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The Viral Moment Every Founder Dreams Of

8 min readApr 26, 2025

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It was a slow Thursday night just like any other.

The kind where you lie on your bed, phone in one hand, existential dread in the other, you know. No biggie.

Fan spinning. Air sticky and me? Sweaty, mildly dehydrated, and rethinking life choices for the fifth time that week.

I opened X, fully expecting the usual chaos: bookmarking the usual list of books I’ll never read, indie hackers flexing their $200 MRR, and one guy arguing with himself in a thread.

But instead… Ghibli photos. Ghibli photos everywhere!

My feed was flooded with AI-generated anime versions of Studio Ghibli characters and everyone suddenly looked like they belonged in Howl’s Moving LinkedIn.

Without hesitation, my indie hacker instinct kicked in.

“Ok, maybe I could build something. Some trash wrapper, basic form, credit system, ride the wave, make it cute. I dunno…”

Checked the docs…. No API launched. Damn!

I stared at the screen like it just betrayed me and proceeded to closed my laptop with some dramatic flair and went to sleep. Slightly bitter, slightly sweaty, and fully convinced the moment had passed.

Part 1: The Build

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Tim Wong
Tim Wong

Written by Tim Wong

Software Engineer & Writer. Enjoy reading the encapsulations that is formed in the enigma machinations of my mind.

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