Jason Cohen and John Rush spar over the merits of
directories
Everyone is building a directory right now, but Jason Cohen thinks they are a waste of time.
Jason Cohen took to X to ask founders to stop building directories.
Cohen implied that directories aren't valuable.
John Rush, self-proclaimed "directory king," defended the strategy of using directories to create traffic and validate ideas.
Jason Cohen is an indie hacking legend, being one of the few who can lay claim to founding two unicorns.
He is also a man who isn’t afraid to air out his opinions on X.
In this edition, he pleaded for the directory gold rush to end.
For those unaware, directories are having a moment right now. The thesis is that because there is now so much AI slop out there, Google has been rendered basically useless. So, if you want to find something specific, a curated directory can be a big help.
Thus, we now have directories of landing pages. And NoCode tools. And AI tools. And language tools. And…you get the point.
For an indie hacker, directories are a dream come true:
AI and no-code tools make them easy to build.
They let you validate an idea and build traffic that can be used to market your SaaS later.
They can make a sizeable amount of side cash.
This is the argument that John Rush, indie hacker and self-proclaimed “Directory King”, made in response to Cohen:
Cohen was predictably skeptical, and they then went back and forth on the merits of building a directory. It was all pretty boring until Cohen posted this:
This seems to be the crux of Cohen’s argument: directories don’t take much effort to build, so most will be bad. Software, on the other hand, takes a lot of effort to build, so there is a much higher chance of building something “good.”
That makes sense, and fits in with what other bigwigs are saying. If you recall the revolt against Product Hunt, CEO Rajiv Ayyangar’s entire defense was that typical indie hacker products like directories and landing page analyzers weren’t good enough for the homepage.
The question then becomes why there is such a glut of low-effort products. Is it because of AI? Everyone building for the same audience? Something else?
Please, let me know what you think in the comments.
Thanks for mentioning languagetools.directory! I agree that launching a new directory is sometimes a waste of time. But, in some specific cases, I guess it can bring value. I couldn't find any way to find the best tools to learn a language online based on some criteria. That's why I built Language Tools Directory.
Every time there is a new trend, there is an opportunity of new directories/platform/list.
I agree, if all you could do regarding something HOT like AI was create a killer resource than it's worth doing. You put in a ton of time curating it, ranking and organizing it etc. toss in links to great news sources etc. and it becomes something of value. Maybe there was a flood of this activity or people leveraged AI to build directories at scale but they still have to fight to rank on google and elsewhere. You could really say the same thing about newsletters. I get a half dozen AI newsletters DAILY and they often have overlapping content but I can unsubscribe if I want. Should these things be on Product Hunt? Probably not, but if you know what you're doing you can still build an audience without PH, I never did understand the love affair with them anyway. They had some early wins and can still bubble up cool things but their popularity and submission volume actually works against them - it's hard to keep up with honestly.
Well put and good summary, helped get all of this in frame for me. I agree that you can definitely make it into a good product/resource of effort is put in and it's not just a lazy attempt of jumping on a trend
This comment was deleted 12 days ago
This comment was deleted 12 days ago
Lack of ethical founders aiming for the long-term benefits. Instead most try to grasp as many as short-term bets and see what works out
The debate between Jason Cohen and John Rush about the merits of directories explores their relevance in a digital-first environment. Despite Cohen's argument for their utility as a structured tool for creating curated content and optimizing SEO, Rush could challenge their effectiveness, citing outdated practices and changing consumer preferences. Both perspectives highlight the evolving role of directories in modern marketing strategies, where innovation often clashes with tradition.
Interesting debate! Directories are quick to build and can help validate ideas, but as Jason Cohen points out, they’re often low-effort and flooded with competition. The key is creating something truly valuable, which requires more than just putting together a list. Quality over quantity seems to be the winning formula.
Directories are cool. I’ve used those long before I started building them. Wasn’t even aware it’s a directory. G2, Capterra…