AMA
Official ask-me-anything conversations with notable guests

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

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Started as a weekend project in 2011, 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, 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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Super project!
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!
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!
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.
Hi Sahil, is there anything you did initially while building gumroad that you wish you hadn't?
Supported larger creators who cost the team a lot of focus and energy.
And what's one advice you'd give yourself from 5 years ago?
Nothing. Everything worked out swimmingly.
Hi, Sahil! What do you think is the most exciting innovation in the future of income for indie creators? Thanks!
ZK proofs
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
My vision for Gumroad doesn't exist.
Thats interesting . You are focused on the process as I see it. Im happy to be onboard GumRoad. Thanks.
Hey what excites you the most when you look at a new investment opportunity?
How much money it can make me.
perfect
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?
After Gumroad was profitable, in 2017 (six years). In hindsight, wish I started earlier.
What's the most important aspect of modern day software to get right?
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