Hate to break it to you but this trend of selling people a system to make money where the seller is actually enacting the system they’re selling is older than the internet.

I can recall online versions in 2012 - that I’m ashamed to say took me for some money - were not just in existence but popular and fashionable the way indie hackers is now. Nothing new.

It’s not too dissimilar from MLMs, and those are older than the oldest living human, dating at least to the early twentieth century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

Rich Dad Poor Dad was published in 1997. I think it fits into the category.

The Dave Del Dotto system! Late 80s?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Del_Dotto

I'm not talking about selling shovels in general.

I'm talking about the specific SaaS starter kit trend of recent and that Cory's work predates it - specifically because of snark like yours, which has seen an uptick because of the recent trend.

I'm only pointing out that those SaaS starter kits existed over ten years ago, and I've got the invoice to prove it! :D

Okay, fair, my bad!

Even that is selling a platform to other people trying to start a business that probably won’t be successful