Four years ago, I quit my job as a developer at Google to create my own self-funded software company.

For the first few years, all of my businesses flopped. They all operated at a loss, and none of them earned more than a few hundred dollars per month in revenue.

Halfway through my third year, I created a network administration device called TinyPilot. It quickly caught on, and it’s been my main focus ever since. TinyPilot generated $460k in 2021, its first full year in operation.

Highlights

• I’ve launched a new TinyPilot product and debuted a new logo.
• TinyPilot’s revenue finished the year strong at $55k for December.
• I’ve learned to manage design projects more aggressively.

Goal grades

At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:

Launch the Voyager 2

• Result: Launched the Voyager 2
• Grade: A

After many months of hard work, I finally launched the Voyager 2 last month.

Highlights

• TinyPilot’s sales jumped to $57k, and it might be sustainable.
• I’m just about to launch TinyPilot’s new product and branding.
• I reduced Google Cloud Platform fees by 90% on my side projects.

Goal grades

At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:

Complete TinyPilot’s website rebrand

• Result: The rebrand is 95% done, but we haven’t published it yet.
• Grade: B

I’ve finalized a logo concept and color scheme with the design firm, but we’re still working out some fine details before we pull the trigger on the new branding.

Highlights

• I announced a new product and then discovered it was a mistake.
• I simplified the TinyPilot website to focus on a single device.
• I tried taking my first real vacation from TinyPilot with mixed results.

Goal grades

At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:

Train local staff members to assist with customer support

• Result: Local staff members are answering ~50% of support emails.
• Grade: A-

We now use HelpScout as a shared customer support queue. There are still plenty of cases where I’m the only one with the context or technical background to handle the request, but it’s great to have help with the rest.

Overall, this was an interesting read, but I found it hard to apply the lessons to my product. The book contains compelling case studies and ideas from the field of meta-learning, but most of the ideas were either too theoretical or too specific to large companies.