solo.
independent.
to escape 9 to 5s.
A community of hungry Designers turned Entrepreneurs.
We collaborate with your favourite companies
Average experience
10+ years
Community revenue
$700,000+ this year
Community audience
200,000+ subscribers
Hello
Slack activity
3,245
messages (28d)
Community benefits.
Grow your business
Get access to hand-picked experts who’ve replaced their 9 to 5s. Been there, done that.
$0
Revenue
Get real-time help
Get step-by-step suggestions that's personalised to you, your situation, and your business.
Aneta
@ux.aneta
I need help with my digital new product 😱 🆘
Sohil Jain
@sohiljx
No way!
DM Sent
Agency Owner
Tight-knit support network
Expand your network, share, connect, and vent in an inclusive environment.
Freelancer
SaaS Founder
OMG it worked!
Tactic
Try creating a lead magnet with
an upsell email sequence.
Learn and steal our systems
Battle-tested tactics from sales, marketing, to operations and growth design. Move faster.
Weekly check-ins
Every Monday, we share reflections, set new goals, and get support.
Peek behind-the-scenes
NEW
Every quarter, Chris share's a video breaking down revenue, what worked, and what didn't.
Monthly workshops
Each month, we conduct an online retrospective to reflect and plan.
Peer feedback
We regularly share work-in-progress to get brutally honest feedback.
Celebrate wins
We celebrate our accomplishments (big and small). Best way to build momentum.
Judgement-free venting
We share lessons learned and vent about the world's fuckeries. Zero judgement.
senior designers building their
Solopreneurs
Solopreneurs
Freelancers
Freelancers
Creators
Creators
Agencies
Agencies
Productize services
Productize services
Digital products
Digital products
The reason why designers struggle to go independent.
Have an idea, start, quit, repeat
Limited time to learn new skills
Too many unknown unknowns
Chronic procrastination
Lack motivation
How I started entrepreneurship.
I'm a self-taught Designer turned Creator turned Entrepreneur. In 2 years, I made $180K+ from 12 digital products and gained 72,000+ followers.
Christopher Nguyen
Founder of Backlog & UX Playbook
This community isn't for everyone.
You're the right fit
You're all-in building your independent business
You're using content (or planning to) as your marketing engine
You show up weekly, add value, and stay active in the community
You're a senior designer with a wide variety of industry experience
It's not for
You're going to give up when your metrics perform poorly
You're looking for an overnight success or a silver bullet
You're only going to show up when you need something
You have limited experience in real world design or client work
From Designpreneurs, 9:41 AM
Why join Backlog’s community?
We’re developing the best support system for designpreneurs. The common challenges we face are 1) knowledge and 2) execution. We aim to solve this with weekly goal-setting and reflection, resource sharing, and community-based accountability systems, a healthy kind of peer pressure 😅
Is this another massive server with no personal interactions?
We are intentionally a small and intimate community built upon strong relationships. To keep this community tight-knit, radically transparent, and a privileged network, we remove inactive members (only after multiple check-ins). This helps us maintain integrity and make sure members are adding value.
Do I qualify for Backlog membership?
We don’t exclude members based on a business model nor revenue size. However, our invite-only membership is for experienced designers (5+ years of experience) who are already full-time entrepreneurs or planning to go all-in on their business. If you are just starting out as a designer or exploring a low-commitment side hustle, our community won’t be the best home for you.
Why invite-only?
We trust our members. If you get an invite, it means you’re one of us. However, you can also request an invite.
Get news & product updates
We're working on exciting new products for 2025.
Be the first to know when it's available.
