The Persistence Report
Why failure is your competitive advantage. Synthesized lessons from founders who failed their way to success.
The Journey to Success
How many attempts does it take? The data reveals a clear pattern: persistence dramatically increases your chances of reaching $10K MRR.
The Journey to Success
Founders with 6+ attempts have a 25% higher success rate than first-time founders.
Persistence Heroes
Founders who failed repeatedly before finding success. Their stories prove that persistence is the ultimate differentiator.
Pieter Levels
Nomad List
$500K+ ARR
Built for his own community (digital nomads), shipped many projects in parallel
Ben Tossell
Makerpad
Acquired by Zapier
Caught no-code trend early, focused on education vs tools
Jon Yongfook
Bannerbear
$500K+ ARR
Built API he needed at work, solved specific developer pain
Marc Lou
ShipFast
$250K in 5 months
Built for developers (his community), priced premium at $197
Why Founders Fail
Learn from the most common failure patterns and how to avoid them.
Why Founders Fail (and How to Avoid It)
Build in public, grow Twitter/community first before launching
Talk to users constantly, build for your own problem
Spend 50% time on marketing, learn distribution early
Start with MVP/spreadsheet, validate before building
Price based on value, not cost - start higher than comfortable
Synthesized Lessons
We analyzed every lesson shared by founders and grouped them into actionable frameworks.
Top 10 Founder Lessons
Build for yourself - solve your own problems
Ship fast and iterate
Building in public creates accountability and attracts early adopters
SEO compounds over time
Word of mouth is the best marketing
Start with MVP before building complex software
Content marketing compounds over years
Solo founders can build million-dollar businesses
Product Hunt can provide initial momentum
Niche down instead of competing broadly
Lessons by Stage
Contrarian Wisdom
Some successful founders broke the rules. These insights go against conventional advice—but worked.
Contrarian Wisdom
Lessons that go against conventional startup advice — but worked for these founders.
Some successful founders skipped validation entirely
When you deeply understand a problem from personal experience, extensive validation can slow you down
Multiple simultaneous projects can outperform single focus
Portfolio approach reduces risk and increases chances of finding what works
Boring problems are often the best opportunities
Unsexy, practical solutions face less competition and serve real needs
Zero marketing can work with strong word-of-mouth
Some products are so good they spread organically without any marketing effort
Ready to start your journey?
Every successful founder started somewhere. Use these insights to guide your own path to success.