2024 was a year full of ups and downs. But looking back, I can say that I achieved various goals and collected plenty of memories. In this post, I will recap 2024 and share my plans for 2025.
Indie Hacking
2024:
✅ Launched 2 products
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ Launch 3 products
🏃♂️➡️ Reach 5K€ MRR
2024 was a successful year, in terms of projects. I have finally achieved my long-time goal of releasing projects on the side while working full-time. Of course, this required me to sacrifice some evenings and weekends, but gladly there isn’t much to do in Berlin during Winter other than drinking.
It’s been a very refreshing journey as I’ve been in the corporate world for a long time and therefore my mindset has completely evolved around the needs of corporate software. First, I had to break a bunch of habits, which I explained in detail in my disassociating corporate habits post. Then, after months of trial and error, I finally figured out my own pace of delivering projects.
The first project I launched was Holiday API. It was a great project to get my feet wet and to learn the basics of Indie Hacking. Besides obtaining and organizing data, which was quite time-consuming, I published the project in a very short time.
Holiday API
Today, despite having almost zero visibility on Google and spending no money on ads or SEO, I reached 52 users. I am optimistic that this number will grow in 2025, especially when I allocate more time and resources to SEO, and start getting more organic traffic.
The second project I launched was Latency Test.
As a regular user of httpstat, a tool that provides a visual breakdown of curl metrics of an HTTP request, I couldn’t stop asking myself why there isn’t a web version of it - and that’s how the project started.
Latency Test
Initially, I started working on it imagining a free-to-use web version of httpstat, but later I noticed that the service could easily be evolved to be an uptime service as well, and continued with those features. Even though the uptime monitoring market is very crowded, I believe that this domain can shine in various ways, especially when I target low-competition keywords. Of course, time will tell, but I aim to grow this project further in the next year.
Besides these two projects, I recently started working on another one. So, I have two projects in the growth and monetization stage and one in development.
One thing I learned the hard way is that I need to learn to sell, market and build an audience - instead of just creating things and hoping that people will use them. As I didn’t have any prior marketing or sales experience, I had to learn a lot of new things in a completely uncharted territory. Today, I am much better at copywriting, online marketing, sales engagement, and lead intelligence. Anything is possible in the Internet age and with the help of AI.
Audience
2024:
✅ Grew Twitter audience to 1000 followers
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ Grow Twitter audience to 5000 followers
🏃♂️➡️ Have better engagement with my circle of colleagues
Once I started indie hacking, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I needed to learn to build an audience.
The first thing I did was to grow my Twitter audience. I started improving my presence there with around 400 followers, and nowadays I have around 1000 followers. And this only happened in the last two months of 2024. Having a solid audience really helped to get the initial kickstart especially when I launch a new project as Twitter is full of people who are interested in indie hacking. My intention isn’t to become one of those influencers who bullshit on numbers for attention and clicks, but some followers really help validate ideas.
Twitter followers
Besides these digital activities, I also started looking at my circle of colleagues. After digging into my network, I was able to identify at least 150 people who I can reach out to and ask for favors. These people are the ones I know in person, worked together in the past either directly or indirectly, had a coffee together at least, and have a relation to IT. Having a closer and more frequent engagement with this circle will help me achieve my goals faster, and is something I will start doing in 2025. Basically, you are as good as your network!
Trips
2024:
✅ Samsun / Turkey
✅ Paris / France
✅ Mallorca / Spain
✅ Małe Swornegacie / Poland
✅ Boston / USA
✅ New York / USA
✅ Barcelona / Spain
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Seoul
🏃♂️➡️ San Francisco
2024 was a year full of trips. I visited 5 countries and 7 cities. Between January and February, I visited my family in Samsun. In May, I went to Paris with some friends and had a great time. In July, I stayed at an Agritourism resort in Mallorca and had plenty of wine, food, and fun. In August, Małe Swornegacie was our escape, again with friends. In October, I’ve been to Hashiconf in Boston and then extended my trip to New York. In November, I escaped the winter in Berlin and went to Barcelona for a week.
Storm King Art Center
Between these destinations, Małe Swornegacie was clearly the hidden gem. Having an entire lake to ourselves was something unique. Then in New York, Storm King Art Center was our favorite place. I don’t think it’s a hidden gem, but I also don’t think it’s frequently visited by tourists either as the transportation is not very convenient.
