Founder stories
$100K ARRin 4 years
3 milestones
How I built a $1M+ business selling open source software
Founder
Mike Perham
Solo Founder•Technical•USA
Commitment
Side ProjectExperience
ExperiencedProduct
Simple, efficient background processing for Ruby applications.
Type
SaaSIndustry
Developer ToolsModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Mike acquired customers
Primary Channel
Communities
Also Used
SEO / ContentWord of Mouth
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Sidekiq
RubyRedisStripe
The Full Story
Sidekiq started as an open source project in 2012. I was frustrated with existing Ruby background job solutions and built something better.
The Open Source Strategy
I released Sidekiq for free as open source. It quickly became popular because it was faster and simpler than alternatives. Once it had traction, I created Sidekiq Pro with advanced features for $750/year.
Building in the Open
The community helped make Sidekiq better. Bug reports, feature requests, and contributions all came from users. This created a flywheel - better product, more users, more feedback.
- 2012: Launch (free)
- 2013: Sidekiq Pro launch
- 2014: $10K MRR
- 2017: $1M ARR
- 2023: ~$2M ARR as a solo founder
The Model
Open core works. Give away the core product, charge for enterprise features. The free users become your marketing team.
Key Takeaways
1
Open source can be a business model
2
Solve a real pain point for developers
3
Free users are your best marketers
4
Enterprise features justify premium pricing
Originally published onMike Perham Blog
Inspired by Mike's journey? Generate a business idea in the Developer Tools space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Mike achieved 3 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
1 year
February 2013
Avg: 3 months
+1 year to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
2 years
February 2014
Avg: 1 year
+2 years to next milestone
$100K ARR
$100,000
4 years
February 2016
Avg: 3 years
4 years
Total journey time
3
Milestones achieved
Mike's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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