First Million

Hire for the spark, not the resume

How Callum McKeefery built Reviews.io by spotting talent in cafés and bars instead of boardrooms.

Nov 13 • 

Elan Anandhan

October 2025

PostHog's First Million Story

From five failed ideas to $1 million ARR — the open-source story that clicked.

Oct 15 • 

Elan Anandhan

1

September 2025

The Power of Driving to ‘No’

Flodesk’s Counterintuitive Growth Lesson

Sep 3 • 

Elan Anandhan

1

1

August 2025

$1M Story: Lovable

Why it wasn’t really a week, but 17 months in the making

Aug 27 • 

Elan Anandhan

3

The 1-Year Rule

How one simple rule kept Jotform stable through every market cycle.

Aug 13 • 

Elan Anandhan

3

How Fathom Hit Their First $1 Million

By earning trust first, then scaling with a product-led engine

Aug 9 • 

Elan Anandhan

1

July 2025

How Founders Think

"Notion is a bus.” – Ivan Zhao

Jul 31 • 

Elan Anandhan

4

Reviews.io's First Million Story

How a bootstrapped underdog outperformed giants by turning TrustPilot’s weakness into their growth flywheel

Jul 24 • 

Elan Anandhan

Notion's First Million Story

How Notion found product-market fit and turned users into marketers

Jul 3 • 

Elan Anandhan

1

June 2025

Submagic’s First $1 Million Story

How they bootstrapped their way to $1M ARR in 90 days, powered by TikTok and affiliates

Jun 13 • 

Elan Anandhan

3

1

May 2025

Supademo’s $0 to $1 Million ARR Marketing Strategy

From launch to $1M ARR using free demos, product-led SEO, and no-signup onboarding.

May 29 • 

Elan Anandhan

4

April 2025

Coupa's $0 to $1 Million ARR Marketing Strategy

How Coupa quietly built traction in a mature enterprise market using open-source and blog-era influence.

Apr 26 • 

Elan Anandhan

1