I chuckled when I read the bit about calling Superpath a lifestyle business to mask insecurity about not having raised money. Not raising money is something to be celebrated, not something to try to hide.
Nine years ago, today, my co-founder and I started Aha!, and we recently announced that we passed $100M in annual recurring revenue. We did that without raising any money by focused on building exactly what customers want, and doing it as efficiently as we possibly could. Admittedly we were fortunate to have great product-market fit from the very beginning. But bootstrapping is one of the things that made us successful: we were maniacally focussed on what customers needed, rather than what story would be most effective at raising money. You might think that those are the same thing, but in my experience they are not.
I'm excited by this post because I think Jimmy deserves this success. I've never met him in person, but I owe him big time because:
1. His community was a big factor in my SaaS business getting traction among copywriters and content marketers.
2. I took a bike tour near his area and he saved me from trying to bike through a mudslide that had recently washed out part the route.
Biases aside, I've been a member of Superpath for awhile now and can say that he's put together a unique community that has a strong backbone of "givers" that can help the "takers". The vast majority of professional communities (especially free ones) devolve into places with endless questions with no one to answer them. Superpath isn't like that at all. Questions turn into threads with insightful answers and discussions.
k1w1|3 years ago
Nine years ago, today, my co-founder and I started Aha!, and we recently announced that we passed $100M in annual recurring revenue. We did that without raising any money by focused on building exactly what customers want, and doing it as efficiently as we possibly could. Admittedly we were fortunate to have great product-market fit from the very beginning. But bootstrapping is one of the things that made us successful: we were maniacally focussed on what customers needed, rather than what story would be most effective at raising money. You might think that those are the same thing, but in my experience they are not.
We are celebrating bootstrapping at https://www.bootstrap.company/.
rchiba|3 years ago
1. His community was a big factor in my SaaS business getting traction among copywriters and content marketers.
2. I took a bike tour near his area and he saved me from trying to bike through a mudslide that had recently washed out part the route.
Biases aside, I've been a member of Superpath for awhile now and can say that he's put together a unique community that has a strong backbone of "givers" that can help the "takers". The vast majority of professional communities (especially free ones) devolve into places with endless questions with no one to answer them. Superpath isn't like that at all. Questions turn into threads with insightful answers and discussions.
Props!
gmanis|3 years ago
chexton|3 years ago
frumper|3 years ago