name: indie-monetization-strategist
description: Monetization strategies for indie developers, solopreneurs, and small teams. Covers freemium models, SaaS pricing, sponsorships, donations, email list building, and passive income for developer tools, content sites, and educational apps. Activate on 'monetization', 'make money', 'pricing', 'freemium', 'SaaS', 'sponsorship', 'donations', 'passive income', 'indie hacker'. NOT for enterprise sales, B2B outbound, VC fundraising, or large-scale advertising (use enterprise/marketing skills).
allowed-tools: Read,Write,Edit,Bash,Glob,Grep,WebFetch,WebSearch
category: Business & Monetization
tags:
- monetization
- pricing
- saas
- indie
- passive-income
pairs-with:
- skill: tech-entrepreneur-coach-adhd
reason: ADHD-friendly founder guidance
- skill: seo-visibility-expert
reason: Get traffic for monetization

Indie Monetization Strategist

Turn side projects into sustainable income. Battle-tested strategies for indie developers and solopreneurs.

Quick Start

1. Build audience first - Email list is your foundation
2. Start with validation - If people won't use it free, they won't pay
3. Stack revenue streams - Multiple small wins beats one moonshot
4. Price on value, not cost - Premium pricing attracts premium customers
5. Play the long game - Most "overnight" successes took 3-5 years

When to Use

Use for:
- Choosing monetization models for dev tools
- Setting up freemium/premium tiers
- Pricing strategy decisions
- Email list building for launches
- Sponsorship and donation systems

NOT for:
- Enterprise B2B sales (use sales skills)
- VC fundraising/pitch decks
- Large-scale advertising campaigns

The Indie Monetization Stack

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           PREMIUM PRODUCTS                  │
│  SaaS subscriptions, one-time purchases     │
│  → Highest revenue, requires product-market │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           SERVICES & CONSULTING             │
│  Custom work, implementation, training      │
│  → Trade time for money, but validates      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           PASSIVE/SEMI-PASSIVE              │
│  Sponsorships, donations, affiliates        │
│  → Lower friction, good for content/tools   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           LIST BUILDING                     │
│  Email subscribers, community members       │
│  → Foundation for all monetization          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Monetization Decision Tree

Is your project...

A DEVELOPER TOOL?
├── Open source? → Sponsorships + Premium features/hosting
├── Closed source? → Freemium SaaS or one-time purchase
└── CLI tool? → Pay-what-you-want + Pro tier

AN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE?
├── Course/tutorial? → One-time purchase or membership
├── Reference site? → Sponsorships + Premium content
└── Interactive app? → Freemium with advanced features

A CONTENT SITE?
├── Technical blog? → Sponsorships + Newsletter premium tier
├── Showcase/portfolio? → Consulting leads + Sponsorships
└── Community site? → Membership + Sponsorships

Model Quick Reference

Freemium SaaS (80/20 Rule)

Gate these: Usage volume, team features, white-labeling, advanced analytics
Never gate: Core functionality, security features, basics competitors offer free

Sponsorship Pricing Formula

Monthly visitors × $0.01-0.05 = Base sponsorship rate

Multipliers:
+ Developer audience (2-3x)
+ Niche focus (1.5-2x)
+ High engagement (1.5x)

Donation Platforms

Pricing Psychology Essentials

The Decoy Effect:

BASIC: $9    PRO: $29 (target)    ENTERPRISE: $99 (decoy)

Price Anchoring:

❌ "Only $29/month!"
✅ "$49/month → $29/month (save 40%)"

Annual vs Monthly:

Monthly: $29/month | Annual: $19/month (billed $228/year)
Annual subscribers have 5x lower churn.

Anti-Patterns (10 Critical Mistakes)

1. Premature Monetization

Symptom: Adding payments before product-market fit
Fix: Validate with free users first

2. Race to the Bottom Pricing

Symptom: Pricing way below competitors
Fix: Price on value delivered, not competitor copying

3. Feature Bloat to Justify Price

Symptom: Adding features nobody asked for
Fix: Charge more for LESS but BETTER

4. Ignoring Existing Monetization

Symptom: Building new revenue streams instead of optimizing existing
Fix: 2x conversion rate before adding new streams

5. Crippled Free Tier

Symptom: Free tier so limited it's useless
Fix: Users who never experience value never convert

6. No Email List

Symptom: Relying only on organic traffic
Fix: Build list before you need it - foundation for everything

7. One-Size-Fits-All Pricing

Symptom: Same price for hobbyists and enterprises
Fix: Segment pricing by use case and value

8. Hidden Costs

Symptom: Surprise fees after signup
Fix: Transparent pricing builds trust

9. Ignoring Churn

Symptom: Focus on acquisition, not retention
Fix: Reducing churn 5% can increase profits 25-95%

10. Pricing Too Low

Symptom: Undervaluing your work
Fix: Higher prices = better customers, higher expectations

Revenue Benchmarks (Indie Scale)

Reality check: Most indie projects earn $0-500/month. $2k/month = top 10%.

Quick Implementation

Add Payments (5 min with Stripe)

// See references/stripe-integration.md for complete guide
const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  mode: 'subscription',
  line_items: [{ price: 'price_xxx', quantity: 1 }],
  success_url: 'https://yoursite.com/success',
});

Add Sponsorship Button

<a href="https://github.com/sponsors/yourusername">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Sponsor-💖-ea4aaa">
</a>

Launch Email Sequence

Day 0: Deliver lead magnet + welcome
Day 3: Best content piece
Day 7: Your story/why you built this
Day 14: Soft pitch
Day 21: Social proof
Day 30: Direct pitch with deadline

Reference Files

Covers: Monetization Strategy | Pricing Psychology | Freemium | Sponsorships | Email Marketing

Use with: content-marketer (distribution) | web-design-expert (pricing pages) | product-strategist (positioning)