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We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

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Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#91

Post by jcims »

bootstrapper101 wrote: post #46
randomsearch wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We delayed having kids because of this and that is my biggest regret. Don't answer if this is too personal - but why the regret? It sounds like you have had kids, so perhaps it got harder? Or you had fewer than you wanted. Why do you regret it?

Every year you delay having kids, you are reducing the amount of time you will spend with your kids and grandkids. As you get older, the quality of time you spend with them will also get worse. My wife went through lot of difficulties in her pregnancies. It would have been easier for her body, if we had kids earlier. My drive to get out of the corporate slavery was the reason for the delay. So I regret the delay.

I'm looking at folks that are having kids when they are older than i was and they seem to have their shit together so much more. In looking back I feel like I squandered some of the time I had with my children by not really understanding how fast the years go by and focusing too much on being a provider vs. being present. My youngest is ready to leave the home and I still have these flickering day dreams of these things I'm going to do with my kids and I still see them as kids.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#92

Post by cosmodisk »

One thing I don't understand is this notion that any startup can happen only in the valley,or if someone starts there, it's 100 times easier. The main benefit,which the US startups take for granted is the market size. You don't need to learn German, French ,or Spanish just to sell to your neighbors.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#93

Post by xondono »

skrebbel wrote: post #52
0xfaded wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We compete with companies founded with people that have access to clients with way more purchasing power and better supply pipeline. Your wording flipped a bit in my head. That exact wording could be said of Europe. There's a whole show and dance to make it seem like it's not, but when everything is about government grants and consortiums, it is.

Just curious, where in Europe is doing a SaaS business "about government grants and consortiums"?

Depends on the SaaS business.

We are building waste management IoT devices that are deployed to the public, and making a sale easily takes 2 years and thousands of hours in compliance testing and validation.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#94

Post by Communitivity »

From friends I've talked with, the benefits of the valley are real, but diminishing. At the same time downsides are increasing: cost of living, homelessness, real estate prices (though I read these are coming down a bit). I've been told the benefit has been the ease of networking, and likely will always be so. As startup hubs grow around the country this networking benefit will start to be there. It is already there in some places such as Austin and Boston.

There are a number of hubs in the country now, with most outside the valley focusing on one or more niches. Some of these are:

- Nanotechnology in Boston and Middlesex-essex, MA

- Healthcare Boston, New York City, and the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Big investments though are being made in Kansas, Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania

- SaaS in Austin,TX

- Education in Boston

- Fintech in New York City

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#95

Post by 0xfaded »

skrebbel wrote: post #52
0xfaded wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We compete with companies founded with people that have access to clients with way more purchasing power and better supply pipeline. Your wording flipped a bit in my head. That exact wording could be said of Europe. There's a whole show and dance to make it seem like it's not, but when everything is about government grants and consortiums, it is.

Just curious, where in Europe is doing a SaaS business "about government grants and consortiums"?

Even if you have a profitable SaaS business, it's common to use public funding to cover R&D, i.e. most of your software engineer salaries.

Usually this will involve identifying features, getting documentation from your customers they would use the features, inventing a story about how these features will save CO2 and create export oriented jobs, and magically forgetting that you have all the inhouse competencies needed while simultaneously identifying a knowledge partner (preferably in another EU country) who can provide you with the missing knowledge.

It's hard to believe it unless you've seen it. Many companies have full-time employees who do nothing but write and manage funding applications. And don't think it stops at startups. Consortiums mixing startups and established SMEs are a huge plus.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#96

Post by radihuq »

bootstrapper101 wrote: post #7
eric4smith wrote: post #2

The vast majority of businesses.... 1. Are outside the valley 2. Started with minimal or no funding 3. Hire a ton of employees overall 4. Give their founders comfortable lives. 5. Do their thing very quietly without anyone really knowing. 6. You've never heard about.

I run one of these companies. USD 50M+ ARR, USD 20M+ profit. 3 people company. Could grow 10x if we want to. But we are enjoying staying low and enjoying our family lives. Excellent article by the Canary guys. They seem like really honest people. We didn't raise any money. Only focus was how to do faster iterations. By the time 25 of my ideas didn't succeed, every iteration became very fast. Idea to launch in 3 month…

How much of the $30M expenditure do you spend on marketing?

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#97

Post by nonameiguess »

Communitivity wrote: post #94

From friends I've talked with, the benefits of the valley are real, but diminishing. At the same time downsides are increasing: cost of living, homelessness, real estate prices (though I read these are coming down a bit). I've been told the benefit has been the ease of networking, and likely will always be so. As startup hubs grow around the country this networking benefit will start to be there. It is already there…

Northern Virginia for any sort of federal work, though it's not the same situation since the clearance requirements disqualify most non-citizens, people of foreign birth, or just most people at all since most people don't have security clearances. Still fertile ground for people who meet the requirements, though.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#98

Post by catillac »

Communitivity wrote: post #94

From friends I've talked with, the benefits of the valley are real, but diminishing. At the same time downsides are increasing: cost of living, homelessness, real estate prices (though I read these are coming down a bit). I've been told the benefit has been the ease of networking, and likely will always be so. As startup hubs grow around the country this networking benefit will start to be there. It is already there…

Is “SaaS” traditionally considered a niche like the others? The concept seems very broad as opposed to others like Fintech or Healthcare. I would consider a category like “APIs” to be overbroad, and SaaS seems to be similar. I’m very open to being wrong though.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#99

Post by barry-cotter »

eric4smith wrote: post #18
spullara wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are absolutely terrible companies for software developers to work for though. I have several family members that work for them. If you want average pay and the owners to take all the profits, go for it. Otherwise, work for FAANG, a great startup or a finance company (hedge fund or investment bank).

Most companies are average to above average pay. FAANG's are an aberration, not the norm.

But they employ a lot of software engineers. Amazon employs ~150,000 if I remember right.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#100

Post by Communitivity »

Communitivity wrote: post #94

From friends I've talked with, the benefits of the valley are real, but diminishing. At the same time downsides are increasing: cost of living, homelessness, real estate prices (though I read these are coming down a bit). I've been told the benefit has been the ease of networking, and likely will always be so. As startup hubs grow around the country this networking benefit will start to be there. It is already there…

I thought this was something I'd like to hear the wisdom of the HN crowd on, so I submitted "Ask HN: What do you see as the current non-valley startup hubs?"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26502282

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