Indie Hacker Tycoon

The solo-founder career sim

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

New: turn your best run into a build-in-public brag (real MRR chart included), climb the Best Run leaderboard, and Run it back when the startup gods say no. You quit your job with a few months of runway and one rule: ship apps, get users, hit $5,000 in monthly revenue before the money runs out. Indie Hacker Tycoon is a satirical solo-founder career sim — pick a genre, design your app, then market it across X, TikTok, YouTube, cold email, and more. Every channel has its own trends, crowding, and a knack you build by using it. Marketing isn't a side menu here — it's the whole game. THE LOOP • Design an app — genre, audience, and how you build it (vibe-coded, SaaS, or a thin wrapper) • Market it — organic posts, UGC, paid bursts, or AI-generated content (cheap, fast, risky) • Look after yourself — health sets your energy, happiness makes your work land • Advance the month and watch the feed react — bankruptcies, viral hits, and brutal YouTube comments included A LIVING MARKET The market shifts under you. Genres fall in and out of demand. A rival startup races you the whole way — clone your hits, undercut you, or get bought out entirely. Big decisions (VC money? A co-founder? Open source your core?) branch the run with a real cost attached. PICK YOUR OWN ENDING Lifestyle business isn't the only way to win. Build something valuable and sell it. Go big and chase a real unicorn. Run a profitable portfolio of apps at once. Or skip revenue entirely and build a devoted cult following. Four founder identities — Operator, Craftsman, Growth Hacker, Influencer — each tilt the run differently. POST YOUR BEST (AND WORST) MOMENTS Hit your first $1k, go ramen profitable, win, or go spectacularly broke, and the game offers to turn it into a parody build-in-public post — with your run's real MRR chart. A FOUNDER RECORD THAT FOLLOWS YOU Twelve founder levels and ten badges across every career. Chase your best run on the Game Center leaderboard, see what each run taught you, and hit Run it back for the same setup on a new seed. FREE TO PLAY, NO PAY-TO-WIN The full Lifestyle career — every mechanic, every channel, every system — is free, forever. Pro Founder is a one-time purchase that unlocks the other four ambitions, the other three founder identities and Angel Mode, and removes ads. Energy is never sold, never timer-gated. We just think founders deserve a good story.

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The biggest update since launch. • Post it: your first $1k, ramen profitability, a win or a glorious bankruptcy becomes a parody build-in-public post with your run's real MRR chart • Founder levels and badges that carry across careers • A Game Center leaderboard for your best run • A "what you learned" end screen, and Run it back: same setup, new seed • Sound effects and music, with a tenser track when your runway gets short • A guided first month, clearer numbers and fewer taps • Lower Pro prices in India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and more • The Daily Challenge is retired to make room for all of the above • Plenty of fixes

Version 1.5.0

The developer, Dhaval Ajitbhai Shah, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Linked to You

    The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

    • Purchases
    • Location
    • Identifiers
    • Usage Data
    • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Accessibility

The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

Information

Seller
Dhaval Ajitbhai Shah
Size
34.5 MB
Category
Simulation
Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
  • iPhone
    Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
  • iPad
    Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
  • iPod touch
    Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
  • Mac
    Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
  • Apple Vision
    Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages
English
Age Rating
4+
In-App Purchases
Yes
Copyright
© 2026 Pie Automate
  • Developer Website
  • Privacy Policy

    • Supports

    • Game Center

      Discover new games and play with friends. This game also features leaderboards.

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