In 2003, Mike McDerment was running a small design agency when he accidentally saved over an important invoice. That frustrating moment sparked the creation of FreshBooks.

The Origin

"Built in 2003 after I accidentally saved over an invoice, I spent 3.5 years growing FreshBooks from my parents' basement." Mike scratched his own itch, then realized millions of other small business owners had the same problem.

The Basement Years

To keep costs down, Mike moved into his parents' basement for 3.5 years. He revamped how he ran his design firm to work only 19 days one year - while generating over $200,000 to bootstrap FreshBooks.

The Problem

"Self-employed professionals deserved better tools. The existing options were either too complicated (QuickBooks) or too basic (Excel). We wanted something beautiful that anyone could use."

The Growth

FreshBooks grew to 10 million users and $50M+ in annual revenue without heavy VC funding initially. The company raised money later to accelerate growth but proved the model through years of bootstrapping.

The Team

"My co-founders were people who believed in what we were doing. One was a doctor in computer science who loved the project and wanted some side work." The early team was built on shared vision, not high salaries.

• Founded: 2003
• Years in basement: 3.5
• Users: 10M+
• Revenue: $50M+ ARR
• Employees: 500+ across 6 countries