Tag

#bootstrapped

39 posts tagged.

Valve's 336 Staff Did Not Make $50 Million Each. The Real Number Is a Quarter of That.

Games on Steam grossed roughly $5.5B (2017), ~$15.4B (2024), ~$17B to ~$20B (2025) and $11.1B in H1 2026 alone. Valve's own revenue was $4B+ from Steam (2025), ~$5B (2023) and ~$2.21B (2021). A source-typed ledger separating storefront volume from what Valve keeps, why the viral $50 million per employee figure is wrong by roughly four times, and what 79 people running Steam actually tells operators.

August 22, 202611 min read68

MRR journey

Epic Systems Makes $5.7 Billion a Year on Zero Outside Capital. The Rule Is Printed on the Walls.

Epic Systems' revenue ran $1.2B (2012), $3.3B (2020), $4.6B (2022), $4.9B (2023) and $5.7B (2024), roughly 14 percent compound growth for twelve years on $70,000 of founding capital and no outside investment. A source-typed ledger, how an EHR vendor with 42 percent share reaches $5.7B, the one customer it has ever lost, and the three things that make the story less repeatable than it reads.

August 21, 202610 min read78

MRR journey

Grammarly Had Revenue on Day One. The Number Everyone Quotes Is Two Different Numbers.

Grammarly's ARR runs $350M (2021) to more than $700M (May 2025), but a second series of much smaller figures circulates just as widely, and Google's own AI Overview quotes both without reconciling them. A sourced ledger, the accounting reason the numbers disagree, and the eight unfunded years the revenue figure hides.

August 20, 20269 min read86

MRR journey

JetBrains Files Its Real Numbers. They Show Profit Falling While Revenue Climbs.

JetBrains publishes growth rates but never a total. Its Czech filings show revenue climbing from 3.03bn CZK (2015) to 15.07bn CZK (2024), about $649M, while operating margin collapsed from 46.3% to 13.6%. A sourced ledger of the biggest software company that never took a cent of outside money.

August 19, 20269 min read102

MRR journey

Proton Revenue: The ~$100M Number Built on $2.5M and Given to a Foundation

Proton doesn't publish revenue, so 2024 to 2025 estimates run ~$97.5M (GetLatka) to $105M (ZoomInfo), up from ~$70M ARR in 2022. A sourced ledger of the Swiss privacy company that hit 100M accounts on roughly $2.5M ever raised, then gave itself to a non-profit foundation.

August 18, 20268 min read119

MRR journey

Kagi's Revenue Is a Guess. Its 50,000 Paying Members Aren't.

Kagi doesn't publish revenue, so estimates for 2026 run from ~$7M (Growjo) to $9.1M (ZoomInfo). A sourced ledger of what the ad-free, user-funded search engine actually discloses: 50,000 paying members, profitable since 2024, and zero venture capital.

August 17, 20268 min read95

MRR journey

Yoast Revenue: The $12M Bootstrapped Number That Went Dark After Newfold (2026)

Yoast hit ~$12M ARR in 2019 with zero funding, then sold to PE-backed Newfold in 2021 and stopped disclosing numbers. A sourced, year-tagged ledger, why the 2026 estimates run from $12.4M to $100M, and the operator lesson in why a healthy bootstrapped company sells anyway.

August 16, 20267 min read110

MRR journey

Photopea Revenue: The One-Person Free Photoshop That Makes Millions From Ads

A browser-based Photoshop alternative built by one person with zero funding. Founder-stated revenue hit ~$250K (2019) and ~$1M (2021); third-party estimates now put it near $2.8M to $3M. A sourced, year-tagged ledger and what operators can copy.

August 15, 20266 min read128

MRR journey

Kinsta Revenue: The Bootstrapped Number Estimates Peg From $19M to $100M (2026)

Kinsta is private and 100% bootstrapped, so its revenue is genuinely disputed: third-party estimates run from under $20M to as high as $100M. A sourced, year-tagged ledger, and why a company that took $0 in outside money will never let you pin the number down.

August 14, 20267 min read89

MRR journey

Elementor Revenue: The Number That Ranges From $53M to $250M (2026)

Elementor is private, so what does the most-installed WordPress page builder actually earn? Third-party estimates run from $53M to $250M, a near-5x spread. A sourced ledger, why the numbers disagree so wildly, and the stray $761M figure you should ignore.

August 13, 20266 min read101

MRR journey

ConvertKit (Kit) Revenue: The $43.8M Number That Almost Died at $1,337 a Month (2026)

Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is bootstrapped and private, so what does it earn? Third-party estimates put 2024 revenue near $43.8M on zero capital raised. A sourced ledger from the $1,337 month that nearly ended it to the $200M offer Nathan Barry turned down.

August 12, 20268 min read124

MRR journey

Wistia Revenue: The $67M Number Built on $17.3M of Debt (2026)

Wistia is private and bootstrapped, so estimates of its revenue swing from $24M to $67M. But the number that really explains it is the $17.3M of debt the founders took on in 2017 to buy out investors and force themselves profitable. A sourced ledger and the operator lesson.

August 11, 20269 min read106