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Nicolas Cole vs Patrick McKenzie

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Nicolas Cole avatar

Nicolas Cole

Writer and co-founder of Ship 30 for 30, author of The Art & Business of Online Writing

@Nicolascole77 United States
Patrick McKenzie avatar

Patrick McKenzie

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

@patio11 United States

Nicolas Cole vs Patrick McKenzie at a glance

Both Nicolas Cole and Patrick McKenzie are bootstrapped. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators and Creators & Writers. Nicolas is based in Scottsdale, United States, Patrick in Chicago, United States. Nicolas Cole has 5 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Patrick McKenzie's 5. Patrick has sold 2 products. Patrick self-reports ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder) (as of 2012); Nicolas hasn't shared a revenue figure publicly. On X, Nicolas has about 228K followers and Patrick about 201K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in
Nicolas Cole: Scottsdale, United States
Patrick McKenzie: Chicago, United States
Started
Nicolas Cole: —
Patrick McKenzie: 2006 (20 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported)
Nicolas Cole: Not public
Patrick McKenzie: ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder)self-reported, as of 2012 · source for Patrick McKenzie's revenue
Products listed
Nicolas Cole: 5
Patrick McKenzie: 5
Product status
Nicolas Cole: 5 active
Patrick McKenzie: 2 active · 2 acquired · 1 shut down
X followers
Nicolas Cole: 228K
Patrick McKenzie: 201K
Categories
Nicolas Cole: Educators & Course CreatorsCreators & Writers
Patrick McKenzie: SaaS FoundersCreators & WritersFintech & PaymentsEducators & Course Creators
Style
Nicolas Cole: duobootstrapped
Patrick McKenzie: solobootstrappedbuilds in publicexited
Courses & resources
Nicolas Cole: 4
Patrick McKenzie: 5

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

Top products

Nicolas Cole avatarNicolas Cole

Ship 30 for 30 logo

Ship 30 for 30

ship30for30.com

Cohort writing program to publish 30 Atomic Essays in 30 days.

Typeshare logo

Typeshare

typeshare.co

Writing app with templates for social posts and Atomic Essays.

Category Pirates logo

Category Pirates

categorypirates.news

Paid newsletter and book series on category design, co-created with Christopher Lochhead and Eddie Yoon.

See all 5 products by Nicolas Cole →

Patrick McKenzie avatarPatrick McKenzie

Bingo Card Creator logo

Bingo Card Creator

bingocardcreator.com

acquired

Makes custom printable bingo cards for teachers; his first product and public marketing testbed. Sold in 2015.

Appointment Reminder logo

Appointment Reminder

appointmentreminder.org

acquired

SaaS that sends appointment reminder calls, texts and emails for professional services businesses. Sold in 2016 via FE International.

S

Starfighter

kalzumeus.com

shutdown

Co-founded company that built programming games (like Stockfighter) to identify talented engineers for hiring; shut down in 2016.

Bits about Money logo

Bits about Money

bitsaboutmoney.com

Newsletter on the intersection of technology and finance.

See all 5 products by Patrick McKenzie →

Tech stack

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

Nicolas Cole avatarNicolas Cole

No stack shared publicly.

Patrick McKenzie avatarPatrick McKenzie

Ruby on RailsTwilioStripe

How they build

Nicolas Cole avatarNicolas Cole

  • Writing online is a skill and a business; treat it like both.
  • Volume and consistency come before quality and virality.
  • Package what you know into a clear category you can own.

Patrick McKenzie avatarPatrick 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 Nicolas and Patrick

Nicolas Cole avatarNicolas Cole

Patrick McKenzie avatarPatrick McKenzie

Nicolas Cole vs Patrick McKenzie FAQ

Who makes more money, Nicolas Cole or Patrick McKenzie?

Patrick McKenzie self-reports ~$275K/yr sales, ~$200K profit (excl. Appointment Reminder) (as of 2012). Nicolas Cole's revenue is not public, so a direct comparison isn't possible.

Who has built more products, Nicolas Cole or Patrick McKenzie?

Nicolas Cole has 5 products listed (including Ship 30 for 30, Premium Ghostwriting Academy and Typeshare); Patrick McKenzie has 5 products listed (including Bingo Card Creator, Appointment Reminder and Starfighter).

What tech stack do Nicolas Cole and Patrick McKenzie use?

Nicolas Cole hasn't shared a stack. Patrick McKenzie uses Ruby on Rails, Twilio and Stripe. They don't list any tools in common.

Where are Nicolas Cole and Patrick McKenzie based?

Nicolas Cole: Scottsdale, United States. Patrick McKenzie: Chicago, United States.

Who has been an indie maker longer, Nicolas Cole or Patrick McKenzie?

Nicolas Cole's start year isn't listed; Patrick McKenzie started in 2006 (20 years indie).

Are Nicolas Cole and Patrick McKenzie bootstrapped?

Yes, both are listed as bootstrapped founders on IndieMakerList.

Full profiles

Read the full story, timeline and links on Nicolas Cole's profile and Patrick McKenzie's profile.

More comparisons

All indie maker comparisons →