Corey Hackett

Why this persona fits the audience

Builds a one-person micro-SaaS in Chicago and handles customer onboarding, usage exports, and invoice reminders with cron jobs, shell scripts, and a few hand-maintained CSV files. He has never paid for dedicated orchestration software.

• Age: 27
• Location: Chicago, IL, USA
• Occupation: Founder
• Income: $88k draw
• Education: Some college, self-taught developer
• Company size: 1
• Years in role: 3

“I'd rather spend a day writing a script that saves me five minutes a week forever than spend five minutes every week doing it manually.”

Corey Hackett, 27, is the quintessential solo founder, carving out his niche in the competitive micro-SaaS landscape from his base in Chicago. His journey into software development wasn't through a traditional degree; after a couple of semesters of college, he found his calling in the self-taught path, driven by an insatiable curiosity and a knack for problem-solving. This led him to build his current micro-SaaS product, a tool designed to streamline specific business workflows. His approach to operations is deeply rooted in resourcefulness and a profound distrust of unnecessary complexity. Instead of investing in dedicated orchestration platforms, Corey has meticulously crafted his own system using a combination of cron jobs, shell scripts, and a series of hand-maintained CSV files. This DIY ethos extends to customer onboarding, usage tracking, and even invoice reminders. He draws a modest but sufficient income of $88k annually, which he largely reinvests into the business, prioritizing growth and stability over personal luxury. His decision to operate entirely solo stems from a strong desire for autonomy and the satisfaction of building something end-to-end. He's not afraid of hard work, viewing the long hours and the constant need for vigilance as inherent parts of the entrepreneurial journey. Recently, he spent two weeks refactoring his customer data export script, optimizing it to handle larger datasets more efficiently and reduce processing time by nearly 30%, a testament to his dedication to incremental improvement and system robustness. He views time as his most valuable asset, and his current operational setup, while requiring significant personal effort, grants him the ultimate control over how that asset is deployed.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Corey's typical weekday begins around 7:30 AM. After a quick breakfast and scanning Hacker News, he dives into his work. The first hour is usually dedicated to checking system logs, responding to any urgent customer support emails, and ensuring his automated jobs (cron jobs for invoice reminders, usage exports) ran successfully overnight. The bulk of his morning is spent on development – either building a new feature for his micro-SaaS or refactoring existing code. After a simple lunch, he might spend an hour or two on administrative tasks: updating his customer CSVs, manually processing a payment that didn't auto-renew, or writing a new shell script to automate a repetitive task. The late afternoon often involves more coding or deep-diving into a technical problem. He tries to wrap up by 7 PM, but often finds himself back at his desk for an hour or two after dinner if a critical bug arises or he's in the zone for a new feature.

Lifestyle

Corey rents a modest one-bedroom apartment in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood, a bit further north than the trendiest spots but close to the Brown Line. His days are structured around his business, with evenings often spent coding or tinkering with his systems. He cooks most of his meals to save money and time, favoring simple, healthy recipes. While he enjoys the occasional craft beer at a local pub with a friend, his social life is relatively quiet, prioritizing deep work over extensive socializing. He's mindful of his finances, reinvesting most of his draw back into the business, but allows himself small indulgences like new mechanical keyboard parts or a subscription to a niche coding newsletter.

Work life

As the sole operator of his micro-SaaS, Corey wears every hat. His workdays are a constant juggle between feature development, customer support, and the intricate maintenance of his backend infrastructure. He's deeply invested in the 'DIY' ethos, preferring to build custom solutions for operational tasks rather than adopt off-the-shelf software. This means a significant portion of his time is dedicated to writing and refining shell scripts, managing cron jobs, and meticulously updating CSV files that track customer usage and billing. The pressure is constant but self-imposed; he thrives on the autonomy and the direct impact of his efforts, even if it means long hours and occasional late-night debugging sessions.

Relationships

Corey's closest relationships are with a small circle of fellow solo founders he's met online through forums like Indie Hackers. They share war stories and offer practical advice, acting as a crucial, albeit remote, support network. He maintains a good, if somewhat distant, relationship with his parents, who are proud of his entrepreneurial spirit but don't fully grasp the technical details. He has a couple of long-term friends from his brief stint in college who understand his dedication to his work.

How they decide

Corey is highly analytical and research-driven when it comes to technical decisions. He'll spend hours reading documentation, comparing approaches, and often prototyping solutions before committing. For operational tools, he leans towards open-source or free solutions, meticulously evaluating their capabilities against his specific needs. He values simplicity and control, often preferring to build a custom solution if it's more efficient than integrating a complex third-party service. He's not easily swayed by hype and trusts his own judgment and empirical testing above all else.

How they sound

Speaks with a clear, measured cadence, often pausing to formulate his thoughts precisely. He uses technical jargon naturally but can explain complex concepts in simpler terms when necessary. Avoids hyperbole and overly casual slang, preferring direct and factual language. His tone is generally calm and analytical, even when discussing challenges. He might use phrases like 'essentially,' 'the crux of it is,' or 'what I've found is.'