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Brett Williams vs Daniel Vassallo

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Brett Williams avatar

Brett Williams

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

@BrettFromDJ United States
Daniel Vassallo avatar

Daniel Vassallo

Ex-Amazon engineer who popularized the small bets portfolio approach

@dvassallo United States

Brett Williams vs Daniel Vassallo at a glance

Both Brett Williams and Daniel Vassallo are bootstrapped solo founders and build in public. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators. Brett is based in Phoenix, United States, Daniel in United States. Brett started in 2017 and Daniel in 2019. Brett Williams has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Daniel Vassallo's 4. Daniel has sold 1 product. On revenue, Brett self-reports $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself) (as of 2026) and Daniel $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020). On X, Brett has about 171K followers and Daniel about 205K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in
Brett Williams: Phoenix, United States
Daniel Vassallo: United States
Started
Brett Williams: 2017 (9 yrs indie)
Daniel Vassallo: 2019 (7 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported)
Brett Williams: $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself)self-reported, as of 2026 · source for Brett Williams's revenue
Daniel Vassallo: $210K profit in 9 months (info products)self-reported, as of 2020 · source for Daniel Vassallo's revenue
Products listed
Brett Williams: 4
Daniel Vassallo: 4
Product status
Brett Williams: 4 active
Daniel Vassallo: 3 active · 1 acquired
X followers
Brett Williams: 171K
Daniel Vassallo: 205K
Categories
Brett Williams: Productized ServicesDesign ToolsEducators & Course Creators
Daniel Vassallo: Educators & Course CreatorsCommunity BuildersCreators & WritersDeveloper Tools
Style
Brett Williams: solobootstrappedbuilds in public
Daniel Vassallo: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited
Courses & resources
Brett Williams: 1
Daniel Vassallo: 3

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

Top products

Brett Williams avatarBrett Williams

Designjoy logo

Designjoy

designjoy.co

One-person unlimited design subscription for startups with a flat monthly fee.

$100K MRR
Productize Yourself logo

Productize Yourself

productizeyourself.co

Course teaching how to build a solo productized service business.

$12K MRR
GatherOS logo

GatherOS

gatheros.co

New product Brett is building alongside Designjoy.

Playgrnd logo

Playgrnd

playgrnd.tools

Collection of tools Brett is building.

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

Small Bets logo

Small Bets

smallbets.com

acquired

Community and expert-led classes for small-time entrepreneurs; sold to Gumroad in 2025.

Sold for $3.6M
Userbase logo

Userbase

userbase.com

Open-source, end-to-end encrypted backend for building secure web apps without a server.

TrustMRR ↗
Single Server logo

Single Server

singleserver.com

Wires up Cloudflare, Tailscale, Docker, Kamal and GitHub so every git push deploys all your projects to one server.

Full Send logo

Full Send

fullsend.game

Top-down 2D browser racing game with time trials, multiplayer races and a global leaderboard.

TrustMRR ↗

Tech stack

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

Brett Williams avatarBrett Williams

TrelloWebflowStripe

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

No stack shared publicly.

How they build

Brett Williams avatarBrett 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.

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

  • Place many small bets instead of one big bet; outcomes are hard to predict.
  • Keep things simple and avoid leaving your fate to a single employer or product.
  • Build an audience by sharing what you know openly.
  • Optimize for independence and optionality over prestige.

Learn from Brett and Daniel

Brett Williams avatarBrett Williams

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

Brett Williams vs Daniel Vassallo FAQ

Who makes more money, Brett Williams or Daniel Vassallo?

Brett Williams self-reports $100K MRR (Designjoy) + $12K MRR (Productize Yourself) (as of 2026) and Daniel Vassallo self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020). By these self-reported figures, Brett Williams' 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, Brett Williams or Daniel Vassallo?

Brett Williams has 4 products listed (including Designjoy, Productize Yourself and GatherOS); Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed (including Small Bets, Userbase and Single Server).

What tech stack do Brett Williams and Daniel Vassallo use?

Brett Williams uses Trello, Webflow and Stripe. Daniel Vassallo hasn't shared a stack. They don't list any tools in common.

Where are Brett Williams and Daniel Vassallo based?

Brett Williams: Phoenix, United States. Daniel Vassallo: United States.

Who has been an indie maker longer, Brett Williams or Daniel Vassallo?

Brett Williams started in 2017 (9 years indie); Daniel Vassallo started in 2019 (7 years indie).

Are Brett Williams and Daniel Vassallo bootstrapped?

Yes, both are listed as bootstrapped founders on IndieMakerList.

Full profiles

Read the full story, timeline and links on Brett Williams's profile and Daniel Vassallo's profile.

More comparisons

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