diff ~/p/marc-lou ~/p/patrick-mckenzie

Marc Lou vs Patrick McKenzie

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Marc Lou

French solopreneur from Bali behind TrustMRR, DataFast, ShipFast and 30+ startups

@marclou Indonesia

Patrick McKenzie

patio11: Bingo Card Creator, Appointment Reminder, Stripe Atlas and Bits about Money

@patio11 United States

Marc Lou vs Patrick McKenzie at a glance

Both Marc Lou and Patrick McKenzie are bootstrapped solo founders, build in public and have sold at least one product. They overlap in SaaS Founders and Educators & Course Creators. Marc is based in Bali, Indonesia, Patrick in Chicago, United States. Marc Lou has 10 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Patrick McKenzie's 5. Marc has sold 1 product and Patrick 2. On revenue, Marc self-reports $98K/mo (July 2026) and Patrick ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder) (as of 2012). They share 1 tool in their stacks: Stripe. On X, Marc has about 407K followers and Patrick about 201K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Marc Lou: Bali, Indonesia; Patrick McKenzie: Chicago, United States
Started: Marc Lou: —; Patrick McKenzie: 2006 (20 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): Marc Lou: $98K/mo (July 2026)self-reported, as of 2026-07 · source for Marc Lou's revenue; Patrick McKenzie: ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder)self-reported, as of 2012 · source for Patrick McKenzie's revenue
Products listed: Marc Lou: 10; Patrick McKenzie: 5
Product status: Marc Lou: 8 active · 1 acquired · 1 shut down; Patrick McKenzie: 2 active · 2 acquired · 1 shut down
X followers: Marc Lou: 407K; Patrick McKenzie: 201K
Categories: Marc Lou: SaaS Founders Boilerplate & Starter Kit Makers Analytics & Data Educators & Course Creators; Patrick McKenzie: SaaS Founders Creators & Writers Fintech & Payments Educators & Course Creators
Style: Marc Lou: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexitedserial maker; Patrick McKenzie: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited
Courses & resources: Marc Lou: 6; Patrick McKenzie: 5

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

Tech stack

1 shared tool, marked with ★: Stripe. See the indie maker tech stack.

Marc Lou

Next.jsReactTailwind CSSMongoDB StripeVercel

Patrick McKenzie

Ruby on RailsTwilio Stripe

How they build

Marc Lou

Ship tiny products fast and let the market decide which ones deserve more time.
Build in public and share every revenue number, including failures.
Use a reusable codebase so each new launch takes days, not months.
Marketing and storytelling matter as much as code; make launches fun and memorable.

Patrick McKenzie

Charge more — most software businesses dramatically underprice.
SaaS is the best business model ever invented for software.
Being a better marketer than most engineers (and vice versa) is a superpower.
Write prolifically and in public; generous writing compounds into opportunity.
Keep a low personal burn rate so a small business can sustain you indefinitely.

Learn from Marc and Patrick

Marc Lou

[course] CodeFast
[template] ShipFast
[book] Marc Lou's book
[newsletter] Marc Lou newsletter
[community] Ship or Die
[youtube] Marc Lou on YouTube

Patrick McKenzie

[newsletter] Bits about Money
[podcast] Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie
[template] Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued
[course] Lifecycle Emails course
[template] Start here if you're new

Marc Lou vs Patrick McKenzie FAQ

Who makes more money, Marc Lou or Patrick McKenzie?

Marc Lou self-reports $98K/mo (July 2026) and Patrick McKenzie self-reports ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder) (as of 2012). By these self-reported figures, Marc Lou'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, Marc Lou or Patrick McKenzie?

Marc Lou has 10 products listed (including TrustMRR, DataFast and CodeFast); Patrick McKenzie has 5 products listed (including Bingo Card Creator, Appointment Reminder and Starfighter).

What tech stack do Marc Lou and Patrick McKenzie use?

Marc Lou uses Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, MongoDB, Stripe and Vercel. Patrick McKenzie uses Ruby on Rails, Twilio and Stripe. Tools they have in common: Stripe.