Indie developers are motivated by delighting people
Quote
if you want to get developers to all join in and on a common cause, the way you do it, is by letting them letting them have that experience by joining in, in developing something that makes other people happy.
Episode 33: serving billions daily. That's what you're supposed to (approx., from transcript intro) 01:22:56 (play audio from this timestamp, opens in a new tab)
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Summary
Developers who build for the love of it, like Marco, Xavier, Martin, Mitch and John Spurlock, are motivated most by creating something cool and hearing people talk about the great experience. It isn't selfishness or narcissism. To rally them around a common cause, let them build something that makes other people happy and gets talked about.