This model is quietly spreading in the indie hacker space 👀
Founders are running free retreats – full accommodation, meals, even laundry – with sponsors picking up the entire tab.
Hacker Residency Group ran the first one in Da Nang, Vietnam. Ten founders lived and built together for a month at a villa, completely free. The sponsors – CodeRabbit, n8n, OpenRouter and others – covered everything in exchange for brand exposure to a concentrated audience of developers.
Similar retreats are now popping up in other countries.
The model is the same one that funds podcasts and newsletters 👇
A niche audience is worth money to the right brands. Organise an event, curate that audience, and sponsors will pay to be in the room.
This isn’t just a tech thing 💪
Dog breeders, Etsy sellers, fitness coaches, local business owners – any niche with relevant brands wanting access can run this.
Not ready for a villa in Vietnam? A free local meetup or online workshop is enough to test it.
Want to charge attendees instead of relying on sponsors? Hacker Paradise does $35K/month on paid co-living retreats at ~$2K per person 😎