Tag
11 posts tagged.
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.
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.
Ahrefs is private and bootstrapped, so what does it actually earn? Credible estimates put revenue near $100M to $149M a year (2023 to 2024) with zero outside investors, and the company's own blog disclosed ~$257M over three years. A sourced ledger, plus the revenue-per-employee number that really explains it.
37signals, the private company behind Basecamp, never publishes its revenue, so estimates scatter from $25M to $280M. A source-typed ledger, plus the one 2006 Bezos check that complicates the 'never took a dime' legend.
Mailchimp hit about $800M in revenue with zero venture capital, sold to Intuit for roughly $12B in 2021, and in May 2026 Intuit confirmed its revenue is now declining. A source-typed ledger, and what actually transfers.
Craigslist has never disclosed its finances, so every revenue figure is an estimate. The famous $694M stat is a frozen 2018 peak; AIM Group data shows it has fallen to about $302M by 2024. Here is the sourced ledger and the operator lesson.
Midjourney has never disclosed revenue, so 2026 estimates run from $150M to $500M ARR. Here is the sourced ledger, the pricing math, and the number that actually holds.
Obsidian has never disclosed revenue, so 2026 estimates run from about $2M to $25M. Here is the sourced ledger, the pricing math, and the number that holds.
Zoho crossed about Rs 12,313 crore (roughly $1.4 billion) in FY25 revenue, up 17.8%, having never raised a cent of venture capital. A source-typed ledger of how, and what actually transfers.
Todoist has crossed $100M in cumulative revenue, fully bootstrapped, and its founder says the number is the boring part. A dated, source-typed revenue ledger for Doist, and what actually transfers from a 17-year customer-funded climb.
Ahrefs is a fully bootstrapped, nine-figure SEO business, but it has never published an official revenue figure. The one hard number it let slip, ~$257M, and the operator lesson behind it.
