Self-funding to get from side project to full-time business in 4 years
TL;DR: Damjan Dano built profitable service businesses for 17 years before deciding to build something more scalable. One service company was so successful it still pays substantial yearly dividends, which funded Aqtos development. He self-funded a team of 15 people for 4 years while building without positive revenue. The journey included: ideating 10 years ago, 2 failed attempts as a side project, finally prioritizing it in 2020 with a full-time developer, building a PoC by end 2021, and 2 more years of validation before public announcement in 2024. He explicitly rejects 'fail fast' mentality, arguing quality products matter more than growth hacks and MRR screenshots. A key breakthrough came when they started dogfooding—using the product to build the product created tight feedback loops. (Note: Full article is paywalled; insights extracted from visible portion and comments.)
Key Insights
- Service business profits can fund years of SaaS development without VC pressure
- Dogfooding accelerates development—real progress came when using the product to build the product
- 4 years of deliberate building is contrarian to startup culture but can be the right path
- Ideas sometimes need multiple attempts and full commitment to succeed—2 failed side project launches preceded success
- Quality and depth over growth hacks and MRR screenshots—the 'slow-lo' philosophy
Actionable Takeaways
- Build profitable service businesses first to fund your SaaS ambitions without VC pressure
- Dogfood your product as early as possible—using it to build itself creates tight feedback loops
- Don't abandon ideas after one failed attempt—commitment level and timing matter
- Reject MRR porn and hustle culture if it doesn't fit your vision—'even if we fail, it's OK'
- Design partner validation and pivoting based on feedback can happen over years, not weeks