3 ms·
Our profit/loss for the year is determined by growth rate. In 2013 when we hit product market fit, we ran at a huge loss (on a percent of revenue basis), so mu
by raiyu 7y ago
Our profit/loss for the year is determined by growth rate.
In 2013 when we hit product market fit, we ran at a huge loss (on a percent of revenue basis), so much so that we wouldn't be able to survive without raising capital from investors. That or 90% of the customers signing up wouldn't be able to launch a droplet.
We are running at a modest loss now, which is ok because we are growing and also because whenever you launch a new product or feature the up-front costs are much higher to get the initial product built and there is no revenue contribution from it until it's launched and has ramped up.
But even so we did manage a completely net profitable year in our history in 2017, which I'm very proud of, and have been at a slight loss in other years. We still have plenty of our Series B raise in our bank account.
When you look at today's IPOs they are losing 40% more money than they collect in revenue! We are no where close to that. As we have been net profitable already, and now are just fine tuning our investment vs return, so that we can continue to grow responsibly.
- seppin 7y ago> Our profit/loss for the year is determined by growth rate. Could you operate at a profit if you wanted to?
- nik736 7y agoI guess the problem for DO is buying hardware, upfront costs for colocation (renting cages without actually using all of the available cabs/space), etc.. If they would stop buying hardware, which means no more growth and available resources, they would be super profitable.
- MuffinFlavored 7y agoWhat's your biggest fear? Are you competing with Heroku free-tier or AWS?
- lucasverra 7y agoserverless maybe ? easy UI in Cloud functions ? I run all my JS / Front & back at glitch.com , with a another glicth.com app that awakes the others each 4 min
- raiyu 7y agoAWS was in the market before we ever got started, so unlike other startups we never had to worry about them entering our market and competing with us because we were actually entering their market. What made us successful was focusing on a core set of customers, developers like ourselves, and they really appreciated what we built. The only thing I worry about is ensuring that we continue to do that. The only constant in technology is that it will continue to evolve and change, and you have to make sure that you don't get distracted from your core mission. You certainly have to be aware of the competition and what they are doing, but you also have to figure out your path and who you are the "best" solution for, and continue to evolve that overtime.