Hitting $3.4k with 6 months of runway left

Juanjo Valiño has six months of runway left. He just had a successful launch, so he's trying to maintain that momentum — or else it's back to selling his time for money. And he's feeling confident.

Let’s take a peek at his finances. 👇

Stress-free runway

In March of 2023, he quit his job as an iOS developer and started freelancing. Then, in October, with $24k in the bank, he started indie hacking full time.

He figured that would give him a year "without headaches". And he isn't worried about burning it.

💰 "If it doesn’t work, I’ll just freelance again, build up some savings, and start the cycle again. And I’ll keep doing that until I build something that works." —Juanjo

About a month ago, he launched. And while he doesn’t view his product as validated yet, it’s on its way.

He's exploring multiple monetization methods, starting with one-time payments, but also including subscriptions and a productized service — all wrapped up into one business.

Within two weeks of launch, Juanjo made $2,650 in one-time payments. A couple of weeks later, he's at $3,400. And he just got his first client for his productized service too. When that payment comes in, he'll be $5,900. Not a bad start.

💰 "To make it less scary, I like to think about the worst situation that could happen. My worst case is that I run out of money and need to start again." —Juanjo

Hard numbers

Let’s take a look at what he’s bringing in.

• Revenue: $3,400 total

• Other sources of income: $20 MRR from 5 apps in the App Store

• Founder pay: $0

• Personal bank account: ~$10k

Here are his business expenses:

• Total: ~$130/mo

• Self-employment tax: €87 (discounted for one more year, then >€350)

• Render.com: $6/mo

• App Store developer account: $100/yr

• Twitter Premium: $8/mo

• ChatGPT: $20/mo

• Domain & hosting: $20/yr

And here are his personal expenses:

• Total: €1,264/mo

• Rent: €350/mo (splitting rent with his girlfriend)

• Electricity: €40/mo

• Car loan: €350/mo

• Phone and internet: €24/mo

• Private health insurance: €50/mo

• Food and groceries: €400/mo

• Car and motorbike insurance: €50/mo

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Time and health

Juanjo likes to put his money into the two most important things to him: time and health.

💰 "I don’t like money, per se. I like what money unlocks. With money, you gain time and health. There’s nothing more valuable. If you have time and health, everything else falls in place: You feel happy, you look good, you sleep easy, you eat organic food… it’s a domino effect." —Juanjo

So he spends money to save time.

💰 "Don’t hesitate to invest in what saves you time." —Juanjo

That could mean anything from parking in a paid lot instead of driving in circles for a spot, to using the best tools.

💰 "ChatGPT is a must. In Xcode we still live in the past — we don’t have GitHub Copilot, so I use ChatGPT as my assistant." —Juanjo

And this spending applies to health too. After all, spending on health can save — and ultimately, give — time.

That’s why he pays for private health insurance and private specialists in a country that has free public healthcare. He wants to see who he wants to see. And he wants to see them quickly.

And it's also why he wants to buy organic meats and fish. But he doesn't feel comfortable doing that as often as he'd like. Not yet, anyway.

Luckily, lots of health-related things don't cost a dime. For example, he recently read “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, and now he’s prioritizing sleep as his number one priority.

And getting out into nature to surf only costs him a bit of gas.

💰 "In the water, you aren’t connected to the internet. It’s just you and nature. Your focus is fully on what you’re doing. All you care about is the sea." —Juanjo

Improvising instead of budgeting

Juanjo is not a budgeter. Like, at all.

💰 "I am a complete disaster with budgeting. I just improvise. And sometimes, I fall into impulsive buying. Like a new mechanical keyboard that I don’t need." —Juanjo

He also spends a decent chunk — at least $80/mo — on gourmet coffee.

💰 "My favorite time of the day is in the morning when I'm preparing breakfast. I make the best cup of coffee I can and the whole house smells like it." —Juanjo

And he’ll spend on Apple products too — as we saw, he cashed out of Bitcoin to get his latest device.

💰 "Haters will say their $200 Xiaomi can do everything my $999 iPhone can do. But to me, the design and build quality are worth the money." —Juanjo

But he does save money here and there. He doesn’t party and says that saves him a lot.

And he likes to walk. He’ll happily walk anywhere within an hour radius. He doesn’t do it to save money, but it has that effect. He does it because he likes to be active after “uncountable” hours in front of the computer.

Stupid decisions

Juanjo isn't currently making financial investments. He had 0.25 BTC (now worth about $16k) but he cashed out a year ago to buy a MacBook Pro 16. He still made 2.5x, so he was happy at the time, but he regrets it now — hindsight being 20-20 and all.

💰 "It was a stupid decision considering the value it has nowadays." —Juanjo

In the future, Juanjo hopes to invest in some real estate. He sees it as one of the safest options with the highest return.

He’s also interested in leveraging index funds to counteract inflation and earn a bit of passive income.

As for retirement, he isn’t investing there either. But he hopes to put enough aside so that he doesn’t have to depend on his government pension, which pays a maximum of €42k/year in Spain.

That's not enough for Juanjo, and he's concerned that the pension system is in danger anyway, as fewer people are contributing to it.

So Juanjo's plan is to reach €1 million in savings.

💰 "I believe that if I can reach €1 million in savings, adjusted for inflation, I can retire at the age of 60 and live a comfortable life. I'm also open to making more than that!

Flying solo

💰 "I don't pretend to make a living out of WrapFast. But if it can buy me more time to build more apps, it will be a complete success." —Juanjo

For now, Juanjo just aims to build. And build. And build. For as long as it takes.

💰 "I’m indie. I don't need what VC-funded founders need. A business that makes $50k/mo would be more than enough for me. And I’m going to launch as many MVPs as I can — and improve the ones that get traction — until I get there." —Juanjo

You can follow Juanjo’s journey on X. Or check out WrapFast — he’s offering a $50 discount with the code: INDIEHACKERS

Please note that the above are opinions. This is meant for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be financial advice.

And if you'd like to be featured as a guest in a future interview for this series, let me know in the comments!

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