Mubashar “Mubs” Iqbal is a serial maker. He has designed, developed and launched multiple products in niches related to cryptocurrency, movies and podcasts. He is the co-founder of FounderPath and was the 2016 Product Hunt Maker Of The Year.
Mubs.me is Mubashars main website. It provides an overview of his work and shares links to his social profiles. He also writes at Practical Dev.
He previously ran his main website at MubasharIqbal.com. It was originally created in 2014.
Articles:
Mubs shares how showing kindness in his community benefits everyone
Mubs shares the benefits of being a generalist. He argues that it will put you in a better position to understand how the decisions you are making will affect other people and the product you are building.
Finding the Time for Side Projects
Mubs shares how he finds the time for his projects despite his other commitments.
Keep a beginner’s mind, learn all you can and enjoy the ride!
Build that project for yourself. Others may use it, but don’t make their use the criteria for success. If the project solves your needs and you use it, then it is a success!
Building 4 Websites in 35 Days
Mubs launched a number of side projects in 2017 as part of a Product Hunt hackathon.
No amount of reading, watching or listening to other people do things is going to make you better at doing something. The only way to get better is by doing.
Mubs shares how stuttering has helped him become a better maker.
Hackathons
He is an active participate in hackathons.
He has written about some of them at Medium:
Recaps
- #2017 Side Project Recap on Twitter
- Looking back at 2018
Interesting facts
- He was first nominated for Product Hunt Maker Of The Year in 2015.
- His t-shirt collection is dominated by Seth Louey creations.
- The hardware and software Mubs uses to build his side projects.
Main Projects
Founderpath
Mubs co-founded Founderpath with Nathan Latka.
Founderpath is a service where Saas owners are able to borrow money upfront based on their MRR. The first version launched mid 2019. Nathan shared more about the launch at Why Hackers are Taking Money From Founderpath.
The business was originally called Maker Metrics. They changed the name after refocusing the product offering and realizing that the name didn’t fit the new purpose. He shared more about Maker Metrics at Indie Hackers and Product Hunt.
Side projects
You can get an overview of his products at his I Worked On profile.
Podcasts
Pod Hunt
Pod Hunt is place for podcast lovers to submit and vote on new episodes. It was inspired by the former podcast category on Product Hunt.
The idea was born in 2017, but he didn’t start working on the product until 2019. He privately launched it on July 31, but had an unexpected soft launch when Podnews mentioned Pod Hunt. He shared the traffic statistics on Twitter.
After two weeks, the website had 968 visitors and 3,839 pageviews. By August 12, the website had crossed 5’000 page views.
He launched on Product Hunt on August 20. It hit the #1 spot. He wrote a Twitter thread sharing updates on the launch day. He shared more statistics and milestones on its one month anniversary.
By September 8, the service had 500 users. Mubs had also experimented with asking podcast hosts to support the service. By September 4, he had 14 new podcasts added to the site. This was the first time since launched that Mubs didn’t post any episodes.
In November, Mubs launched Makers Podcasts. Maker Podcasts is a curated collection of podcasts. It focuses on specific episods rather than a list of podcasts. He was originally to create an entire website dedicated to these podcasts but decided to make it a feature of Pod Hunt. He shared more about the decision at Announcing Maker Podcasts.
He frequently provided Pod Hunt statistics:
- Potential sponsors started reaching out to him in August
- SEO starting kicking in during late August
- Clicks/impressions after appearing on the Indie Hackers Podcast (September 31)
- October 2
- October 11 (Google Search)
- November 8
Podcast Cover Art
Podcast Cover Art is the leading destination for the best podcast cover art. Users can get ideas and inspiration from over 200 of the best podcasts.
Mubs announced he was working on the project during late November, 2020.
He launched the project on December 13. The twitter thread curates stats from the first two days.
Podcast Ping
Podcast Ping is a service that monitors your podcast and podcast’s website to make sure it’s available.
In 2020, Mbs did an experiment to see if he could build a successful SaaS business in one hour per day. He documented the project at One Hour Saas. He also shared updates at Product Hunt:
He soft launched the product in October, 2020.
