A publication, not a directory.

In journalism, a beat is the territory a reporter is responsible for covering. Our beat is the world of indie and bootstrapped products (the work of solo founders and small self-funded teams), and the promise in the name is that we get there early.

Every week we read what's launching, try the most promising few, and publish five honest reviews. Not press releases, not link lists: reviews, with a point of view, including the rough edges. Being one of the five is meant to mean something, precisely because most things aren't.

Editorial standards

Three rules hold this together, and they don't change:

• Honesty. Every review says what's good and what's weak. A review with no criticism is an ad, and we don't run ads as reviews.
• Selectivity. Five a week, chosen on merit. We'd rather publish fewer great picks than pad the list.
• Separation. Money can buy visibility on EarlyBeat, but never a place on the list, and never a kinder review. Anything sponsored is clearly labeled and kept apart from the editorial picks.

We are not an ad board, not a directory, and not a rankings service. If that ever stops being true, we've stopped being EarlyBeat.

Follow along on X for each week's picks as they publish, or subscribe to get the whole dispatch every Monday.