Founder stories
Founder stories
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93 stories found
TC
Tim Chen
How Tim Chen Turned $800 and a Credit Card Spreadsheet into a $500M+ Revenue Public Company
Tim Chen invested $800 to build NerdWallet, a credit card comparison site. Obsessive SEO grew it to 20M+ monthly visitors, $500M+ revenue, and an IPO in 2021.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
OtroFinanzas🇺🇸 US
BL
Brian Lam
How a Gizmodo Editor Built the Internet's Most Trusted Product Review Site — Then Sold It to the NYT for $30M
Brian Lam left Gizmodo, moved to a surf shack in Hawaii, and launched Wirecutter. The NYT bought it for ~$30M in 2016.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Solo
OtroCreación de Contenido🇺🇸 US
Matt Kepnes
From Hospital Admin to 7-Figure Travel Empire: The Nomadic Matt Story
Matt Kepnes quit his hospital admin job after a trip to Thailand opened his eyes. His travel blog became Nomadic Matt — one of the world's largest travel media brands with over 1 million monthly readers.
$100K ARR in 4 years·Solo
Producto de InformaciónViajes🌍 Remote
Andrew Henderson
How a 22-Year-Old's Tax Bill Built a Global Nomad Advisory Empire
Andrew Henderson built a radio broadcasting empire at 22, then faced a 43% tax bill that changed his worldview. He founded Nomad Capitalist to share what he discovered — and built a 60-person global advisory brand.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
Agencia / ServicioViajes🌍 Remote
Jesse Mecham
Broke College Student Builds Spreadsheet Into Multi-Million Dollar Business
Jesse Mecham built a simple spreadsheet to manage money with his wife. That spreadsheet became YNAB, now used by millions worldwide.
$10K MRR in 5 years·Solo
SaaSFinanzas🇺🇸 US
PX
Peter Xu & Harry Yu
Twin Brothers Build Top-Ranked Travel Planning App
Peter Xu and Harry Yu (twin brothers) leveraged their Stripe and Google experience to build Wanderlog, now top-ranked for travel planning.
$1K MRR in 1 year·Team
SaaSViajes🇺🇸 US
Abraham Burak
Digital Nomad Builds $1B eSIM Marketplace to Solve Travel Connectivity
Abraham Burak experienced roaming bill shocks as a digital nomad, then built Airalo - now valued at $1B+ with 20M+ users.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
MarketplaceViajes🇺🇸 US
Christopher Gimmer
Christopher Gimmer Built Snappa to $1.5M ARR with Content-First Strategy
Chris and Marc built an audience with a viral blog post on free stock photos, then leveraged it to launch Snappa and reach $10K MRR in 5 months.
$100K ARR in 5 years·Team
SaaSDiseño🇨🇦 CA
DP
Danny Postma
Danny Postma: From 7-Figure Headlime Exit to Building HeadshotPro
After selling his AI writing tool Headlime for 7 figures in 8 months, Danny Postma built HeadshotPro - now serving 196,000+ customers.
$100K ARR in 1 year·Solo
SaaSAI / ML🇳🇱 NL
AW
Ania Wysocka
How I Built a 2M+ User Anxiety App With Zero Employees
Ania started having panic attacks in her final year of university. She built the app she wished existed.
$100K ARR in 5 years·Solo
App MóvilSalud y Bienestar🇨🇦 CA
Steve Kamb
Nerd Fitness: Building a 7-Figure Business for Fitness Misfits
Steve Kamb turned his nerdy approach to fitness into a 7-figure business, starting from around 3,500 email subscribers near his first $10K MRR milestone.
$10K MRR in 2 years·Solo
Producto de InformaciónSalud y Bienestar🇺🇸 US
AD
Aaron Davidson
Cronometer: A Nerdy Side Project That Became the Most Accurate Nutrition Tracker
Aaron Davidson built Cronometer as a personal tool for CRON dieting, now used by millions for precise nutrition tracking.
