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This is inspiring and depressing to see (more inspiring). I've spent the last 4 years getting a bootsrapped saas off the ground. It's taken every ounce of my be

by ab-dm 6y ago

This is inspiring and depressing to see (more inspiring). I've spent the last 4 years getting a bootsrapped saas off the ground. It's taken every ounce of my being to get us profitable, but we wouldn't be close to hitting 1 mil (USD) ARR for at least 2 more years. Every year that passes I suspect it becomes more and more impossible to get anything off the ground without at least a little bit of funding. If I had my time again, I don't think I'd go bootstrapped. Seed funding seems to be a great compromise between bootstrapped and angel/VC. TinySeed are doing some great things on that front. Props to you guys and gals for making it work! It looks like a great product and a great team.

nathan_f77 6y ago
Yes, I'm also feeling the same mix of inspiration and depression. Especially since I did actually take some funding (from Earnest Capital), I launched around the same time as them, and I'm still nowhere close to $1M ARR. The Canny founders are absolutely phenomenal startup founders, with a world-class background in product design and engineering background. They executed extremely well, chose an excellent target market, built an incredible product, and marketed it extremely well by sharing their story and progress. This is like comparing yourself to a star basketball player in the NBA. (Especially considering that the founders came from careers at Facebook.) Meanwhile, most of us are just regular software engineers who are trying to make things work as a solo founder. I don't have a strong background in design and UX, and I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm still proud of my achievements and I think I'm building a great company at a sustainable pace, but it can still be a bit depressing when you see people executing perfectly and growing at an incredible rate. "Marathons" are an over-used metaphor, but it's a good metaphor. You're almost certainly not going to finish first, even if you're a world-class athlete. But even if you finish last, I think that's still something to be proud of. (Where "finish" could mean achieving profitability, or having an exit.)

by ab-dm 6y ago

nathan_f77 6y ago

Yes, I'm also feeling the same mix of inspiration and depression. Especially since I did actually take some funding (from Earnest Capital), I launched around the same time as them, and I'm still nowhere close to $1M ARR. The Canny founders are absolutely phenomenal startup founders, with a world-class background in product design and engineering background. They executed extremely well, chose an excellent target market, built an incredible product, and marketed it extremely well by sharing their story and progress. This is like comparing yourself to a star basketball player in the NBA. (Especially considering that the founders came from careers at Facebook.) Meanwhile, most of us are just regular software engineers who are trying to make things work as a solo founder. I don't have a strong background in design and UX, and I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm still proud of my achievements and I think I'm building a great company at a sustainable pace, but it can still be a bit depressing when you see people executing perfectly and growing at an incredible rate. "Marathons" are an over-used metaphor, but it's a good metaphor. You're almost certainly not going to finish first, even if you're a world-class athlete. But even if you finish last, I think that's still something to be proud of. (Where "finish" could mean achieving profitability, or having an exit.)