Founder stories
$100K ARRin 3 months
3 milestones
From Crushing VC Rejection to YC: Designer Marketplace $100K ARR in 3 Months
Founder
RS
Roman Sevast
Co-Founders•Technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
ExperiencedProduct
Designer matching platform for companies.
Type
MarketplaceIndustry
DesignModel
Marketplace FeesMarketing Strategy
How Roman acquired customers
Primary Channel
Product Hunt
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Awesomic
ReactNode.jsPostgreSQL
The Full Story
Roman struggled to find the right designer while working on a previous startup. They launched Awesomic with a simple Facebook post.
Fast Validation
First customer (Outtalent, YC S19) came the next day. By month 3, they had 7 customers and ~$3K MRR.
Prove Them Wrong
A famous US VC said Awesomic would be 'unscalable and unfundable.' Minutes later, Ragnar Sass (Pipedrive founder) said: 'PROVE THEM WRONG.'
- Time to $100K ARR: 3 months
- Got into YC S21
- First customer: Next day after launch
Key Takeaways
1
Solve your own problem - best products come from personal pain points
2
Community support can make or break a Product Hunt launch
3
Use rejection as fuel to prove doubters wrong
4
Validation can happen fast with the right problem-solution fit
Originally published onIndie Hackers
Inspired by Roman's journey? Generate a business idea in the Design space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Roman achieved 3 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
1 days
January 2020
99% faster
vs avg 3 months+1 month to next milestone
$1K MRR
$3,000
2 months
March 2020
82% faster
vs avg 11 months+1 month to next milestone
$100K ARR
$100,000
3 months
April 2020
92% faster
vs avg 3 years3 months
Total journey time
3
Milestones achieved
Roman's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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