there any well-known person who inspired you?
Or was it more about the people you knew personally: the ones you could learn from directly and see how they think and make decisions in real life?
Honestly, the people who inspired me most weren't famous founders.
They were ordinary people who were just one or two steps ahead of me. Someone launching their first product, getting their first paying customer, sharing their first $100 online.
Billion-dollar founders make entrepreneurship look possible in theory. People who are slightly ahead of you make it feel possible in practice.
ZeroHuman.
@varun1jan Oh yeah, there’s definitely that thing where the closer someone’s situation is to yours, the easier it is to feel inspired by them.
Sometimes billionaires sound like they’re from a completely different world. It’s hard to learn something from them that you can actually apply to your own situation. They’re just too far ahead.
Great question! While I admire many of the builders mentioned here, my real "I can do this" moment wasn't inspired by a specific founder it was sparked by a real-world emergency.
After a friend’s website was defaced, I wanted to give him a secure way to access his admin panel without the hassle of setting up a full VPN.