Think (and act) Long Term
It takes a lot longer than you think to do anything great.
Especially in software. It’s tough to bring products to life. It's even harder to get a brand going, recognized, trusted, used, and adopted.
It takes time.
It takes energy.
It takes blood, sweat and tears.
But it’s possible… :)
I'm a huge fan of compounding - the 8th wonder of the world. There is nothing more powerful than compounding, assuming you stay out of its way.
Compounding doesn't just apply to your portfolio. It applies to all aspects of your life, particularly business endeavors.
Magic happens when you show up and chop wood, every day.
It's going to start slow. That's how numbers work. But if you stick with it, things start to pick up.
Ankur Nagpal built and sold teachable. Here is a specific look at his journey:
And Ankur isn't the only one.
Here is a breakdown of 24 SaaS companies and their time to a 1B+ valuation:
Average - 11.7 Years w/ a 4B payout.
It takes time.
Jason Lemkin harps on 10M in revenue being a magic number for SaaS.
If you can get to 10M, and you are doubling every year, things get fun, fast.
Here are the numbers…
.2
.5
1
3
6
10
20
40
80
160
= 6 years to get to $10M in Revenue… then 4 more to get to + $160M.
(the counterpoint is also true… If you get 6+ years in, and aren’t even sniffing those numbers, gonna be a tough put.)
This is also where one of my favorite sayings comes from, and the larger theory Gates Law:
“We overestimate what we can do in 10 months, and underestimate what we can do in 10 years ”
People live in the now, and focus on short term.
ZOOM OUT.
It's going to take about 10 years to do anything great!