In February 2019, Daniel Vassallo walked away from a $500,000/year job at Amazon. After 8 years as a senior software engineer at AWS, he realized something troubling: extrinsic rewards couldn't sustain his motivation anymore.

Why Leave $500K?

"I was on track to earn $1M/year if I stayed," Daniel wrote. "But I realized that promotions, compensation, and recognition weren't enough. I wanted to spend my time writing code, selling my creations, and charting my own path."

He left with $150K in savings and just 150 Twitter followers.

The Portfolio Approach

Rather than betting everything on one startup idea, Daniel embraced a "portfolio of small bets." He would launch multiple small projects, see what stuck, and double down on winners.

His first bet: writing a book about AWS.

The Good Parts of AWS (December 2019)

Daniel co-authored a 173-page book distilling his 8 years of AWS experience. He launched it on Christmas Day 2019 after taking pre-orders.

Results: $45,000 in the first 14 days.

The book eventually earned $144,036 total - all from his own expertise, sold directly through Gumroad.

Twitter Audience Course (April 2020)

With his Twitter following growing rapidly, Daniel launched a course teaching others how to build an audience. The course was a single-take 100-minute video.

Launch day: $10,000 in revenue.

Total earnings: $287,513 - his most successful product.

Small Bets Community

Daniel turned his philosophy into a cohort-based course and community called Small Bets. It taught others to build portfolios of small projects.

Total earnings: $284,030 before he sold it to Gumroad for $3.6M in 2024.

The $1M Milestone (July 2022)

Three years after quitting Amazon, Daniel crossed $1 million in cumulative revenue.

• 2019: $33,449 (first 10 months)
• 2020: $350,989
• 2021-2022: Continued growth to $1M+

The Philosophy

"Forget about 'starting a company.' Try making $1,000 with a small project first."

Daniel's approach: build multiple income streams, ship fast (his AWS book took 160 hours), and prioritize intrinsic motivation over external validation.

• Amazon salary left behind: $500K/year
• Starting Twitter followers: 150
• First year revenue: $33,449
• Second year revenue: $350,989
• Time to $1M: 3 years