Małe Swornegacie
Games
2024:
✅ Counter-Strike 2
✅ Desperados III
✅ Fallout 76
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ The Witcher IV
🏃♂️➡️ GTA VI
🏃♂️➡️ Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
🏃♂️➡️ Ghost of Yōtei
🏃♂️➡️ Mafia: The Old Country
In 2024, I played 4 games, and my total playtime was 1/3 of what it was in 2023. The main games I played were:
- Counter-Strike 2: Usual FPS, great to blow off steam (68%)
- Desperados III: The same game mechanics as Commandos series - reminds me of my childhood (16%)
- Fallout 76: Probably the best soundtrack in the series (16%)
Even though I have a strong gaming PC and I was very excited when building it, I didn’t have enough time to play games. However, in 2025, some amazing games are coming out and I am looking forward to playing them. The list of upcoming games is big, so I am only hoping that I will have enough time to play them all.
Health
2024:
✅ 98 gym visits
✅ Bench press 60kg (3 sets x 15)
✅ T-bar row 45kg (3 sets x 15)
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ 180 gym visits
🏃♂️➡️ Bench press 75kg
🏃♂️➡️ T-bar row 50kg
I feel lucky that I didn’t have any serious health issues this year - but still, I had two medical operations and had general anesthesia twice due to small problems. I will likely have an additional operation due to my breathing problems in 2025. I was supposed to have this surgery in 2024 and waited for 7 months for the operation day, but the hospital canceled it at the last minute due to capacity issues. Now I have to wait for another 4 months.
In 2024, I have been to the gym 98 times this year, which is a new record for me. Also, I can clearly notice that my strength has increased. At the beginning of the year, I was barely bench pressing 40 kg (3 sets x15) and now I can do 60kg without any issues. Similarly, my t-bar row has increased from 20kg to 45kg. However, due to on-and-off trips, drinking, and poor diet, and busy days at work, my consistency was not very good and I am not in the shape or strength I want to be. In 2025, I will try to improve my consistency.
Watches
2024:
✅ Sternglas: Hamburg Automatik Edition Neuwerk
✅ Tissot: Heritage 1938 COSC
✅ Casio: GA-2100-4A
2025:
🏃♂️➡️ Maen Manhattan 40 - M3.1.4, or Manhattan 39 Ultra Thin M4.1.2
🏃♂️➡️ Kurono Sensu N.O.S. (Blue Dial)
I purchased 3 watches in 2024. The first one was from Sternglas, a boutique German watch brand that makes watches using mainly Miyota (8215 or 9015) movements. The model is called Hamburg Automatik Edition Neuwerk, and it’s one of the limited editions (1999 pieces) the company produced. I got the last available one in the entire Germany and after that never saw the same watch being sold online. I like the movement of this watch a lot as it’s reliable, has a good power reserve, and the maintenance is cheap. I am also a big fan of Bauhaus design and Sternglas is a perfect example of that.
Images from: Sternglas Images from: Sternglas
The second piece I got was from Tissot, a Swiss watch brand that makes watches using mainly ETA movements. I purchased the Heritage 1938 COSC in New York after thinking about it for a long time. Even though my initial idea was to get the salmon dial, I changed my mind at the store and got the anthracite one. I like this watch a lot, not because the movement is great (COSC certified, Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres), but because of the design and how in between it’s being a field watch and a dress watch. Besides, I find the nostalgic design of the watch super low-key and elegant.
Images from: Fratello Images from: Fratello
The third watch I got, the Casio GA-2100-4A, was a gift. I don’t think I need to explain much about the Casio G-Shock as it’s been a legendary series for decades. I mainly wear this watch at the gym when it’s all about sweat and hustle, as it’s robust as hell.
Images from: Worn and Wound
In 2025, two pieces are under my radar:
Maen, a Swedish boutique brand, produces great watches and the Manhattan 40 is no exception. I find the Manhattan series especially beautiful, and working great in different color combinations. It’s a shame that they only produce the salmon dial as Manhattan 40, but not as 39 ultra-thin, but I guess I will have to choose between the two. Currently, the watch is in production and when ordered online, it can be delivered in 5-6 months.
Images from: Maen Watches
Kurono is one of the producers I would like to visit when I go to Japan, hopefully in 2025. Unfortunately, their Sensu N.O.S. model was sold out immediately after it was released and it’s only available on the secondary market now. Many flippers are selling it for ~5000€ (4x of the original price) these days, but I am okay waiting for the price to drop if it ever happens. Hajime Asaoka is a respected watchmaker in the community and I always liked his work until now, but the “sensu” usage in the power reserve indicator was simply a brilliant and elegant touch. If there is anything I could change in the watch, I would like to see the case edges a bit thinner and the glass a bit bigger.
Images from: Fratello
Looking forward to seeing what 2025 will bring!