Bootstrapping a side project into a profitable seven-figure business

It's an impressive accomplishment. I've always struggled to get through the valley of despair in a new project. I've decided that I can only build and sell things that I regularly use. Otherwise the signal is just too weak, and I eventually get burned out. But if I'm always a user of one, then at least it's validated for me.

Caring is kind of a superpower. And not just in terms of signal, but also the quality of work. I don't think this would have gone anywhere if I hadn't cared deeply about solving the problem in an elegant way.

Earlier in my career, I worked on some things as a corporate engineer that were hard to care about, and there's just no comparison.

>The willingness to doggedly show up every single day can take you to some really suprising and amazing places.

>Caring is kind of a superpower.

>the quality of work.

>I was thrilled to spend my free time treating those early customers like royalty

Well, the secret's out, thanks for that, now anybody can do it ;)

On my million-dollars project (now 10 employees) I hired someone for the support. She wasn’t in the startup ecosystem. What she was most surprised of / had to train most for was our requirement of benevolence: Always help the customer, even when it’s not in our scope.

She thinks I’m a superboss, but I keep repeating her: We have to be nice to customers, we also have to give benefits to employees, otherwise both would leave us. It’s not a choice, it’s market pressure.