Sahil Lavingia is the founder of Gumroad, the platform that allows creators to sell products online. The beating heart of the creator economy. You'll likely have heard Sahil's story about his failure to build a billion dollar company with an article that went viral, but let me summarise for those that haven't.

Sahil founded Gumroad in 2011, aiming to build the next unicorn, leaving Pinterest where he was employee #2. He raised $1.1m from angels, then $7m more in 2012. Things started growing, then they didn't. Sahil laid off 75% of the company to keep the product alive, moved to Provo, Utah to figure where to take Gumroad from that point. Almost a decade later Gumroad is growing quicker than ever, making millions in revenue and helping creators make a living online.

Sahil has just launched his book, The Minimalist Entrepreneur, where he shares a decade of learnings on how to build a profitable, sustainable business and how entrepreneurs can do more with less to make more impact on the world.

👉 I'm giving away 5 copies of Sahil's book on Twitter, enter here.

What we covered on this episode:

Sahil’s approach to funding
Bootstrapping vs VC
Why Gumroad runs so differently to most companies
Why longevity has helped Gumroad
Sahil’s book: The Minimalist Entrepreneur
Building a project in a weekend: Verification Letters
Livestream of building Verification Letters
The framework for starting a business
Why you should start and then learn
Barriers people have to starting their business
Fear of failure
Importance of writing

Recommendations

Book: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Podcast: All-In Podcast
Indie Hacker: Naval

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Gumroad founder's framework for a bootstrapped business - Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad 15:07 Share

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Gumroad founder's framework for a bootstrapped business - Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad