a13n

19 ms·

1. 181.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   Pretty neat to see - this is where our startup Canny started. We eventually moved to the SaaS model and that ended up driving more engagement and revenue.
2. 182.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   Why? Building a company is a journey.
3. 183.▲
   Node v15.0.0 (Current)(nodejs.org)

   1 points by a13n 6y ago|0 comments
4. 184.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   Mark, really appreciate you writing this! So much great advice, and in such an easily digestible format. I messaged you on Twitter.
5. 185.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   The $10/mo lightsail instance our blog runs on couldn’t handle 300 concurrent readers so we upgraded it to a beefier one.
6. 186.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   > a) How relevant was your experience (as engineers) in building and growing startups? Super relevant to building the product. I feel like to be successful, you have to be really, really good at a couple things. For us that was engineeri
7. 187.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   The topics that other companies aren’t willing to write about make for the best and most helpful articles. We were careful to anonymize the individual.
8. 188.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   It’s not just the generic intro, but also the copy paste template email that follows. If you don’t have time to spend even 30 seconds researching the company before applying, we just aren’t the right fit for you. The first hires at an early
9. 189.▲
   by a13n 6y ago

   Hmm, there's definitely a BIG lag between when you do work (engineering, marketing, etc), and when you see results (revenue). Like months. You really have to be self-driven and have some faith that the work you're doing now will p
10. 190.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Early-stage definitely was filled with messiness and doubts. We had no idea we were going to get to $1m ARR. When we started we had no idea how to price a SaaS product or make a landing page. There's that quote, "hindsight is 20&#
11. 191.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Very true!
12. 192.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    The reason the React.js team started using Canny was because before Canny I worked on the React team at Facebook. I didn't plan it this way. My ex-colleague, @vjeux, messaged me and asked about my new startup. I told him it was a user
13. 193.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Hmm, we're still pretty new to sales. Inbound: VIP trial sign-ups, demos booked, demos given, opportunities created, opportunities lost/won Outbound: Emails sent, emails opened, reply rate, calls made, calls answered, conversions
14. 194.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Sometimes it takes a few submissions to make it to the front page. There's nothing against this in the guidelines. We don't usually submit stuff to HN but this felt particularly worthy!
15. 195.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Also helps that 2 of those 9 people are founders who don't take a salary.
16. 196.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    We're back up now!
17. 197.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Thanks so much for being a customer!
18. 198.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    We aren't looking to sell Canny. Part of building a sustainable product/business is sticking around for the long haul.
19. 199.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Thanks!! Best of luck with Threader :)
20. 200.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    I sure hope that wasn't the key learning from our post! It's not a very repeatable/helpful learning :) Luck can definitely play a big role in building a successful company. I think what a lot of people don't realize is h
21. 201.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Fair point, but honestly not a huge priority. Lightsail is a super convenient and cheap way to host our blog. The main problem is we were on a $10/mo server, which is plenty for our typical blog traffic. But definitely not enough for H
22. 202.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Glad you enjoyed it! We're eager to write more transparent content like this, so let us know if there's anything specific that'd be interesting (eg. recruiting, finance, etc).
23. 203.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Thanks for being a customer, Brandon! Definitely let us know how we can push the envelope even further here with regards to MRR/SaaS aggregation.
24. 204.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Thanks so much for being a customer! And yeah, it always feels bad to write that "we got lucky", as it isn't really that repeatable/helpful. But it's true.
25. 205.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Back up now! Upgraded our AWS Lightsail instance. Thanks for posting that cache link :)
26. 206.▲
    How we built a $1M ARR SaaS startup(canny.io)

    379 points by a13n 6y ago|118 comments
27. 207.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Only within first 24 ish hours I think. Maybe more if it hit the front page or got a lot of votes?
28. 208.▲
    by a13n 6y ago

    Yeah haha me too. Gonna keep submitting it daily for a bit - sometimes it just takes a few tries.
29. 209.▲
    How we built a $1m ARR SaaS startup(canny.io)

    1 points by a13n 6y ago|0 comments
30. 210.▲
    How we built a $1m ARR SaaS startup(canny.io)

    2 points by a13n 6y ago|0 comments