Why do I still do this? When it’s so fucking hard and I don’t have to anymore.
I build startups because it’s the most true expression of who I am. And I believe we are in an age where AI has enabled builders to build whatever they want to give them whatever life they want, in a way that was never before possible.
For me, I have a COMPULSION towards building insanely lean businesses. Maybe you don’t. But I do. In 2019 Tate, Diana, and I bootstrapped $13m ARR with six people PRE-AI. I am not bragging, I am stating that journey was one of the most fulfilling things I have ever gone through as a human being, BECAUSE it was so authentic to who I am and we created something that I believed was the most beautiful business I could imagine at the time.
With RB2B, AI made even MORE insanely lean possible, and I believe one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on this planet. We’ll hit $10m before the end of the year and it’s run by 1 FTE and a handful of part time people a few hours per week. Haters would say “you had more than 1 FTE in the beginning”, “it’s about to stall”, blah blah blah and they would be correct. But when we started RB2B in 2023, people were extolling the virtues of a 10 man $10m ARR business. The idea of a 1 man $10m ARR business was completely absurd and had not yet happened. Now it’s a reality, and the growing cash flow from RB2B and Retention.com are funding our next venture, MoltSets, which we’re going to build in the same way as we built RB2B.
So why do I do what I do?
Because I am expressing my creativity by building what I consider to be extraordinarily beautiful machines, and they deliver to me (and my team) the life we want. I am so grateful for Tate, Diana, Michael and Keleigh for being so values-aligned, and supportive of the often insane ideas I have, and going along with me as we see how far we can push this pathologically lean philosophy. I hope I am lucky enough to keep building elegant, cash generating companies with a calm schedule and energized, long-term team for decades to come.
But it wasn’t always this way. The only way to describe the first seven years was “terrible”. I posted a while ago a letter to myself that I wrote in 2015 when I was stuck at $3m ARR about how I wanted to get to where I am today in five years … and it’s heartbreaking imagining telling that guy who wanted it SO BADLY that he would make ZERO PROGRESS for the next three years.
I never gave up, and eventually I got one thing to hit, and then another.
And now, this is my art.
I am so grateful for having this endless canvas to express myself.
And I hope I never run out of paint.
Adam
P.S.
My next startup, MoltSets, will open our beta soon. Get unlimited 100% verified contact data for $27/mo. Join waitlist here.