AMA
Official ask-me-anything conversations with notable guests
Sahil Lavingia

I'm Sahil, founder of Gumroad and author of The Minimalist Entrepreneur. AMA.

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Fweb3
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Started as a weekend project in 2011, Gumroad has grown–with its fair share of ups and downs–to helping 94,000+ creators earn over $500,000,000. In February 2019, I published a Medium essay, “Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company,” that struck a chord with thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs who’d much rather build a sustainable business like Gumroad than chase a binary billion-dollar-or-bust outcome. I wrote The Minimalist Entrepreneur to help anyone start, build and scale their own sustainable business. AMA!
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Rengised
Super project!
Jill Andresevic
Hello Sahil, I admire your honesty and your work. I love that you made shares of your company available on Republic, that was brave and that the round closed in 12 hours, impressive!
Crro
Snap
Hey Sahil, I love Gumroad and I have read a lot about you in indiehackers so I'm a big fan. I have a few questions, the overall theme is what is your advice to programmers that want to start a company today? And more specifically: 1) Would you sell before building? 2) If you build, when do you know when to stop, i.e. when do you know that you have an MVP? 3) Given the funding landscape, would you raise VC (and then attempt to buy them years later like you did with Gumroad) or bootstrap? Thanks!
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@davidcrro 1. I'd solve my most painful problem first. Build → sell → market. 2. You never stop. But you move onto selling once you have a "quanta of utility." 3. Depends on what you're building.
Senin
Hi Sahil, is there anything you did initially while building gumroad that you wish you hadn't?
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@senin Supported larger creators who cost the team a lot of focus and energy.
Senin
And what's one advice you'd give yourself from 5 years ago?
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@senin Nothing. Everything worked out swimmingly.
Kirsten Lambertsen
Hi, Sahil! What do you think is the most exciting innovation in the future of income for indie creators? Thanks!
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@mspseudolus ZK proofs
Lakshmi
Hi Sahil I read your Medium essay too and it was authentic, loved it. I hope read the Minimalist Entrepreneur soon. My question is, is your vision for Gumroad, a Unicorn or a zebra or something in between? Thanks, Lakshmi
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@gogloballakshmi My vision for Gumroad doesn't exist.
Lakshmi
@shl Thats interesting @shl. You are focused on the process as I see it. Im happy to be onboard GumRoad. Thanks.
Mayank Mishra
Hey @shl what excites you the most when you look at a new investment opportunity?
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@mishra_mayank How much money it can make me.
Mayank Mishra
@shl perfect
Simon Sovič
Hey, big props for what you've built, I invested in March. At what point of the gumroad journey did you start making personal investments and what was their ticket size?
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
@simonsovic After Gumroad was profitable, in 2017 (six years). In hindsight, wish I started earlier.
Jason Grant
What's the most important aspect of modern day software to get right?
Sahil Lavingia
Fweb3
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