This is a great story. I totally agree with point #1 about side hustling vs taking the LEAP - my partner and I built accelerlist.com completely bootstrapped on nights and weekends while working a day job. We've been grinding for two years this way and FINALLY reached what we consider "ramen profitability" - enough money for both of us to live... barely, or one of us to go full-time comfortably (we're both still at our day jobs).
The #1 thing I feel is that we wouldn't have gotten to this point if we plunged and quit our day jobs when we were smaller. We wouldn't have been able to overcome the self-doubt on top of the pressures of building an idea that wasn't well validated yet. Most likely we would've ran out of money before we ever realized what it could turn into.
We haven't earned our freedom yet but slowly and steadily we're working our way to get there. It's a struggle but definitely doesn't feel like we're taking a huge risk (and probably not a ridiculous payout either), but it's a good middleground that works for me.
Keep up the great content Ali! I will be following.
3
What a beautiful way to share your story, Jeff.
"Ramen profitability" vs "Hitting the top of TechCrunch"
I wish more bootstrappers like yourself shared their journeys so that those who play the long, sane game can know there is nothing wrong with what they are doing.
When one side is louder than the other, people tend to normalize and start thinking that the path the loud side follows is the only way to go.
Best of luck,
Ali
p.s if you ever decide to share your whole story, I would be happy to expose it to our audience at The Startup (https://medium.com/swlh), there are so many bootstrapper readers who would relate.
2
@AliMese Thanks for the love! Will definitely reach out when the time comes.
3
I use to work with Atekin back in the day before he started Jotform. He was always building something cool. He had this other project that was a membership site builder that used a file based database before everyone had php and mysql.
2
Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
2
Awesome article.
It was really inspiring reading this:
"Analytics & SEO? Ahrefs’ crawler is second only to Google’s.
Email Marketing? MailChimp has over 14 million customers.
Data collection? JotForm has 3.2 million users and +100 employees.
Productivity? Todoist is the market leader.
Project Management? Basecamp has offices in over 30 cities around the world."
1
Basecamp may be bootstrapped but Jeff Bezos invested a few million.
1
That never went into the company. Jason and DHH sold their shares and "cashed out" a bit.
2
Great article Ali. Congrats on your newfound success!
1
you know i wrote a book on this topic, right? :) (altho it doesn't come out til next year, hah)
1
whoa, I knew you were working on a book but didn't know the topic. Ping me closer to the launch date, please.
This is a great story. I totally agree with point #1 about side hustling vs taking the LEAP - my partner and I built accelerlist.com completely bootstrapped on nights and weekends while working a day job. We've been grinding for two years this way and FINALLY reached what we consider "ramen profitability" - enough money for both of us to live... barely, or one of us to go full-time comfortably (we're both still at our day jobs).
The #1 thing I feel is that we wouldn't have gotten to this point if we plunged and quit our day jobs when we were smaller. We wouldn't have been able to overcome the self-doubt on top of the pressures of building an idea that wasn't well validated yet. Most likely we would've ran out of money before we ever realized what it could turn into.
We haven't earned our freedom yet but slowly and steadily we're working our way to get there. It's a struggle but definitely doesn't feel like we're taking a huge risk (and probably not a ridiculous payout either), but it's a good middleground that works for me.
Keep up the great content Ali! I will be following.
What a beautiful way to share your story, Jeff.
"Ramen profitability" vs "Hitting the top of TechCrunch"
I wish more bootstrappers like yourself shared their journeys so that those who play the long, sane game can know there is nothing wrong with what they are doing.
When one side is louder than the other, people tend to normalize and start thinking that the path the loud side follows is the only way to go.
Best of luck,
Ali
p.s if you ever decide to share your whole story, I would be happy to expose it to our audience at The Startup (https://medium.com/swlh), there are so many bootstrapper readers who would relate.
@AliMese Thanks for the love! Will definitely reach out when the time comes.
I use to work with Atekin back in the day before he started Jotform. He was always building something cool. He had this other project that was a membership site builder that used a file based database before everyone had php and mysql.
Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome article.
It was really inspiring reading this:
"Analytics & SEO? Ahrefs’ crawler is second only to Google’s.
Email Marketing? MailChimp has over 14 million customers.
Data collection? JotForm has 3.2 million users and +100 employees.
Productivity? Todoist is the market leader.
Project Management? Basecamp has offices in over 30 cities around the world."
Basecamp may be bootstrapped but Jeff Bezos invested a few million.
That never went into the company. Jason and DHH sold their shares and "cashed out" a bit.
Great article Ali. Congrats on your newfound success!
you know i wrote a book on this topic, right? :) (altho it doesn't come out til next year, hah)
whoa, I knew you were working on a book but didn't know the topic. Ping me closer to the launch date, please.