#025 Quitting the internet with Nathan J. Powell

Code and Conquer - The Indie Hacker Podcast

In this episode we talk to Nathan J. Powell who built an app, sold it to his cofounder and then went offline for three years.

Now he's back and he's got some stories to tell. We'll talk about his time with cofounder Michael Koper (another guest of the show) and their app Nusii, a failed startup called FeatureFlex and Nathan's newest product, or rather a productized service called Beyond the Pixel.

Since we're both UX (User experience) people we also dive a little into how UX and UI (user interface) design differ and how you can build an ugly app and still make money with it.

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Nathan's Indie Hacker Journey

03:56 Nusii: Challenges of Growth and Reaching Customers

16:59 Selling Nusii and Taking a Hiatus from the Internet

23:30 Launching FeatureFlux and Lessons Learned

29:01 The Importance of Customer Development Interviews

31:57 Avoiding Confirmation Bias in Product Development

34:52 Finding the Right Market Fit and Category for a Product

38:16 The Importance of Feedback and User Interviews

44:11 The Role of Design in Usability and Customer Experience

01:02:36 Introducing Beyond the Pixel Studio

01:12:08 Starting with Closed Products and Transitioning to Larger Projects

01:14:08 The Value of Quick Wireframing with Balsamiq

01:19:14 Charging Higher Prices for Your Services

01:21:20 The Challenges of Setting Up a Business in Europe

01:29:49 Finding Fun in Building Products

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Nathan's Twitter: https://x.com/nathanjpowellUX

Beyond the Pixel's Website: https://beyondthepixel.studio/

Nusii's website: https://nusii.com/

FeatureFlux website: https://featureflux.com/

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My own website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://icebearlabs.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can find this podcast on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://codeandconquer.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Find our product here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.repodcasted.com/