https://github.com/awesome-self-funded/awesome-self-funded

Awesome Self Funded tech companies list. Curated by Alex from @Jitbit
https://github.com/awesome-self-funded/awesome-self-funded

List: awesome-self-funded

awesome awesome-list

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Awesome Self Funded tech companies list. Curated by Alex from @Jitbit

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/awesome-self-funded/awesome-self-funded
• Owner: awesome-self-funded
• License: cc0-1.0
• Created: 2021-01-08T22:23:00.000Z (over 3 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2021-01-13T22:25:26.000Z (over 3 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-05-07T11:09:13.921Z (about 2 months ago)
• Topics: awesome, awesome-list
• Homepage:
• Size: 45.9 KB
• Stars: 48
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 4
• Open Issues: 1
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • Contributing: .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
  • License: LICENSE

Lists

• awesome-indie - Awesome Self Funded
• awesome-indie - Awesome Self Funded

README

        
# Awesome Self Funded

An inspirational list of successful **self-funded AKA "bootstrapped"** software startups that never took any outside funding, but turn a profit instead.

Awesome products that have significant annual revenue of 7-figures or close, and where a paying customer is the only boss they have to please (not VC or the owning megacorp).

- [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com) - SEO software ($50M ARR)

- [Balsamiq](https://balsamiq.com/) - UI mockup software ($7.3M ARR)

- [Chili Piper](https://www.chilipiper.com/) - sales meeting scheduling automation ($3M ARR)

- [CoderPad](https://coderpad.io/) - interviewing programmers remotely ($4M ARR)

- [DNSimple](https://dnsimple.com/) - domain management API ($2M ARR)

- [EverHour](https://everhour.com/) - employee time tracking ($1.4M ARR)

- [Floify](https://floify.com/) - SaaS for mortgage businesses ($7M ARR)

- [Fomo](https://www.usefomo.com/) - marketing widget showing social proof ($1M ARR)

- [Ghost](https://ghost.org/) - CMS/publishing platform for paid membership sites ($2.5M ARR)

- [GMass](https://www.gmass.co/) - mass emailing from within GMail ($1.6M ARR)

- [Grasshopper](http://grasshopper.com/) - virtual VoIP for entrepreneurs ($25M ARR)

- [Gumroad](https://gumroad.com/) - payment processing for creators ($5M ARR, funded but bought the equity back)

- [Hubstaff](https://hubstaff.com/) - employee time tracking ($2.5M ARR)

- [JetBrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/) - Developer tools ($270M ARR)

- [Jitbit](https://www.jtibit.com/) - Help desk app ($3M ARR)

- [Jivo Chat](https://www.jivochat.com/) - Live chat widget for websites ($7.5M ARR)

- [Less Annoying Crm](https://www.lessannoyingcrm.com/) - SaaS CRM ($2.5M)

- [LiveAgent](https://www.ladesk.com/)- Help desk app ($4M ARR)

- [MailChimp](https://mailchimp.com/) - Email marketing automation ($700M ARR)

- [MailerLite](https://www.mailerlite.com/) - Email marketing automation ($10M ARR)

- [Mangools](https://mangools.com/) - SEO toolbelt ($2.6M ARR)

- [MyClean](https://www.myclean.com/) - Uber for cleaning ($9M AR)

- [Park.io](http://park.io/) - Domain backorders for hackers ($1.5M AR)

- [Postmark](https://postmarkapp.com/) - transactional email service ($24M ARR)

- [Scraper API](https://www.scraperapi.com/) - web-scraping proxy with API ($3.3M ARR)

- [SendPulse](https://sendpulse.com/) - email + messenger marketing ($2.5M ARR)

- [YouCanBookMe](https://youcanbook.me/) - meeting scheduling ($2M ARR)

- [Zoho](https://www.zoho.com/) - Cloud/SaaS software suite ($500M ARR)

Sources: founder interviews, Indiehackers, podcasts, folks I know personally from conferences etc.

PS. While compiling this list I found many, many companies who *used to be* self-funded and very profitable, but eventually decided to raise a round. SurveyMonkey, GitHub, Braintree, Shopify, ConvertKit - all had tens of millions in revenue when eventually taking the VC road. Those companies are not listed here.

## Contributing

Feel free to add your company. Contributing guidelines can be found in [.github/CONTRIBUTING.md](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).