You forgot $20,000 in your snowboard pocket

Here we are at episode 30! Just found this old 2012 interview
with the founder of MailChimp, before they became a $4.2 billion
company. This quotes is awesome:



Back in 2001, we had multiple customers who needed help sending
their email newsletters. They were using really big, expensive,
bloated software. We had some “scrap code” lying around, so we
modified the code and turned it into an email newsletter app for
them. We opened it up to the public, set up some Google Adwords,
and basically forgot about it. Then, in 2005, we noticed it
was a better business than our web-dev agency so we
decided to take all of 2006 to wind down the agency business and
beef up MailChimp’s features. We officially hit the “reset button”
in 2007 and became a product company.


More recently, MailChimp was in Forbes:



Ben Chestnut and his cofounder, Dan Kurzius, have both profited
richly from their patience. With $600 million in revenue, Mailchimp
is in the black and has more than doubled its estimated valuation
to $4.2 billion in the last two years, giving Chestnut, 44, and
Kurzius, 46, its sole owners, stakes worth $2.1 billion each.




Even more interesting for us:



Mailchimp, launched in 2001 and remained a side project for
several years, earning a few thousand dollars a month. Then in
2007, when it hit 10,000 users, the two decided to commit
full-time. 




This was the part that surprised me: MailChimp was a side-project
for 6 years (earning just a few thousand to start).





Especially interesting in light of this DHH quote I shared in a
previous episode:



If it takes five years to get to the point where the business
can pay two salaries, it's possible that the business isn't
destined for that long-term.




Bootstrappers need to be more patient! (And maybe keep their day
job)


What do you think?


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Show notes:


MailChimp in Forbes Magazine

Bill Irwin’s tweet

An interview with Ben Chestnut

We can still do a lot to slow climate change. 

DHH: why is We Work promoting burnout?

ProfitWell Engage

Good News Podcast



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