Podcast Hosting Review
Podcast Hosting Review shares reviews of popular podcast hosting platforms.
Mubs shared the story of the websites creation at One Hour Saas. He also created a Twitter thread after launching on Product Hunt.
Podcast Discovery
Podcast Discovery is a microsite curates a list of projects that are working to fix podcast discovery. He sought ideas and inspiration from Indie Hackers.
He soft launched it in December, 2019.
Suggest A Guest
Suggest A Guest is a website that allows visitors to suggest a guest for their favorite podcasts. He built it in 10 hours as part of an impromptu solo hackathon
Products For Makers
Branded Background
Branded Background allows users to create a branded virtual background for their Zoom calls. Mubs worked on the project with Adam Marx and was able to go from idea to launch over 2 weekends.
He posted about the launch on Indie Hackers and Product Hunt. He also created a launch day Twitter thread.
Visit the website
Maker Network
Maker Network is a website that allows you to visualize the connections between makers of Product Hunt. It was built by Mubs in during the 2019 Product Hunt makers festival. He shared more about creating the product at Announcing: Maker Network. He also shared part of the journey at Indie Hackers.
He created a Twitter thread with launch stats.
He has incorporated 500 Makers into the website in July 2019. 500 Makers is an updated list of the Top 500 Makers on Product Hunt. He shared the story of 500 Makers at Medium.
He also ran 500 Products, but that domain redirects to Maker Network. He also created a post about creating the 500 Hunters list – another project that now redirects to the Maker Network.
I Worked On
I worked on allows you to build a portfolio of the things you’ve made to share with the world. He posted about creating the product at Redesigning and Launching I Worked On.
Publicly
Publicly is a simple way to track all the things being built in public by all the makers who share their progress. Mubs worked on this project with Daniel Kempe.
He built buzz around the launch by posting on Product Hunt Upcoming and Medium. He launched Publicly in November, 2017. It became the #1 Product Of The Day on Product Hunt. He shared a quick stats update on November 27.
Hackers News
Hackers News is an an alternative way to navigate Hacker News.
He wrote about the projects creation at Idea to Production in 3 hours. He shared more information about the launch at Twitter and Indie Hackers.
Side Project Books
Mubs was planning to write a short blog post with book recommendations about side projects. He posted about the idea on Twitter and got lots of great book suggestions. He ended up creating a mini site curating the recommendations.
He wrote more about the project on Medium. His first affiliate income was $.92.
Creators Log
Creators Log was a community for people to share their product creation journey. It launched in 2015.
He got a cease and desist letter from the lawyers at WeWork for originally using the phrase “A Community of Creators.”
The project is now dead. You can visit the archived version.
Indiehackers TV
Indiehackers.tv makes it easier to find the video content posted on Indie Hackers.
He wrote more about the project on Medium and at Indie Hackers.
Social Media
Follow Team
Follow Team curates great teams to follow on Twitter.
He shared more about the launch on Product hunt.
ICYMI
ICYMI is a product that makes it easy to re-share your best content on Twitter, in a way that augments your activity, rather than replacing it. He wrote more about the product launch on Medium.
Movies
Movies Coming Out
Movies Coming Out is a website that shares information and trailers about new movie releases. He posted about creating the website at Medium.
He sought feedback on Indie Hackers and launched Movies Coming Out on Product Hunt. He created a Twitter thread with launch stats.
It ranked on Google quickly and was still getting good traffic one week post launch.
Pandemic Movies
Pandemic Movies curates movies about pandemics and disease outbreaks.
He launched it mid March, 2020. Traffic was strong for a while but started waning mid May.
MCU Movies
MCU Movies started as a simple one page website in 2017. He continued growing the site as the as the popularity of MCU has continued to grow.
Statistics
- Stats from March 2019
- He hit 541 new users in the month leading up to April 2019.
- In August, 2019, he had observed an increase in people searching for MCU Movies.
