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- 📶 Bryce Roberts (Founder @ INDIE) on efficiency, the pursuit of revenue-per-employee, and escaping the venture rat race
📶 Bryce Roberts (Founder @ INDIE) on efficiency, the pursuit of revenue-per-employee, and escaping the venture rat race
Efficiency and growing revenue-per-employee, automating the back office vs. front office, why creators are bad at pursuing the right ways to monetize their audience, and how seedstrapping changes venture math
Good morning 👋
Today we’re breaking down a conversation with Bryce Roberts (Founder @ INDIE).
Bryce is one of the first people I started following ~seven years ago when I was getting started in venture, and he has one of the sharpest minds of any investor I’ve spoken with.
His approach to venture is different than most, and he was early to this idea that there is a different approach to venture rather than chasing growth-at-all-costs and staying on the fundraising treadmill forever.
We unpack some of those thoughts and more in this talk.
Let’s get into it.
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Bryce Roberts
Founder @ INDIE
On the $100M revenue with sub-10 employees idea
“$100M in revenue with under 10 employees is the modern generation of founders’ 4-minute mile.”
“Founders want to build with people they trust—not hire for pedigree or narrative. They’ve lived the growth-at-all-costs model and know what it costs.”
“We’re seeing a massive wave of second and third-time founders who now know what it’s like to lose control or be misled by investors. They want different.”
Condensing org departments and automating back-office functions
“Midjourney blew my mind. $100M+ revenue with ~20 employees. That kind of compression is now real.”
“Time to revenue is shortening. Feedback from paid users is more valuable than most founders realize.”
“There’s a 10–20% gap where humanity still matters. That’s where the value is going to be created.”
AI and the shift in team composition
“You can take on five jobs at once with these tools now. Coders don’t want to manage junior devs—they want leverage.”
“Much of what used to be specialized work is now table stakes. That elevates the importance of taste and perspective.”
Converting attention into equity through creators
“Too many creators just burn brand equity on low-upside stuff. Everyone’s got a tequila brand. The real challenge is leveraging attention in high-value ways.”
“Mark Sisson from Primal Kitchen is the best example. 20 years of trust-building through niche content turned into a billion-dollar exit.”
Seedstrapping and the one-and-done concept
“We called it ‘one and done’—raise early to de-risk, open doors, pay yourself, and then just build.”
“The world used to be binary: bootstrap or raise and blitzscale. We wanted to offer the third path.”
“If founders don’t know that’s possible, they default into the game-within-a-game of venture.”
Liquidity, secondaries, and evolving fund models
“Secondaries are going to be a bigger part of GP liquidity. We already have Indie portfolio companies doing $100M+ ARR with no additional rounds.”
“We’ve held equity without dilution for 7–8 years in some cases—and the value just compounds.”
Cultural shifts and founder mindset
“Founders are realizing raising a massive round may actually increase their risk of failure—not reduce it.”
“You’re told to follow a set playbook, say the right things, do it the right way—and end up giving up yourself in the process. Founder mode is about taking that back.”
“There’s a unique opportunity to build durable, profitable, trustworthy businesses—and that’s now a strategic advantage.”
More: indie.vc
TWEET
Spoke with @bryce the other week about:
- Efficiency and growing revenue-per-employee
- Automating the back office vs. front office
- Why creators are bad at pursuing the right ways to monetize their audience
- How seedstrapping changes venture math— Clay Norris (@ClayNorris10)
2:42 PM • Apr 8, 2025
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- Clay
(Founder @ Confluence.VC | GP @ Outlaw)
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