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Adam Wathan vs Brett Williams

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Adam Wathan

Creator of Tailwind CSS who built a multi-million-dollar business on open source

@adamwathan Canada

Brett Williams

Solo designer running Designjoy, a $1M+/yr one-person design subscription

@BrettFromDJ United States

Adam Wathan vs Brett Williams at a glance

Both Adam Wathan and Brett Williams are bootstrapped and build in public. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators and Design Tools. Adam is based in Canada, Brett in Phoenix, United States. Adam started in 2016 and Brett in 2017. Adam Wathan has 7 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Brett Williams' 4. Adam has sold 3 products. On revenue, Adam self-reports Mid-seven figures/yr (2020) and Brett $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself) (as of 2026). On X, Adam has about 302K followers and Brett about 171K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Adam Wathan: Canada; Brett Williams: Phoenix, United States
Started: Adam Wathan: 2016 (10 yrs indie); Brett Williams: 2017 (9 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): Adam Wathan: Mid-seven figures/yr (2020)self-reported, as of 2020 · source for Adam Wathan's revenue; Brett Williams: $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself)self-reported, as of 2026 · source for Brett Williams's revenue
Products listed: Adam Wathan: 7; Brett Williams: 4
Product status: Adam Wathan: 4 active · 3 acquired; Brett Williams: 4 active
X followers: Adam Wathan: 302K; Brett Williams: 171K
Categories: Adam Wathan: Open Source Makers Developer Tools Educators & Course Creators Design Tools; Brett Williams: Productized Services Design Tools Educators & Course Creators
Style: Adam Wathan: bootstrappedbuilds in publicexited; Brett Williams: solobootstrappedbuilds in public
Courses & resources: Adam Wathan: 5; Brett Williams: 1

Revenue figures are self-reported by each maker and not audited; dates and scope differ. Highlighted categories are shared by both.

Tech stack

No tools in common in their publicly listed stacks. See the indie maker tech stack.

Adam Wathan

Tailwind CSSLaravelReactVueNext.js

Brett Williams

TrelloWebflowStripe

How they build

Adam Wathan

Build tools for your own projects first — Tailwind started as stylesheets reused between side projects.
Give away a great open-source product and sell premium resources around it.
Teach in public with books, courses, podcasts and live streams to build an audience.
Be candid about the business, including the hard parts.

Brett Williams

Productize a service with a flat monthly price instead of quoting projects.
When demand outgrows capacity, raise prices rather than hire.
Stay small and keep the margins.

Learn from Adam and Brett

Adam Wathan

Brett Williams

[course] Productize Yourself

Adam Wathan vs Brett Williams FAQ

Who makes more money, Adam Wathan or Brett Williams?

Adam Wathan self-reports Mid-seven figures/yr (2020) and Brett Williams self-reports $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself) (as of 2026). By these self-reported figures, Adam Wathan's reported monthly revenue is higher. Figures are unaudited and may cover different periods or businesses, so treat them as rough indicators.

Who has built more products, Adam Wathan or Brett Williams?

Adam Wathan has 7 products listed (including Tailwind Plus (formerly Tailwind UI), Refactoring UI and Tailwind CSS); Brett Williams has 4 products listed (including Designjoy, Productize Yourself and GatherOS).