During any gold rush, there are a small amount of people that get rich and many who don't. The only ones who are guaranteed a small fortune are the ones who se

During any gold rush, there are a small amount of people that get rich and many who don't. The only ones who are guaranteed a small fortune are the ones who sell the tools to the miners. Maybe not the best abstraction, but in this case the company I work at does not do anything except for build products that other people ask for (namely, iPhone/Android apps). We raised $0 in capital, started as a one-person company, and grew to 10 people (a bit under 20 with our contractors) in 2 years, several million in gross revenue this year. We have no debt, owe nobody equity, and make all our own decisions (at the cost of working for the occasionally difficult client). Everybody at the company usually works 40 hours a week at most, although I sometimes do up to 80 in light of my stupidly overkill work ethic. We don't have a product, and we don't have an exit, but we are making real money at least an can perhaps bootstrap our own products at some point. (I think 37 Signals did this? Not sure...)