Building behind the scenes and learning from the best

After 2 months away: bureaucracy hell, a free tool launch, and dinner with indie hacker legends

February 15th, 2026. It's been almost 2 months since my last post. A lot happened. Some boring administrative nightmares, one spontaneous product launch, and an incredible dinner with two French indie hacker legends.

The break: drowning in bureaucracy (again…)

I know, I know. Two months without posting is a long time 😅

It wasn't intentional. I just got completely overwhelmed with everything happening at once.

On one side, I was trying to push forward on my SEO project. Building features, testing systems, refining the core engine. The usual indie maker grind.

But on the other side? A tsunami of administrative work that I couldn't ignore

I had to handle the dissolution of my French SARL with my legal advisors. Multiple meetings, countless documents, endless back-and-forth about the proper procedures to close a company in France.

Then there were the year-end accounts to prepare with my accountants. Because yes, even when you're leaving France, you still have to close your fiscal year properly and submit everything to the French administration.

On top of that, I had to handle my US LLC tax declaration. But here's the thing: it was about 15 times simpler than anything I've dealt with in France.

I found a CPA in the US, a retired IRS agent who charged me $175 for the whole thing. He filled out the two required forms, submitted my declaration to the IRS, and boom. Done in 2 days.

That's it. No endless back-and-forth, no requests for obscure documents, no bureaucratic nightmare. Just clean, efficient administration. If only it could be that simple in France…

And next? Preparing my tax residency change to Thailand with the Tax Revenue Card option.

Here's a fun story about that...

I obtained my TIN (Thai Tax Identification Number) and had to provide it to all my banks worldwide to prove that I am now a Thai tax resident. Most banks? No problem. They accepted it immediately. All smooth.

But my French bank? Oh no…

They refused my Thai TIN. They told me I needed to provide a document translated by a certified translator approved by the Paris Court of Appeals. Yes, you read that right. A simple tax ID number from Thailand had to be officially translated by a court-approved translator.

I couldn't believe it. I asked them: "You're telling me that every other bank in the world accepted this document as-is, but you need an official French translation?"

"Yes, monsieur. French banking regulations."

This is peak French bureaucracy. Instead of just accepting a government-issued tax document with a clear number on it, they want me to pay a translator €100 to translate… a number.

You know what? I'm done.

I'm closing my last French bank account. I don't need this nonsense in my life anymore 🙄

SnappyName: when you need a domain and end up launching a free tool

While I was deep in development on my main SEO project, I hit a practical problem: I needed to find a domain name for the launch.

So I did what any indie hacker would do. I started browsing domain name generators to get inspiration.

And they all sucked

Seriously. Every single one produced either generic garbage names or unpronounceable combinations that made no sense. "Xyzqly.io" vibes. You know what I mean.

So I thought, "You know what? I could probably build something better with AI in like… a few hours."

Challenge accepted.

I fired up Claude Opus 4.6 and basically vibe coded a domain name generator. No planning, no elaborate design system, just pure "let's see what happens" energy.

A few hours later, I had something working. I tested it. And honestly? It was way more powerful than anything else I'd found online.

The tool uses 800+ curated tech words, applies phonetic rules to ensure every name is actually pronounceable, and generates thousands of brandable options instantly. No loading bars. No signup required. Just type a keyword and boom, hundreds of usable names.

I thought: "This is actually good. Maybe I should just… launch it as a free tool?"

So I did. Meet SnappyName

It's 100% free. No limits. No credit card. No bullshit. Just a fast, smart domain name generator designed for SaaS and tech startups.

Now I'm improving it based on initial user feedback. I have big ambitions for this little tool. I want it to become the best domain name generator on the web.

More news coming very soon on that front 👀

Dinner with Pauline Clavelloux and Nico Jeannen

Last week, I had the chance to have dinner with two absolute monsters in the French indie hacker scene: Pauline Claveloux and Nico Jeannen.

For context, these aren't your average indie makers.

Pauline Clavelloux runs a portfolio of SaaS products generating over $200k ARR. She built AICrea (an AI tool for real estate agents) while working as a data science manager at IBM. Now she's building new projects in parallel while sharing her entire journey with 30k+ followers. She's the real deal.

Nico Jeannen is also insane. He taught himself to code in 2022 and built 17 apps in 12 months. He sold some of them for almost $300,000 in less than two years. He's also a Facebook Ads expert who managed over$1M in ad spend and is currently building Adkit, his new ads business venture. Absolute legend.

We met at an italien restaurant in Bangkok, and the conversation was exactly what you'd expect when three French indie hackers get together: projects, revenue, strategies and life in Thailand.

The best part?

Pauline just came back from vacation in the south of Thailand. She spent time in the islands, all the most beautiful spots. She described it as paradise, which honestly made me realize I need to explore more of Thailand beyond Bangkok.

Sitting there with these two, I felt a mix of inspiration and validation. Inspiration because they're both crushing it at levels I'm still working toward. Validation because hearing them talk about their struggles, failures, and challenges reminded me that everyone goes through the grind.

It's one thing to follow people on X and see their wins. It's another thing entirely to sit across from them over dinner and hear the unfiltered reality.

That dinner recharged me. Sometimes you need to be around people who are a few steps ahead to remember why you're doing this in the first place 💪

This is February 2026. The bureaucracy is ending. The free tool is live. And I'm exactly where I need to be. Let's keep building!