Building an indie product is only part of the challenge. Once the product is live, founders also need to build trust, reach the right audience, and create relationships with people working on related projects.
Cold outreach can help, but it is often difficult to find relevant websites and start a meaningful conversation. Generic link exchanges are not a sustainable solution either. The best opportunities usually come from genuine relevance and useful content.
That is why I am building Indie Chains.
Indie Chains is a curated collaboration network for independent products and websites. Members create a profile, submit their site for manual review, and discover other verified projects in related categories.
From there, they can contact other founders through the platform and propose relevant opportunities such as:
- Editorial mentions
- Resource page additions
- Product roundups
- Guest contributions
- Content collaborations
- Partnership opportunities
The goal is not to exchange links mechanically or sell guaranteed placements. The goal is to make it easier for real founders to find relevant partners and start conversations that can benefit both audiences.
What makes a good collaboration?
A useful collaboration should meet a few basic criteria:
- The websites should be relevant to each other.
- The proposed content should help the reader.
- The request should be clear and specific.
- Both sides should understand what is being offered.
- The final placement should happen naturally within useful content.
This approach takes more effort than sending hundreds of generic emails, but it creates better long-term relationships and more credible results.
While building Indie Chains, I am focusing on curation, relevance, clear communication, and trust. A smaller network of real products is more valuable than a large collection of low-quality websites.
I am still improving the product and would love feedback from founders, developers, and content marketers.
You can learn more at indiechains.com.
What has worked best for you when building content partnerships for an indie product?