$10K MRR in 12 years·Solo
App MóvilSalud y Bienestar🇨🇦 CA
BT
Bernie Tschirren & Michael Cameron
Rome2Rio: From Side Project to $40M Exit by Solving "How Do I Get There?"
Two ex-Microsoft engineers built the definitive travel search for getting from A to B anywhere in the world.
$10K MRR in 4 years·Team
SaaSViajes🇦🇺 AU
Davis Siksnans & Lauris Liberts
Printful: From Garage Printing to $289M Revenue Print-on-Demand Giant
Started printing posters in a living room, Davis Siksnans bootstrapped Printful to $289M revenue and 1,700+ employees.
$100K ARR in 2 years·Team
MarketplaceE-commerce🇱🇻 LV
EM
Erikas Malisauskas
Kaching Bundle Quantity Breaks
Building a $4.5M/Year Shopify App Portfolio with $0 Marketing
Erikas Malisauskas quit freelancing and built 5 Shopify apps generating $4.5M annually without any paid marketing.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSE-commerce🇱🇹 LT
GW
Gareth Williams, Barry Smith & Bonamy Grimes
Skyscanner: From Ski Trip Frustration to £1.4 Billion Exit
Three friends frustrated by expensive ski flights built Skyscanner on the side, bootstrapped it to £1,000/day, then sold for £1.4 billion.
$100K ARR in 5 years·Team
SaaSViajes🇬🇧 GB
Rick Perreault
Unbounce: From Agency Frustration to $100K MRR Without a Sales Team
Rick Perreault solved his own pain as a creative director - waiting on developers for landing pages - and built Unbounce to $100K+ MRR without a sales team.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSMarketing🇨🇦 CA
Peter Xu & Harry Yu
Twin Brothers Built the Top Trip Planner App After Working at Stripe and Google
Peter and Harry Yu, twin brothers from Yale, built Wanderlog into the top-ranked trip planning app after previous bootstrapped travel ventures and stints at Stripe and Google.
$10K MRR in 2 years·Team
App MóvilViajes🇺🇸 US
Shalom Stark
Growing to 200,000 Users Without Any Marketing: The Invoice Ninja Story
Shalom Stark bootstrapped Invoice Ninja to 200,000+ users through open source, SEO, and word of mouth - without spending on marketing.
$10K MRR in 3 years·Team
SaaSFinanzas🇺🇸 US
Julia Enthoven & Eric Lu
Building a Viral Video Editor with the "Watermark Growth Hack"
Julia Enthoven and Eric Lu bootstrapped Kapwing to 100,000+ users using SEO and the viral watermark strategy.
$10K MRR in 1 year·Team
SaaSCreación de ContenidoSan Francisco, CA
YE
Yoni Elbaz & Moran Benisty
Loox
How Two Sears R&D Engineers Built a $15M+ ARR Shopify App
Yoni Elbaz and Moran Benisty met at Sears R&D in Israel and bootstrapped Loox to $15M+ ARR without paying themselves for 15 months.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Team
SaaSE-commerce🇮🇱 IL
Chris Koh
GemPages
How a Developer Built GemPages to 100K+ Shopify Merchants
Chris Koh spent years working with eSellers before writing the first code for GemPages, a Shopify page builder now used by 100K+ merchants.
$100K ARR in 3 years·Solo
SaaSE-commerce🇻🇳 VN
MC
Michael Cameron & Bernie Tschirren
How Two Ex-Microsoft Engineers Built Rome2rio to a $40M Exit
Michael Cameron and Bernie Tschirren built Rome2rio from their parents' living room to 10M+ monthly visitors before selling to Omio.
$100K ARR in 8 years·Team
SaaSViajes🇦🇺 AU
AZ
Aktarer Zaman
How a 22-Year-Old Built Skiplagged and Beat United Airlines in Court
Aktarer Zaman built Skiplagged at 20, got sued by United Airlines and Orbitz, and won - now helping millions find cheaper flights.
$10K MRR in 2 years·Solo
SaaSViajes🇺🇸 US
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