AI Hero
aihero.dev
AI engineering education for web developers, with free guides, an email course, agent skills and a paid cohort.
diff ~/p/matt-pocock ~/p/simon-willison
Matt Pocock vs Simon Willison
Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.
TypeScript and AI engineering educator behind Total TypeScript and AI Hero
@mattpocockuk United Kingdom
Independent open-source developer behind Datasette, LLM and a widely read AI weblog
@simonw United States
Matt Pocock vs Simon Willison at a glance
Matt Pocock and Simon Willison are both indie makers listed on IndieMakerList. They overlap in AI Builders, Developer Tools and Open Source Makers. Matt is based in Oxford, United Kingdom, Simon in San Francisco, United States. Matt started in 2022 and Simon in 2019. Matt Pocock has 6 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Simon Willison's 5. Simon has sold 1 product. On X, Matt has about 374K followers and Simon about 241K.
Side-by-side comparison
- Based in
- Matt Pocock: Oxford, United Kingdom
- Simon Willison: San Francisco, United States
- Started
- Matt Pocock: 2022 (4 yrs indie)
- Simon Willison: 2019 (7 yrs indie)
- Revenue (self-reported)
- Matt Pocock: Not public
- Simon Willison: Not public
- Products listed
- Matt Pocock: 6
- Simon Willison: 5
- Product status
- Matt Pocock: 6 active
- Simon Willison: 4 active · 1 acquired
- X followers
- Matt Pocock: 374K
- Simon Willison: 241K
- Categories
- Matt Pocock: Educators & Course CreatorsAI BuildersDeveloper ToolsOpen Source Makers
- Simon Willison: Open Source MakersDeveloper ToolsAI Builders
- Style
- Matt Pocock: —
- Simon Willison: solobuilds in publicexited
- Courses & resources
- Matt Pocock: 7
- Simon Willison: 1
Revenue figures are self-reported by each maker and not audited; dates and scope differ. Highlighted categories are shared by both.
Top products
Total TypeScript
totaltypescript.com
Exercise-driven professional TypeScript training covering generics, type transformations and advanced library patterns.
ts-reset
github.com
Open-source library that tightens TypeScript's built-in typings, such as making JSON.parse return unknown.
Evalite
evalite.dev
Vitest-based framework for evaluating AI applications in TypeScript with a local UI for outputs and traces.
Datasette
datasette.io
Open-source tool for exploring, analyzing and publishing data as interactive websites and APIs.
LLM
llm.datasette.io
Command-line tool and Python library for running prompts against many large language models.
sqlite-utils
sqlite-utils.datasette.io
Python library and CLI for creating and manipulating SQLite databases.
Social conference directory he co-founded with Natalie Downe; backed by Y Combinator and acquired by Eventbrite in 2013.
Tech stack
No tools in common in their publicly listed stacks. See the indie maker tech stack.
TypeScriptXStateVitest
PythonSQLiteDjango
How they build
- Let learners struggle with a concrete problem before showing the solution.
- Faster code generation makes good software design more valuable, not less.
- Build in thin vertical slices with tight feedback loops like types, tests and reviews.
- Prefer deep modules with simple interfaces so both humans and agents can reason about the code.
- Give away high-quality free material and sell the deeper training.
- Write up everything you learn in public.
- Build many small, composable tools and plugins.
- Treat LLMs as tools to experiment with hands-on.
Learn from Matt and Simon
- [course] Total TypeScript
- [book] Total TypeScript: Essentials · Free
- [book] Total TypeScript (No Starch Press print edition) · $59.99
- [course] AI Coding for Real Engineers
- [newsletter] AI Hero free email course · Free
- [template] AI Hero agent skills · Free
- +1 more on Matt's profile
- [newsletter] Simon Willison's Newsletter
Matt Pocock vs Simon Willison FAQ
Who makes more money, Matt Pocock or Simon Willison?
Neither Matt Pocock nor Simon Willison has publicly reported a revenue figure that IndieMakerList tracks, so it's not public.
Who has built more products, Matt Pocock or Simon Willison?
Matt Pocock has 6 products listed (including AI Hero, Total TypeScript and ts-reset); Simon Willison has 5 products listed (including Datasette, LLM and sqlite-utils).
What tech stack do Matt Pocock and Simon Willison use?
Matt Pocock uses TypeScript, XState and Vitest. Simon Willison uses Python, SQLite and Django. They don't list any tools in common.
Where are Matt Pocock and Simon Willison based?
Matt Pocock: Oxford, United Kingdom. Simon Willison: San Francisco, United States.
Who has been an indie maker longer, Matt Pocock or Simon Willison?
Matt Pocock started in 2022 (4 years indie); Simon Willison started in 2019 (7 years indie).
Are Matt Pocock and Simon Willison bootstrapped?
Neither is tagged as bootstrapped on IndieMakerList; see their profiles for how each funds their work.
Full profiles
Read the full story, timeline and links on Matt Pocock's profile and Simon Willison's profile.
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