Bootstrapping is different from VC-funded/public companies: 1. Scale needed for profitability: a bootstrapped SaaS can be really small (1-2 people). No investors to appease! 2. Runway: bootstrapped founders don't have a lot of money. They don't have years to "find their way."
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The risk of adopting the "slow ramp of death" mindset is that "the world is full of people with 3-year-old 'side startups;' 99% of which will never work." (Jason Coen) "Long slow ramp" can't mean "5+ years of trying to hit $10k MRR" for most founders.https://twitter.com/asmartbear/status/1069939899044847622?s=20 …
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Good point by
@ianlandsman: "When that talk came out, this was a new idea ('building a subscription business takes time to ramp up'). These days, it's a given. Most founders know that if you start at $30 in MRR, it's going to take a while to hit scale."
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Also
@ianlandsman: "At the time, this idea ('long slow SaaS ramp') was especially helpful for founders who had previously sold installable software, where you get the revenue up-front. We weren't used to revenue taking so long to scale."Pokaż ten wątek -
Good point by Tyler here as well: the danger, these days, is "if you don't see a fast-ish ramp, the odds of success go way down."https://twitter.com/tylertringas/status/1366502084321964037 …
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Here are some reasonable questions to ask, which never really get addressed by "Long, slow, SaaS ramp of death." - How long are we talking about? 5 years? 10 years? - How slow is too slow? - If scale needed is small, how is ramp affected? - How do you know when you should quit?
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Anyway, I think this kind of questioning is helpful. In the science community, they regularly re-examine old ideas, challenge their beliefs, and stress-test theories. We need this in bootstrapping too! It's good to look critically at our axioms and ask if they're still useful.
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Sure, but that's just another way of saying a ramp
pic.twitter.com/fmURZXiRED
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I'd also add that both my impression at Gail's talk (booyah old timer ref drop) and on rewatch it's pretty clear she's talking roughly about what we all shorthand as the slow ramp. Her specifics tho are in a 1999 context.
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building
"We achieved profitability at 15,000 customers. Problem was, it took $21 million of capital to get to that." 
to
July: $9K MRR

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