Bootstrapping a popular Git client to a 7-figure ARR and getting acquired

Tobias Günther built the popular Git client, Tower. He grew it to a seven-figure ARR and 100k customers over the course of eight years. Then, two years later, it got acquired.

Here's Tobias on how he did it. 👇

His fair share of wins and losses

I'm best known for cofounding and building Tower, a popular desktop app for software developers. But I've been an entrepreneur for almost 20 years, and I've had my fair share of wins and losses: I started four companies, made two of them profitable, and successfully sold my last one.

Together with a fantastic team, we grew Tower to a seven-figure ARR with over 100,000 customers in companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon before Saas.group acquired it in 2021. But it took us almost eight years to get there.

Today, I coach and mentor other founders and entrepreneurs on their journeys. I keep a very small coaching roster, which allows me to develop deep relationships with my coachees — almost like a cofounder. It's a fun model for working together, because I create real impact over a longer time.

Scratching his own itch

Developing Tower was a classic case of "scratch-your-own-itch."

Before we started the product, we were a small web agency with a heavy tech and dev focus. We adopted the Git version control system very early, and at that time, no good graphical user interfaces were available. So we decided to build our own!

Building it was the toughest professional challenge I've ever faced. We had no experience building desktop applications and had never built a product — we had only done client work. On top of that, we were running out of time: Without any outside investment, we had to live and work off the profits I had saved from client projects.

After 10 months of development, we launched the project. We only had two months of runway left in the bank.

Choosing native desktop tech over cross-platform

We often debated our tech choices, especially switching to a web-based/cross-platform technology. This would have made it much easier to make the product available on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

However, we stuck to native desktop technologies, first on macOS and later on Windows. We aimed to build the very best product in terms of performance, stability, and user interface, and were unwilling to make compromises.

This doesn't mean a different tech choice couldn't have achieved these goals. We simply felt most comfortable and confident with this choice.

Adopting the subscription model before it was cool

We launched Tower in 2011 — a time when people bought "licenses" for software as a one-time fee. This model worked well for the Adobes and Microsofts of the world because these companies had incredible sales volume.

For a small, indie business like ours, staying profitable and keeping the lights on was always tough. In 2018, we mustered our courage and switched to a yearly subscription model. Today, of course, this model seems obvious; it's the standard. But back then, the move was difficult and tricky for us.

Our users loved the product and supported the switch to a subscription. This really changed a lot for us: it finally gave us the stability we needed to ship constant improvements and make bold product moves.

Content and community

Early on, we took a big bet and focused heavily on just two things:

• We wanted to create the best learning content out there. We wanted to help developers learn not only our product but also the underlying technology (even if they didn't use our product). This led to countless blog posts, video series, and even a book.

• Additionally, we wanted to "spread good vibes" in the developer community. Our "Illustrated History of macOS" and fun T-Shirts and posters brought us closer to our fellow developers.

Why bootstrapping was right for Tower

Small software companies always struggle to stay afloat and keep the lights on. Yet, I have no doubt that refusing VC money and following a bootstrapped path was the absolute right choice — at least for me!

I'm not looking down on VC funding at all; quite the opposite. I just think every founder should understand who they are, what they want to build — and which model fits these two aspects.

Learnings along the way

If I had to start over, however, I would do a few things differently:

• Don't aim too low — It might seem easier to succeed by picking a "smaller opportunity." But in the end, you invest 100% of your time and energy into this endeavor, whether you're running a sandwich cart or building rocket ships. So why not pick the bigger goal (as long as it truly resonates with you, of course)?

• Watch my work-life balance — I experienced severe burnout in 2014 — the full monty, including five weeks in a rehab clinic. I regularly see too many founders exceeding their limits. It's not worth it!

• Coaching / Community / Peers — For too long, I kept my circle too small. I'm certain that a coach or mentor and a community of peers would have helped me tremendously. Both would have kept me sane and helped me reach my goals much faster. This would have saved me a few unnecessary detours.

Develop a bias toward action

Here's my advice:

• Develop a bias toward action. Don't wait until you're "ready." You learn so much more from building and creating stuff than from making plans in your head.

• Surround yourself with like-minded people. Join the Indie Hackers community or one of the many other communities/groups.

• Read, read, read. Focus on long-form stuff. Especially today, many tend to stay on the surface of things. But always having one or multiple books lying around will give you a real edge.

What's next?

I want to help other founders reach their potential. I consider entrepreneurship the greatest self-development journey one can undertake. But when you're on this journey, it's easy to lose track of the bigger picture. You risk becoming a slave to your company.

After 20 years on this journey, I want to help founders get better, smarter, and more successful — without burning out, without regretting things, and with a bit less pain on the journey. Drop me a line if any of this resonates with you. I'm always happy to chat.

You can follow along on LinkedIn and my personal website.