VCs want to get you to grow rapidly because the only way to move the needle on their returns is to blow the roof off. However as a founder, this is proof you can have a great business and a great quality of life by keeping costs relatively low, the team relatively small, just cranking out code and having fun.
But, we started with two people. At some point we needed funding. That put us on a track of angel investors, VC's, and a cycle acquisition, buyback, funding, acquisition, buyback, etc.
As the techie guy, I found that tiring and distracting. When we changed from software as a product to SAAS, it got a lot less fun. When we grew to 2000 employees (mostly non-tech), the company was a pain.
So after 20 years (to the day), we sold it and moved on.
If you were back to two people with a promising idea, how would you do it this time?
More power to em, if you prefer software be a certain way write it yourself.
[1] https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percen...
So, yes, they’ve done pretty well but they took a risk and still probably didn’t come close to maximizing comp even they had a rather good outcome.
And I just threw out the $150k number because it’s a very good outcome. Could just as easily be something a lot lower including negative.
In aggregates: Household income > individual income > wage/salary; you've confused the first with the last.
$150K is beyond 90th percentile individual income. [0] I can’t find wage/salary percentiles separately, but its probably even further beyond 90th percentile there.
https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-individual-income-perce...