diff ~/p/damon-chen ~/p/ian-nuttall

Damon Chen vs Ian Nuttall

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Damon Chen

Ex-Cisco engineer who built Testimonial.to and grew acquired PDF.ai into a top AI PDF tool

@damonchen United States

Ian Nuttall

SEO veteran and serial internet entrepreneur shipping AI-coded SEO tools

@iannuttall

Damon Chen vs Ian Nuttall at a glance

Both Damon Chen and Ian Nuttall are bootstrapped, build in public, have sold at least one product and are serial makers. They overlap in AI Builders and Marketing & SEO Tools. Damon started in 2020 and Ian in 2005. Damon Chen has 8 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Ian Nuttall's 4. Damon has sold 1 product and Ian the same number. On revenue, Damon self-reports $1.3M ARR (Testimonial.to + PDF.ai) (as of 2024) and Ian $100K ARR (Keyword Metrics + URL Monitor) (as of 2024). On X, Damon has about 99K followers and Ian about 82K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Damon Chen: San Jose, United States; Ian Nuttall: —
Started: Damon Chen: 2020 (6 yrs indie); Ian Nuttall: 2005 (21 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): Damon Chen: $1.3M ARR (Testimonial.to + PDF.ai)self-reported, as of 2024 · source for Damon Chen's revenue; Ian Nuttall: $100K ARR (Keyword Metrics + URL Monitor)self-reported, as of 2024 · source for Ian Nuttall's revenue
Products listed: Damon Chen: 8; Ian Nuttall: 4
Product status: Damon Chen: 7 active · 1 acquired; Ian Nuttall: 2 active · 1 acquired · 1 shut down
X followers: Damon Chen: 99K; Ian Nuttall: 82K
Categories: Damon Chen: SaaS Founders AI Builders Marketing & SEO Tools; Ian Nuttall: Marketing & SEO Tools AI Builders Creators & Writers
Style: Damon Chen: bootstrappedbuilds in publicexitedserial maker; Ian Nuttall: bootstrappedbuilds in publicexitedserial maker
Courses & resources: Damon Chen: 1; Ian Nuttall: 3

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.

Damon Chen

No stack shared publicly.

Ian Nuttall

CursorClaude CodeCodexGoogle Search Console API

How they build

Damon Chen

Start small and cheap, validate with early lifetime deals, then reinvest.
Buying a promising product can beat building from scratch.
Premium, memorable domains are a real growth lever.
Listen to support tickets; they reveal what to build next.

Ian Nuttall

Build the tools you need yourself, then share them.
Combine SEO know-how with AI coding for leverage.
Favour craft, quality, minimalism and simplicity in products.
SEO businesses demand extreme patience through algorithm swings.
An audience on X can be the main customer acquisition channel.

Learn from Damon and Ian

Damon Chen

[podcast] Behind the Craft: From Engineer to Indie Hacker Making $1.3M ARR

Ian Nuttall

[newsletter] Ian Nuttall newsletter · Free
[youtube] Ian Nuttall on YouTube · Free
[course] Practical Programmatic

Damon Chen vs Ian Nuttall FAQ

Who makes more money, Damon Chen or Ian Nuttall?

Damon Chen self-reports $1.3M ARR (Testimonial.to + PDF.ai) (as of 2024) and Ian Nuttall self-reports $100K ARR (Keyword Metrics + URL Monitor) (as of 2024). By these self-reported figures, Damon Chen'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, Damon Chen or Ian Nuttall?

Damon Chen has 8 products listed (including Testimonial.to, PDF.ai and Chat.sh); Ian Nuttall has 4 products listed (including ian.is SEO tools, URL Monitor (now Cromojo) and Keyword Metrics).