Skip to content
IndieMakerList

diff ~/p/daniel-vassallo ~/p/derek-sivers

Daniel Vassallo vs Derek Sivers

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Daniel Vassallo avatar

Daniel Vassallo

Ex-Amazon engineer who popularized the small bets portfolio approach

@dvassallo United States
Derek Sivers avatar

Derek Sivers

Musician who accidentally built CD Baby, sold it for $22M, and writes books on how to live

@sivers New Zealand

Daniel Vassallo vs Derek Sivers at a glance

Both Daniel Vassallo and Derek Sivers are bootstrapped solo founders and have sold at least one product. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators and Creators & Writers. Daniel is based in United States, Derek in New Zealand. Daniel started in 2019 and Derek in 1997. Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Derek Sivers' 3. Daniel has sold 1 product and Derek 2. Daniel self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020); Derek hasn't shared a revenue figure publicly. On X, Daniel has about 205K followers and Derek about 286K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in
Daniel Vassallo: United States
Derek Sivers: New Zealand
Started
Daniel Vassallo: 2019 (7 yrs indie)
Derek Sivers: 1997 (29 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported)
Daniel Vassallo: $210K profit in 9 months (info products)self-reported, as of 2020 · source for Daniel Vassallo's revenue
Derek Sivers: Not public
Products listed
Daniel Vassallo: 4
Derek Sivers: 3
Product status
Daniel Vassallo: 3 active · 1 acquired
Derek Sivers: 0 active · 2 acquired · 1 shut down
X followers
Daniel Vassallo: 205K
Derek Sivers: 286K
Categories
Daniel Vassallo: Educators & Course CreatorsCommunity BuildersCreators & WritersDeveloper Tools
Derek Sivers: Creators & WritersE-commerceEducators & Course Creators
Style
Daniel Vassallo: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited
Derek Sivers: solobootstrappedexited
Courses & resources
Daniel Vassallo: 3
Derek Sivers: 6

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

Top products

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 ↗

Derek Sivers avatarDerek Sivers

CD Baby logo

CD Baby

cdbaby.com

acquired

Online store and distributor for independent musicians; became the largest seller of independent music online. Sold in 2008 for $22M.

HostBaby logo

HostBaby

hostbaby.com

acquired

Web hosting for musicians, sold together with CD Baby in 2008.

Wood Egg logo

Wood Egg

sive.rs

shutdown

Project to publish yearly entrepreneurship guidebooks on 16 Asian countries, started while living in Singapore.

Tech stack

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

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

No stack shared publicly.

Derek Sivers avatarDerek Sivers

RubyPostgreSQLOpenBSDVim

How they build

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.

Derek Sivers avatarDerek Sivers

  • Hell yeah or no: if you're not wildly excited about something, say no.
  • Business is about serving people, not chasing growth; make it a utopia for your customers.
  • Don't need money? Then optimize for freedom and learning instead.
  • Start tiny and stay focused on one thing at a time.
  • Be tech-independent — prefer open, self-hosted tools you control.

Learn from Daniel and Derek

Daniel Vassallo avatarDaniel Vassallo

Derek Sivers avatarDerek Sivers

Daniel Vassallo vs Derek Sivers FAQ

Who makes more money, Daniel Vassallo or Derek Sivers?

Daniel Vassallo self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020). Derek Sivers' revenue is not public, so a direct comparison isn't possible.

Who has built more products, Daniel Vassallo or Derek Sivers?

Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed (including Small Bets, Userbase and Single Server); Derek Sivers has 3 products listed (CD Baby, HostBaby and Wood Egg).

What tech stack do Daniel Vassallo and Derek Sivers use?

Daniel Vassallo hasn't shared a stack. Derek Sivers uses Ruby, PostgreSQL, OpenBSD and Vim. They don't list any tools in common.

Where are Daniel Vassallo and Derek Sivers based?

Daniel Vassallo: United States. Derek Sivers: New Zealand.

Who has been an indie maker longer, Daniel Vassallo or Derek Sivers?

Daniel Vassallo started in 2019 (7 years indie); Derek Sivers started in 1997 (29 years indie).

Are Daniel Vassallo and Derek Sivers bootstrapped?

Yes, both are listed as bootstrapped founders on IndieMakerList.

Full profiles

Read the full story, timeline and links on Daniel Vassallo's profile and Derek Sivers's profile.

More comparisons

All indie maker comparisons →