Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#1

Post by snerual » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

Hi, I'm 19yo. I bootstrapped a SaaS in March last year together with a friend (he does sales, I do engineering). Currently we are at 250k ARR and growing fast. (Based in Netherlands).

I'm sharing this because I'm looking for people who went through a similar situation. I went from "coding in my bedroom next to my university study" to "doing technical interviews with senior engineers" and "enterprise sales to c-level people" within a year. I do like to push myself way beyond my comfort zone (it's my go-to strategy for learning new stuff) but sometimes it is quite overwhelming. Sometimes, when I can take a step back, I realize how insane this situation is.

Luckily I have supporting parents and peers, who try to advise where they can, but none of them have experience running a fast growing company.

Anyway. If anyone has had a similar experience, please share. If you know a community/network with similar people, please share.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#2

Post by leesalminen » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

First off, congratulations. This is quite the accomplishment for anyone of any age.

I started a niche B2B SaaS company with a co-founder when I was 23 (www.gingrapp.com). We sold it off when I was 27 and I stuck around for 2 years after acquisition. By the time I left there were 30+ employees and 8-digit ARR.

I’m currently 30, married with a toddler and semi-retired. The last 10 years of my life have been absolutely nuts and like you I wish I had someone who’d been through it before to talk to. It can be hard to relate with others as a founder. A frequent refrain I encountered when trying to talk with friends/family was that I had “first-world” problems that weren’t worth talking about. Ugh.

First off, I don’t think age matters per se. I’ve known founders in their 40s and 50s to flounder just as often as founders in their 20s, just usually in different ways.

The first piece of advice I’d give is that this whole experience will be a roller coaster and you can’t always control what happens next. It helped me to remember that I’m but a passenger on this journey.

I think I’d have a lot more to share with you privately. If you ever want to chat, my email is in my bio. Would be happy to talk further.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#3

Post by darrenwestall » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 6:37 PM UTC

Happy to chat anytime, email is in my profile. We’re going to hit £1m ARR this year and I’d love someone to chat with too.

It can be a weirdly lonely place at times.

Im UK based so TZ should work well, plus I’m a frequent visitor to NL (Pre CV) so it would be great to chat over a beer when we can.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#4

Post by jwr » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

As a bootstrapped SaaS founder myself: congratulations! This is an unbelievable growth rate for a bootstrapped SaaS. It usually takes many years to reach these numbers. Very happy to see people build sustainable businesses this way — venture funding is not the only way to go!

I'd be very interested to learn more, things like: is it a B2B or B2C SaaS? What is your ARPU and LTV, are you spending on marketing, and if so, what is your CAC? (I do realize you might not want to share these numbers, just saying that this is what I'd love to know :))

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#5

Post by toshk » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:03 PM UTC

From Amsterdam, dev and founder before, looking into setting up Saas, would love to have coffee

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#6

Post by chondl » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

You might want to check out MicroConf Connect. I'm a founder of a bootstrapped startup and find the Slack community pretty interesting. https://microconf.com/microconf-connect

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#7

Post by somid3 » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

I am similar -- I took a small boostraped venture to $1.3m ARR in about 3 years. To this day i almost spend $0 marketing. Email me so we can connect or whatsapp somid3 /\-at-*_- gmail ^dot& com or +1 five-1-zero 499 5497.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#8

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

I don't have much to say besides Congratulations!

Yes, it's insane (and I've been to less overwhelming situations). But hey, if people were perfectly rational and risk-averse nobody would start anything.

Interested to know more and see where it ends up, alstublieft.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#9

Post by qazqazqaz » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

Congrats, thats some impressive growth in a short time.

If you want to know what not to do, I'm happy to chat, email in my profile. I've made almost every possible mistake in the last 20 years ;-) Despite all the mistakes my current company is a couple of stages past the 250k ARR and I'm on the right track.

In the end most advice in this situation is not rocket science, like for example:

- reserve time to work on your business, not just in your business

- build a team, not a group of individuals

- leadership becomes important in this stage, start reading on the subject, there is a ton of information available.

And most important, try to enjoy the ride. There is not one big moment you are working towards, it's all the little moments that mather.

Re: Tell HN: 19yo, bootstrapped SaaS, 250k ARR after 10 months

#10

Post by nugget » Sat, Jan 23, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

You're already in one of the best communities there is: Hacker News. Don't underestimate what you can learn just by carefully reading the threads here.

I went from "idea in my dorm room" to interviewing and hiring executives in their 40s and 50s within 24 months. The best lesson I learned is that there are way fewer "rules" than you think, and smart, disciplined, focused entrepreneurs can accomplish way more than they assume. It's reasonable to reflect on your inexperience in order to prevent mistakes, but you should never feel intimidated by it, or let other people intimidate you. The world (and YC's portfolio) is full of "inexperienced" people like you who have built billion dollar companies that disrupted industries and became pillars of the economy.

If you post contact information in your profile, I'm sure at least a few people with relevant experience would reach out and offer to be a resource for more specific advice. I've done that a few times here with mostly successful results.