10 years of dream to overnight success and 100k revenue

2 points by themkmaker 2 years ago | 5 comments

I am a software developer from India.

I started my graduation in computer science in 2010. But got a computer in 2011 only (funny I know, but I couldn't afford it that time).

After graduation I joined Accenture but then left it to join a startup as an early employee in 2015. Worked there for 4 years saw it grow from 3 employees to 200+ employees.

Pay was good now. Life was improving. And then I got a job offer which was 10 times more than what I got in first job.

Life improved more. But the itch to start something my own was not making me to rest.

Although, I started several projects (and sold some of them) but none of them seemed to be a "real" product that can push me to leave my job and go full time.

Then in 2023 I started working on a Typeform alternative called Youform after getting lot of demand from my previous product (Botflow).

While building it and juggling between full time work, a freelancing client and a pregnant wife, I somehow managed to cross 200 free users by December 2023.

Then in late December my now Co-founder (then client) pitched me to do it together.

I was bit hesitant at the beginning. The pay at my current job was awesome and life was comfortable.

But something told me to go for it.

So I left my job in Feb 2024 and launched the paid plan on 12th Feb 2024.

Since then we have made around $20,000 in revenue in lifetime deals sale.

There are days when it is making 100,000 INR in a single day (which is huge in India where I live). For context this is half the amount I spent in my 4 years of engineering degree.

It is past midnight here. I am sitting alone typing it and thinking how my life has changed. It is beautiful and I can't be thankful enough.

latchkey 2 years ago |

One other note on this, I wouldn't focus so much on the concept of "I am making more money than I've ever made in my life".

Focus more on the concept of "I am building a product that customers want to pay for."

You'll end up happier and more motivated the moment when sales happen to decrease. Which they will. It is normal.

themkmaker 2 years ago | |

I agree. That's the reason I declined several acquisition offers (one of thm was was giving me 6 times more than what I was getting in my previous job, and will probably make in not sooner than next 2 years if Youform continues to grow at this pace). The reason is same that I am loving building this every single day (at least for now).

latchkey 2 years ago |

Congrats to you! Seriously. Hard work and dedication clearly paid off. Most importantly, you built something people need and are willing to pay for. Always listen to your customers and build what they want.

themkmaker 2 years ago | |

Thank you! Yes I am doing the same. Using a feature request board to collect users' feedbacks and shipping the features which gets most votes.

latchkey 2 years ago | | |

Awesome, that is a little different though. What you need to gather from that information is the things that people will pay for, or at least the features that will convert people into paying customers. You may only have one person who wants something, but if they are willing to pay for it, depending on the feature, you might want to prioritize that higher. If one customer says they want to pay for it, then you more more likely to find others.

I'd also wrap that into a feedback loop where customers are notified when their requested features ship. If you can do super fast turnaround for even partial features, customers appreciate that even more and will be further impressed.