diff ~/p/pat-walls ~/p/thomas-frank

Pat Walls vs Thomas Frank

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

Pat Walls

Founder of Starter Story, the founder case-study brand acquired by HubSpot in 2026

@thepatwalls United States

Thomas Frank

Productivity YouTuber behind Ultimate Brain, Notion tutorials and the Flylighter clipper

@TomFrankly United States

Pat Walls vs Thomas Frank at a glance

Both Pat Walls and Thomas Frank are bootstrapped and build in public. They overlap in Creators & Writers and Educators & Course Creators. Pat is based in United States, Thomas in Des Moines, United States. Pat started in 2017 and Thomas in 2010. Pat Walls has 2 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Thomas Frank's 5. Pat has sold 1 product. On revenue, Pat self-reports $1M/yr (as of 2023) and Thomas $1M in Notion template sales (2022). On X, Pat has about 143K followers and Thomas about 145K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: Pat Walls: United States; Thomas Frank: Des Moines, United States
Started: Pat Walls: 2017 (9 yrs indie); Thomas Frank: 2010 (16 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): Pat Walls: $1M/yrself-reported, as of 2023 · source for Pat Walls's revenue; Thomas Frank: $1M in Notion template sales (2022)self-reported, as of 2022 · source for Thomas Frank's revenue
Products listed: Pat Walls: 2; Thomas Frank: 5
Product status: Pat Walls: 1 active · 1 acquired; Thomas Frank: 5 active
X followers: Pat Walls: 143K; Thomas Frank: 145K
Categories: Pat Walls: Creators & Writers Educators & Course Creators Directory Makers; Thomas Frank: Creators & Writers Productivity Tools Educators & Course Creators Browser Extension Makers
Style: Pat Walls: bootstrappedbuilds in publicexited; Thomas Frank: bootstrappedbuilds in public
Courses & resources: Pat Walls: 4; Thomas Frank: 5

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.

Pat Walls

Ruby on Rails

Thomas Frank

NotionLemon SqueezyCirclePipedreamJavaScript

How they build

Pat Walls

Distribution matters more than the product — find one channel that works, then find the next one as you grow.
Consistent daily deep work over a long period beats bursts of hustle.
Eventually you have to pick one idea and go all-in instead of juggling many projects.
Be radically transparent about numbers — real revenue makes content stand out.
Build a business to change your life, not to become your life; rest to stay in the game.

Thomas Frank

Aim to get slightly better at a skill with every new project.
Create things of value and also show up in the community around them.
A smaller, focused audience can earn more than a huge general one.
Treat Notion as a toolkit for building your own productivity systems.
Give away genuinely useful free education alongside paid products.

Learn from Pat and Thomas

Pat Walls

[youtube] Starter Story on YouTube
[newsletter] Starter Story Newsletter
[community] Starter Story Premium
[course] Starter Story Build Accelerator · $395

Thomas Frank

[youtube] Thomas Frank
[course] Notion Fundamentals · Free
[book] 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades · Free (digital)
[podcast] The Inforium
[template] Free Notion templates · Free

Pat Walls vs Thomas Frank FAQ

Who makes more money, Pat Walls or Thomas Frank?

Pat Walls self-reports $1M/yr (as of 2023) and Thomas Frank self-reports $1M in Notion template sales (2022). Figures are unaudited and may cover different periods or businesses, so treat them as rough indicators.

Who has built more products, Pat Walls or Thomas Frank?

Pat Walls has 2 products listed (Starter Story and Starter Story Build); Thomas Frank has 5 products listed (including Ultimate Brain, Creator's Companion and Flylighter).