Show HN: Successful One-Person Startup by a Self-Taught Coder

3 points by nish1500 5 years ago | 4 comments

In 2013, I was living in India, studying accounting and finance full time. I started coding as a hobby using online tutorials to learn. I launched FormCrafts (https://formcrafts.com) after 3 years of failed projects.

I dropped out of college, and spent the next 3 - 5 years living a nomadic life before settling down in Toronto.

FormCrafts is a bootstrapped one-person startup with thousands of users all over the world. I have no major expenses, and the revenues are over USD 150,000. I usually work 5 - 15 hours a week, but I spent the last year working on a major update (which is now live) so the hours are up to 35 +

I have no intention of hiring people or chasing the Silicon Valley dream. My plan for the next 5 - 7 years is to sell my laptop, retire, and open an animal sanctuary / yoga community.

I wanted to share my story, and the new iteration of FormCrafts (https://formcrafts.com).

Happy to answer any questions about tech, coding, mindfulness, etc ... :)

emteycz 5 years ago |

I don't want to dib into your success as what you did is impressive. Why do you call it a startup and not simply a business or a company? Are you aiming to sell/exit? If so, I would like to hear more about your approach to that.

nish1500 5 years ago | |

Thank you.

I often use the words startup / business / company interchangeably. I don't know enough about the nomenclature to have strong opinions on it.

Yes, I would like to sell FormCrafts in the next 3 - 5 years. I don't have a strategy for it at the moment.

ysato 5 years ago |

How did you acquire users?

nish1500 5 years ago | |

I have done little to no marketing, and spent less than $100 in the last 7 years.

Initially, I relied on integration listings with our partners (Stripe, MailChimp, Zendesk). Overtime customers started talking about us. People would post an odd review. We also rely on 'powered by' links under forms on free accounts.

We don't have one strong acquisition source.