Highlights

• I published my fourth annual retrospective about being a bootstrapped founder.
• TinyPilot sales continue running strong despite a delay in launching our next product.
• I analyze how I’m spending my time and figure out ways to allocate my hours better.

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 Voyager 2: PoE Edition

• Result: Delayed the launch a few weeks due to a manufacturing issue
• Grade: D

I had to delay the launch because we discovered that the first manufactured batch of PoE hardware is behaving differently than our prototypes. We should be able to fix the boards, but it’s going to take a few weeks.

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.

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.

Season 1 Recap Last year, I became a full-time indie founder just before COVID hit. In a matter of 3 weeks, the pandemic’s fallout obliterated my two main revenue streams: my travel blog and SaaS product, Affilimate. By the time I turned 30 in June of 2020, I earned just $538 in revenue for the entire month. Not even enough to cover rent. Despite turning things around with a successful launch at the end of the year, I still made a net loss after business and personal expenses.