Critics
Critics is a website that latest video reviews for popular movie releases. He worked on the project with Isaac Bryant and Seth Louey. It was launched in 2016.
He got over 10’000 reviews by the end of 2017. In July, 2019, he reported that 23’000 reviews had been added and the site was getting 2’000 visitors each month.
Check out the Product Hunt launch.
Best Movies
Best Movies was created as an extension of Critics. He noticed that a lot of summaries were being posted summarizing the best movies of the year. The site uses the Critics infrastructure but has its own domain.
He shared more about the creative process at Best Movies of the Year
Cryptocurrency
Accepting
Accepting is a growing list of places you can spend your Bitcoin. He did intend to include other forms of cryptocurrency, however the site is currently in zombie mode.
He wrote more about creating the product at his medium blog.
Balance
Balance is services that provides a daily email with a users Coinbase account balance. The product was built in about 6 hours during a hackathon and was launched in 2018.
How Much is a Bitcoin Worth
This websiteshows visitors the current price of BTC and what they cold purchase. He wrote more about the project at Medium.
Wallet List
Wallet List is a shareable list of your public cryptocurrency wallets. It was created in 2017 as part of the Product Hunt Global Hackathon. He worked on the project with Seth Louey.
You can learn more about the project at Wallet List: Or where should I send you that cryptocurrency? He also wrote about the
500 Coins
500 Coins a is forever changing list of the Top 500 Cryptocurrencies. He posted more about the website at Announcing: 500 Coins.
Cap Compare
Cap Compare is a website that compares Bitcoin’s market cap against fiat currencies and public companies.
He wrote an overview of the products creation at Medium.
Pandemic
Will My Job Give Me Covid-19.
Will My Job Give Me Covid-19 shows you the risk that workers face from coronavirus as their job. It is based research by the NY Times.
He shared launch stats in this Twitter thread.
In Pandemic
In Pandemic is a Coronavirus dashboard that shows Coronavirus case numbers across the united states.
He shared more about creating the project at Building In Pandemic
Covid In Congress
Mubs created a private project to show how many members of congress had tested positive to Covid-19. It took about 75 minutes to build.
He shared the details in this Twitter thread.
Other
Whats On TV Tonight
Whats On TV Tonight is a website that shows visitors what is on TV that night. Mubs launched this site as a personal project in 2018.
Title Race
Title Race is a one page application that helps visitors stat up to date with the2019 premier league title run-in. He shared more about creating the project at Announcing: Title Race.
Leaderboards
In 2016, Mubs created leaderboards that curated the top authors and publications on Medium.
He wrote about creating both websites at medium:
He wrote a follow up post about Top Publications in 2018 at What comes after launching a Side Project?
Visit the websites Top Authors and Top Medium Publications
He also ran a side project where he published a forever changing list of the Top 500 streamers on Twitch
Options Worth
Options Worth helps visitors discover what their stock options are worth. He created this website in 2015 to learn Vue.js.
Filtered
Filtered is a platform for domain experts to grow their audience by curating and sharing amazing content.
The project evolved from the work Mubs was doing with Hiten Shah on Product News. It was first developed at a 2019 Startup Weekend in Troy, NY. He soft launched the project on March 31. In April, he changed the name from Curate to avoid any confusion with existing curation software
Free To Launch
Free To Launch is a curated directory of free-to-start products for anyone building and launching a MVP. He launched it as part of his annual New Years Even hackathon in 2019/2020. He shared the details in this launch thread.
He shared visitor stats on January 3.
How Many People Have Voted?
How Many People Have Voted? is a website that detailed how many people voted early in the 2020 US election.
He wrote more about creating the website at Medium.
My Timezone Is
Mubs created this product as part of the Product Hunt’s Makers Festival. He wrote more about project at Medium and in a Twitter Thread.
Past Projects
Will Robots Take My Job?
Will Robots Take My Job? is a website that shows how susceptible a job is to automation.
Mubashar worked on this project with Dimitar Raykov and launched it in 2017.
The project got 1 million page views in two days. By mid June, the website had visitors from 222 countries. The launch was also successful on Product Hunt. It was the #2 Product Of The Day. By June 22, it had received 1000 votes.
