diff ~/p/daniel-vassallo ~/p/justin-welsh

Daniel Vassallo vs Justin Welsh

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Daniel Vassallo

Ex-Amazon engineer who popularized the small bets portfolio approach

@dvassallo United States

Justin Welsh

Solopreneur who passed $10M in revenue with a one-person business

@thejustinwelsh United States

Daniel Vassallo vs Justin Welsh at a glance

Both Daniel Vassallo and Justin Welsh are bootstrapped solo founders and build in public. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators and Creators & Writers. Both are based in United States. Both started building independently in 2019. Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Justin Welsh's 3. Daniel has sold 1 product. On revenue, Daniel self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020) and Justin $10M+ total revenue (lifetime) (as of 2025). On X, Daniel has about 205K followers and Justin about 592K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Daniel Vassallo: United States; Justin Welsh: United States
Started: Daniel Vassallo: 2019 (7 yrs indie); Justin Welsh: 2019 (7 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; Justin Welsh: $10M+ total revenue (lifetime)self-reported, as of 2025 · source for Justin Welsh's revenue
Products listed: Daniel Vassallo: 4; Justin Welsh: 3
Product status: Daniel Vassallo: 3 active · 1 acquired; Justin Welsh: 3 active
X followers: Daniel Vassallo: 205K; Justin Welsh: 592K
Categories: Daniel Vassallo: Educators & Course Creators Community Builders Creators & Writers Developer Tools; Justin Welsh: Creators & Writers Educators & Course Creators
Style: Daniel Vassallo: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited; Justin Welsh: solobootstrappedbuilds in public
Courses & resources: Daniel Vassallo: 3; Justin Welsh: 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.

Daniel Vassallo

No stack shared publicly.

Justin Welsh

No stack shared publicly.

How they build

Daniel 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.

Justin Welsh

Build a portfolio of one-person businesses designed around the life you want.
Create content consistently to build an audience, then productize what works.
Listen closely to your audience and build the products they ask for.
Keep costs and complexity low to protect high margins and free time.

Learn from Daniel and Justin

Daniel Vassallo

[book] The Good Parts of AWS
[course] Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience
[community] Small Bets

Justin Welsh

[course] The LinkedIn Operating System · $200
[course] The Content Operating System · $200
[newsletter] The Saturday Essay

Daniel Vassallo vs Justin Welsh FAQ

Who makes more money, Daniel Vassallo or Justin Welsh?

Daniel Vassallo self-reports $210K profit in 9 months (info products) (as of 2020) and Justin Welsh self-reports $10M+ total revenue (lifetime) (as of 2025). By these self-reported figures, Justin Welsh'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, Daniel Vassallo or Justin Welsh?

Daniel Vassallo has 4 products listed (including Small Bets, Userbase and Single Server); Justin Welsh has 3 products listed (The LinkedIn Operating System, The Content Operating System and The Saturday Essay).