Morning Startup: Why Turning Down Investment is a Good Thing

Kate co-founded PlayIndies through a chance connection with her now co-founder, where they quickly realised they were both independently planning to build the same kind of platform. Rather than compete, they took a leap of trust and decided to build it together, despite starting as complete strangers.

Over the past 20 months, they have built PlayIndies from the ground up while working across a significant time zone difference, balancing full-time work and consulting contracts to fund development. Along the way, they navigated setbacks, including costly contractor missteps, but remained committed to building the platform independently despite investor interest.

Now on the brink of soft launch, PlayIndies represents a shared vision shaped by persistence, trust, and a deep understanding of the challenges indie developers face and how to provide a meaningful solution.