He wrote more about the experience at From Idea to 4M Page Views in 4 Weeks.
The project was sold in 2018. The total revenue from the project was $50k. This was a combination of advertising revenue and sale price.
For Sale By Maker
For Sale By Maker is a free site that allows users to post products featured on Product Hunt for sale on the marketplace. Mubs created the product in 2019 as part of the Product Hunt Makers Festival (API Edition).
He shared the process of creating the project at Practical MVP:
- Makers Festival: The Big Idea
- Makers Festival: The Minimum Viable Product
- Makers Festival: Working with APIs
- Makers Festival: The Design
- Makers Festival: Naming & Branding
- Makers Festival: Optimization
- Makers Festival: Keeping things MVP
- Makers Festival: Preparing for Launch
He launched it on Product Hunt on June 30, 2019. He shared details of the launch in a Twitter thread. He also wrote a post summarizing the project at Announcing: For Sale By Maker.
The first sale went through on July 23.
It was acquired by Micro Acquire in May, 2020. He wrote about the experience at his blog.
DashMetrics
DashMatrics offers easily digestible infographic dashboards. Mubs co founded the project with Chris J Thompson. You can learn more about the launch at A Story of Side-Project Turned Startup
Botfunded
Botfunded is a website that allows readers to stay up to date with all the chatbots getting funded. It was launched in 2017.
Stamatic
Stamatic is a content management system that doesn’t use databases. Mubs launched Stamatic in 2012 with Jack McDade. He left in 2013.
Quuu
Mubs and Daniel Kempe launched Quuu in 2015. Daniel shared more about the products creation at Why Quuu was built. The story was also covered at How Quuu’s Founders Used Thinking “Small” to Build a Hugely Successful Product.
He has since left he project.
Deaton
Deaton is a very easy way to track the expenses you incur when starting or running your company. He covered the process of creating the product at his Making a Side Project series on Medium.
Operation Pie
Mubs worked with Nathan Latka and Seth Louey to build a platform to analyze the health of the SAAS business. The website now redirects to Founders Path.
Check out the launch on Product Hunt.
Hackathon Match
Hackathon Match was a tool to help people find collaborators for the Product Hunt Global Hackathon. He wrote more about the product at his Hackathon Match post on Medium.
Check out the launch on Product Hunt.
Top Shots
Top Shots was a website to help visitors see their top 9 posts on dribble for 2016. Mubs created the website with Seth Louey. He shared more about the products creation at Hacking on New Year’s Eve. They had to take the site offline due to changes to the Dribbble API.
Embed Hunt
Embed Hunt is a web app that allowed users to add the details of any Product Hunt “hunt” to their site. It was launched in March, 2015, and was #2 product of the day on Product Hunt.
Average Price Coffee
Average price coffee existed to answer the question: what is the average price of a cup of coffee across the country?
Mubs created this website as part of LaraHack 2018. He wrote more about creating the product on Medium.
Top List
Top Lists was a leaderboard for Twitter lists. He created it in January, 2017.
Using Twitter
He hit 9900 followers in January 2018.
He has also shared statistics about his usage:
- Tweets and impressions from October, 2016.
- Tweets, impressions, profiles visits and mentions from November 2018.
Features
Interviews
- Becoming the Internet’s Most Prolific Maker with Mubashar Iqbal
- Selling Shovels During the Podcasting Gold Rush with Mubashar Iqbal
- Quick Chat with Mubashar Iqbal of Pod Hunt
- Launching 46 Side Hustles And Earning $10,000/month In Side Income With Mubashar Iqbal, Product Hunt Maker Of The Year 2016
- Mubashar Iqbal: How to Build A SaaS an Hour a Day
- Mubashar “Mubs” Iqbal at Yo Podcast
- E18: Mubashar Iqbal, Pod Hunt at Code Story
- Finding joy in making with Mubashar Iqbal (“Mubs”)
- Mubashar Iqbal: Connecting Humans To Bots