Terms of Service for Indie Hackers: Minimum Viable Legal

Indie hackers pride themselves on speed. 'Ship early, break things' is a great mantra for growth, but 'breaking things' shouldn't include your personal finances or your company's future. Even a simple micro-SaaS needs a 'Minimum Viable Legal' (MVL) stack to set the rules of the game and protect the founder from unlimited liability.

The most critical component of your Tos is the Limitation of Liability clause. Without it, you could be held personally responsible for damages if your app goes down or if a bug causes data loss for a user. You also need an 'As-Is' clause, which clarifies that you provide the service as a tool and don't guarantee specific outcomes or 100% uptime. This is essential for preventing frivolous lawsuits.

Another key area for indie hackers is Intellectual Property (IP) protection. Your Terms should clearly state that while the user owns their data, you own the code, design, and trademarks of the platform. This prevents users or competitors from claiming ownership of your hard work. By spending 10 minutes setting up these basic rules, you can ship with the confidence that you aren't leaving yourself exposed.

ComplyStack was built by founders, for founders. We know you don't have time for 50-page legal documents. That's why we help you generate a concise, ironclad Terms of Service that covers the essentials for a micro-SaaS or indie project. Get the protection you need without slowing down your launch.