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We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

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Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#141

Post by bootstrapper101 »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #76
bootstrapper101 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't over think. Just start building anything that you feel could be useful to someone. Don't fall in love with the idea. The idea you start with will never be the idea when you are successful. It will evolve or likely you will pivot to another related idea. Facebook today isn't what it started with. Flickr and Slack started as gaming companies. Google today is very different from what they started with. It would he…

I've seen people take the advice of "build something that could be useful to someone" the wrong way so many times. That "someone" shouldn't be an abstract, hypothetical customer but a group of people that contains someone you intimately know, such as a close friend, partner or yourself. I think "build something that would be useful to someone that you personally know, and many others like them" is a much more concret…

This is excellent advice. You should know and understand who your customer are. Otherwise you won't even know what to build. Or you will build the wrong product and won't get any feedback.

Congrats on your journey and best of luck for the future!

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#142

Post by importantbrian »

bryzaguy wrote: post #124
misthop wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amusing to read this comment in response to one that calls out Boston 3 times.

Harvard is pretty close to Boston, is the best I could think of.

Harvard isn't just pretty close to Boston. It's right across the river. If you stand on the campus of Boston University you can look across the Charles river and see the campus of both Harvard and MIT. That's 3 top 50 schools within sight of each other. BC, Northeastern, and Tufts are just a few miles away from BU. That's 6 top tier universities all within a few miles of each other.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#143

Post by bootstrapper101 »

radihuq wrote: post #96
bootstrapper101 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

70% of expenses are marketing.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#144

Post by vram22 »

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.

Nit: With some companies paying below average, too, by the very definition of the term 'average', and also because the sizeable handful of FAANG companies skews the average even higher.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#145

Post by alexyz12 »

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.

How did you have time to raise kids while working at your startup? It seems thats what corporate jobs are great for because you spend less time at work.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#146

Post by vram22 »

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…

Any regions focusing on e-learning (other than Boston (education, which has some overlap)?

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#147

Post by fnord77 »

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…

These hubs all have anchors.

valley hardware/software anchors - Berkeley and Stanford

boston tech anchors - MIT, Harvard

NYC fintech anchor - Wall St.

etc.

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#148

Post by bootstrapper101 »

alexyz12 wrote: post #145
bootstrapper101 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How did you have time to raise kids while working at your startup? It seems thats what corporate jobs are great for because you spend less time at work.

I had kids after my startup was successful!

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#149

Post by jeremyis »

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…

Don't forget burgeoning Miami!

Re: We bootstrapped to $11M in ARR

#150

Post by _xnmw »

The best part? Every penny of that $11M ARR is yours to spend however you wish. Nobody's going to question you if you take your company's money and spend it on a private helicopter or a summer beach home in Cyprus (all easily affordable for $11M). If you had accepted even a tiny pre-seed investment, you wouldn't have that freedom - the company's money is not yours, and although you could live comfortably on executive salary, bonuses, and stock sales, you can't avoid scrutiny until you've sold the company or IPO'ed.

The second best part about bootstrapping (specifically: solo bootstrapping)? The immense satisfaction of eating from the work of my own hands. I finally launched my side project last month, and it's making enough to pay for rent and food. I have no other source of income or savings, and the feeling is fantastic -- even though the amount I am earning right now is tiny, far less than what I earned as a private consultant or employee of a VC-backed firm before. I wouldn't trade this feeling of satisfaction for any other job in the world. The freedom of 100% ownership: earning, managing, and spending every dollar without having to answer to anyone is priceless.

Taking VC money is just a glorified type of employment with lottery returns.

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