Founder stories
Founder stories
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24 stories found
Arvid Kahl
From $0 to $55K MRR in 2 years, then a life-changing exit
My partner Danielle was an online English teacher. Every day after teaching, she'd spend hours writing personalized feedback for each student. I watch...
$10K MRR in 2 years·Team
SaaSEducation🇩🇪 DE
Ramit Sethi
Blogger Waits 2 Years to Launch $4.95 eBook, Now Runs $10M+ Business
Ramit Sethi waited two years before creating his first product, building audience to 50,000 visitors per month first. First Product His first pr...
First Customer in 2 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Ali Abdaal
Medical Student Creates YouTube Content, $294K First Course Launch
Ali Abdaal started making YouTube videos in 2017 during his final year of medical school at Cambridge. The Grind He uploaded 85 videos with 0 vi...
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Justin Welsh
From SVP panic attack to $5M/year solo with 89% profit margin
I was SVP of Sales when I had a panic attack from burnout. I quit to build a solo business. Now I make $5M/year with 89% profit margin and zero ads....
$100K ARR in 4 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Marie Forleo
Business Coach Launches B-School, First Million-Dollar Launch in Year Two
Marie Forleo, along with Laura Roeder, created B-School. The first year enrolled a few hundred students. Fun Marketing The marketing broke all r...
$100K ARR in 1 year·Team
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Dickie Bush
Writer Creates 30-Day Challenge, Grows to 4,000 Students and Millions in Revenue
In December 2020, Dickie Bush tweeted: 'is anyone interested in doing a daily writing challenge for 30 days?' Rapid Validation Around 20 people...
$100K ARR in 6 months·Team
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Brian Dean
Failed with first 5 businesses, created Skyscraper Technique, acquired by Semrush
I failed with my first 5 online businesses before Backlinko worked. Created the "Skyscraper Technique" which became an industry standard. Eventually a...
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Tiago Forte
Productivity Expert Launches Cohort Course, Builds $5M/Year Business
Tiago Forte 'rage quit' consulting with a month of savings. He created a course on SkillShare that became 2 on the platform. Cohort Model After...
$100K ARR in 1 year·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
David Perell
Writer Launches Online Writing Course, $200K+ from First Two Cohorts
David Perell launched Write of Passage in April 2019 with ~150 students at $600. He ran it with Tiago Forte. Instant Success Even the first coho...
$100K ARR in 3 months·Team
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Monica Lent
From free newsletter to $50K+ in course sales
I started Blogging for Devs as a free newsletter teaching developers how to grow their blogs. It evolved into a paid community and course. Building...
$1K MRR in 2 months·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Kieran Drew
Dentist Becomes Copywriter, $142K Course Launch While Working 50-60 Hours/Week
Kieran Drew was a dentist working 50-60 hours per week when he decided to build an online business. Premium Pricing He launched High Impact Writ...
$100K ARR in 6 months·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Allison Seboldt
Building a niche product that went viral on Reddit
I built Fantasy Congress as a side project - a fantasy sports game but for politics. It went viral and taught me everything about building in public....
First Customer in 7 days·Solo
SaaSEducation🇺🇸 US
Kevin Conti
Paid newsletter to $10K MRR in just 5 months through community engagement
Kevin turned his SaaS research into a newsletter, growing from $0 to $10K MRR in 5 months by building in public on Indie Hackers.
$10K MRR in 5 months·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Allison Seboldt
How a Political Science major built a $2K/month fantasy politics game
Started as a free MVP in 2018. Two years later, first paid customers. One year after that, $2K revenue months.
$1K MRR in 3 years·Solo
SaaSEducation🇺🇸 US
Daniel Vassallo
How I quit my $500K Amazon job and built $1M in revenue through small bets
Left Amazon with 150 Twitter followers. Three years later, $1M in cumulative revenue from info products and community.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Mubashar Iqbal
How building 120+ side projects led to a viral hit with 14M page views
After 80+ failed projects, one finally went viral. 4 million page views in 4 weeks, $4K/month in ad revenue, then sold.
$10K MRR in 2 months·Team
OtherEducation🇺🇸 US
Rosie Sherry
How an introvert built a $1.2M/year testing community over 12 years
Started as a free forum in 2007. 12 years later: $1.2M ARR from conferences, memberships, and courses.
$100K ARR in 12 years·Solo
OtherEducation🇬🇧 GB
Jay Clouse
How a newsletter grew into a $500K/year creator business in 3 years
Started with a blog nobody read. Rebranded to Creator Science and built to $500K/year through newsletter, podcast, and community.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Rosie Sherry
How a community expert built her second $10K/month business teaching what she knows
After building Ministry of Testing to $1.2M, Rosie started Rosieland to teach community building. Reached $10K/month in 2.5 years.
$10K MRR in 2 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇬🇧 GB
Marie Poulin
From YouTube Tips to $40K/Month Teaching Notion
Marie discovered Notion in 2018 and started sharing tips on YouTube. When her audience asked for a course, she launched Notion Mastery to $40K/month.
$10K MRR in 2 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇨🇦 CA
Steph Smith
Trends Content Lead Launches Course, $40K in First Month
Steph leveraged her experience leading content at The Hustle to launch Doing Content Right, earning $40K in the first month.
$10K MRR in 1 month·Solo
Info ProductEducation🌍 Remote
Ellen Yin
Corporate Marketer Quits Job, Pre-Sells Course, Reaches 7 Figures
Ellen pre-sold her first program with zero content, then built it based on customer feedback to reach 7-figure lifetime revenue.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇺🇸 US
Sumit Bansal
Tech Worker Sees Excel Skills Gap, Builds Blog to 1M+ Visitors and $10K/Month
Sumit saw colleagues struggling with Excel and built TrumpExcel to 1M+ monthly pageviews and $10K/month revenue.
$10K MRR in 3 years·Solo
Info ProductEducation🇮🇳 IN
Arvid Kahl
Arvid Kahl Built FeedbackPanda to $55K MRR in 2 Years, Then Sold It
Arvid and his partner Danielle built FeedbackPanda for online ESL teachers, reaching $55K MRR before selling for a life-changing amount.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
SaaSEducation🇩🇪 DE
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A note on these stories: The founders featured here represent those who publicly shared their success. Not every startup succeeds, and timelines vary widely. These stories are meant to inspire and educate, not to set expectations.
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