diff ~/p/damon-chen ~/p/kevin-yun

Damon Chen vs Kevin Yun

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

Kevin Yun

Bootstrapped co-founder of GrowSurf referral software; writes SaaS Kevin; two exits

@kevinyun United States

Damon Chen vs Kevin Yun at a glance

Both Damon Chen and Kevin Yun are bootstrapped, build in public and have sold at least one product. They overlap in SaaS Founders and Marketing & SEO Tools. Damon is based in San Jose, United States, Kevin in Chicago, United States. Damon started in 2020 and Kevin in 2013. Damon Chen has 10 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Kevin Yun's 4. Damon has sold 1 product and Kevin 2. On revenue, Damon self-reports $1.3M ARR (Testimonial.to + PDF.ai) (as of 2024) and Kevin $24K MRR (as of 2021). On X, Damon has about 99K followers and Kevin about 2.8K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Damon Chen: San Jose, United States; Kevin Yun: Chicago, United States
Started: Damon Chen: 2020 (6 yrs indie); Kevin Yun: 2013 (13 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; Kevin Yun: $24K MRRself-reported, as of 2021 · source for Kevin Yun's revenue
Products listed: Damon Chen: 10; Kevin Yun: 4
Product status: Damon Chen: 9 active · 1 acquired; Kevin Yun: 2 active · 2 acquired
X followers: Damon Chen: 99K; Kevin Yun: 2.8K
Categories: Damon Chen: SaaS Founders AI Builders Marketing & SEO Tools; Kevin Yun: SaaS Founders Marketing & SEO Tools
Style: Damon Chen: bootstrappedbuilds in publicexitedserial maker; Kevin Yun: duobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited
Courses & resources: Damon Chen: 1; Kevin Yun: 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.

Damon Chen

No stack shared publicly.

Kevin Yun

No stack shared publicly.

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.

Kevin Yun

A struggling SaaS can be turned around with focus on a clear customer.
Stay bootstrapped and profitable.
Referrals are a powerful, underused growth channel.

Learn from Damon and Kevin

Damon Chen

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

Kevin Yun

[newsletter] Kevin Yun on Substack

Damon Chen vs Kevin Yun FAQ

Who makes more money, Damon Chen or Kevin Yun?

Damon Chen self-reports $1.3M ARR (Testimonial.to + PDF.ai) (as of 2024) and Kevin Yun self-reports $24K MRR (as of 2021). 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 Kevin Yun?

Damon Chen has 10 products listed (including Testimonial.to, PDF.ai and Chat.sh); Kevin Yun has 4 products listed (including GrowSurf, Designation and ComplyDog).