From a Personal Side Project to $100K ARR — Antoine van der Lee, RocketSim & SwiftLee

On the podcast: Antoine shares how he built RocketSim from an internal tool into a thriving business, the challenges of scaling as an indie developer, and the key marketing insights that drove growth—without relying on traditional ads or influencer campaigns. Top Takeaways: ⏱️ Solve time, and they will pay you There are countless solved problems in the world, but if your tool gives developers back their most limited resource—time—the sales pitch writes itself. 🧱 Build what your users ask for, and the trials will follow Releasing the number-one voted feature on a public roadmap is the most reliable way to turn dormant users into active trials. 🐢 Some problems take years to solve Not every technical hurdle can be Googled; sometimes you have to sit on an open issue for two years until your skills grow enough to crack it. 🤝 Embrace your competitors Cross-promoting with competing apps and newsletters actually grows your audience faster than trying to dominate a niche alone. ⛓️ Constraints are a feature, not a bug Going full-time indie can actually hurt productivity if you lose the strict prioritization habits that made you effective when time was scarce. About Antoine van der Lee: 🚀 Indie Developer and Creator of SwiftLee, a platform for iOS developers, and RocketSim, a tool that streamlines testing and simulating apps in Xcode. 👋 LinkedIn -   / ajvanderlee   🌐 Learn more about RocketSim - https://www.rocketsim.app/ 🎧Learn more about the Going Indie Podcast - https://podcast.going-indie.com/ 📖 Read Antoine’s developer blog at SwiftLee - https://www.avanderlee.com/ Follow us on X: Charlie Chapman - @_chuckyc RevenueCat - @RevenueCat Launched - @LaunchedFM Episode Highlights: [0:00] Introduction to Antoine van der Lee and the story behind RocketSim [2:15] How Antoine started in iOS development and his early career journey [5:05] The creation of Swiftly: Antoine's approach to writing and sharing knowledge [7:40] The launch of RocketSim: From an internal tool to a public product [10:12] The challenges of developing a useful Xcode simulator tool [12:31] Antoine's approach to growing RocketSim without focusing on traditional marketing [15:22] The evolution of RocketSim: Expanding features and listening to users [18:05] How Antoine used his blog and newsletter to support RocketSim's growth [21:40] The balance between RocketSim as a product and maintaining a sustainable indie business [24:25] The impact of the App Store: Sales model and challenges [27:11] RocketSim’s transition into enterprise sales and selling to teams [30:03] Hiring for RocketSim: Bringing in the right people to scale without losing focus [33:20] The evolution of the RocketSim website and customer experience improvements [36:05] Antoine's experience with creating a full-time indie business alongside a family [39:00] Dealing with the growth of RocketSim and managing multiple projects at once [42:10] Insights into Antoine’s shift from a full-time job to an indie developer [45:35] The role of personal branding and community connections in RocketSim's success [48:10] The value of networking and connecting with others in the iOS community [51:05] Moving from product development to managing a business [54:01] Reflection on growth, work-life balance, and achieving indie success [56:22] Key takeaways for indie founders and AI product builders today