Ayoub is an indie hacker and serial digital entrepreneur passionate about SaaS, MicroSaaS & iOS Mobile Apps business, with 10+ years of experience in the digital & software engineering field.
Previously, he was a senior software engineer and IT consultant at multiple companies.
He built a dozen products, sold a few ones, and failed/learned from many books.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I’m partially nomad, so most of the time I’m on a new destination and every day is different, but the main static parts of my typical day are deep work on coffee, a football game, and another session of deep work, and what makes it productive is to have predefined tasks to execute with a given deadline.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I believe perfection is an enemy of productivity, so what helps me the most to bring ideas to life is the focus on fast, early, and frequent shipping and avoidance of perfection.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I’m always excited about trends related to minimalist nomad life and travels.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
As a big football fan and former player, playing football is an activity that plays a significant role in my life. It not only helps me stay productive and focused but also allows me to reduce stress.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Without hesitation, I would advise myself to avoid the pursuit of perfection. In my opinion, it is an underrated skill to have.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you.
When it comes to any subject, there will always be people who agree and those who don’t. However, I firmly believe that minimalism in entrepreneurship and business is essential for every entrepreneur, even if many people disagree.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Sleeping for 8 hours is a must for me. I believe getting enough sleep is one of the most effective productivity hacks.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
When it comes to regaining lost focus, nothing beats changing my geographical location. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or unfocused, you’ll find me searching for flights and booking a hotel or apartment somewhere else!
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
One of the things that helped me a lot in my business and career is the following actions:
– Working solo and on small teams over big teams which helped in increasing my shipping flexibility.
– Adopting minimalism in business by focusing on what’s necessary to create what’s essential.
– Focusing on execution and fast shipping over perfection.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Spending a lot of time building a tool blindly, without research, validation, or tests, and trying to make it perfect.
In the end, it wasn’t worth launching it, and the tool failed badly because of market competition and the absence of a real unique value proposition.
To overcome that, we sold it for a few bucks and learned to never focus on perfection and to ship ASAP to build with/for the market.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I could give a dozen ideas, but without execution, they’re worth nothing.
One business or product idea that I’m willing to share with you is to build a Shopify ASO (App Store Optimization) and keyword tracking tool for Shopify app founders and partners. There is a real need for that kind of tool.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I use Ticktick as a productivity tool. I mainly use it with the Getting Things Done (GTD) method of David Allen.
What is the best $100 you recently spent?
The best amount I recently spent was mainly spent on accounting to close one of my companies because it was driving my focus out of where it should be.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?
I recommend you to read the Make eBook of Pieter levels, there is a ton of value inside, especially actionable steps and processes to ship products.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I enjoyed watching the TV series “Suits”.
It’s a show that features realistic scenes, intelligent thinking, and valuable lessons. The series demonstrates how problem-solving can be made effortless through the effective use of one’s mind.
Key learnings:
- Perfection is the enemy of productivity.
- Ship Fast, Early, and Frequently.
- Focus on what’s necessary to create what’s essential.
- Explore minimalism in entrepreneurship and business, it’s helpful.