Thread by @_rchase_

How I grew @hostifi_net from $28K to $151K ARR in 10 months [January to October 2019] 👇

January $28K to $37K ARR

- Set a goal to get to $100K ARR by end of year
- Was fired from my job, went fulltime on my business
- Applied to investment funds

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1091530983629881344

February $37K to $51K ARR

- Worked on building SaaS #3 @captifi_net
- Received investment offer from @earnestcapital

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1101574702131277824

March $51K to $59K ARR

- Focused most of my time on building @captifi_net
- Talked about how I build @ghostifi_net on the @vBrownBag podcast

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1112539520065507329

April $51K to $68K ARR

- Launched @captifi_net
- Started building @mspstory_com
- Finalized investment from @earnestcapital
- Sold my house and moved in with my fiancee's parents to maximize runway

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1123318550175809537

May $68K to $82K ARR

- Launched @mspstory_com
- Refocused on @hostifi_net, committed to not launching any new projects
- Migrated self-hosted email to GSuite
- Migrated Hubspot livechat to @intercom
- Guest on @TechVillagePod
- Wrote 2 blog posts

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1134520420647034880

June $82K to $92K ARR

- Began writing a new HostiFi website using spark.laravel.com
- Wrote our first KB articles for support.hostifi.net
- Fixed the free plan which was broken for 2 months
- Integrated an affiliate system
- Became default alive

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1145396727400325120

July $92K to $109K ARR

- Further narrowed focus, killed off 3 products: UniFi Video, UCRM hosting, and @ghostifi_net
- Hired a PT assistant and a support engineer
- YouTube influencer affiliate doubled previous month web traffic
- Achieved $100K ARR goal

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1156633632527855616

August $109K to $118K ARR

- Guest on @IndieHackers podcast
- Made FT offer to PT support engineer
- Built internal support processes and tools
- Experimented with outbound sales
- Acquired hostifi.com domain

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1168194648231337984

September $109K to $129K ARR

- Guest on @saasclubio podcast
- Continued to build internal support processes
- YouTube influencer affiliate released another video bringing in more traffic and customers
- Set new goal, $1M ARR by Sept 2022

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1179210714080305153

October $129K to $151K ARR

- Support hire became comfortable in his role and was able to handle most tickets that came in
- Wrote 3 blog posts + new KB articles

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1190428990252601344

HostiFi ended 2019 at $186K ARR, today it's over $600K ARR, and likely will get to $1M ARR this year without a lot of additional effort.

That early phase of the journey was probably the most useful to learn from for others who want to do something similar though.

$100K ARR to $1M ARR is still full of interesting challenges, but it's nothing like $0 to $100K in terms of difficulty, mental strength, personal sacrifice. This new phase is more about building on what's worked so far than it is about finding a path.

Reflecting on the monthly updates, some takeaways:

- Going FT before I was "ready" after getting fired from my job was a huge motivator. By not applying to any new jobs or PT work I knew I had to either make it in SaaS or bust. I had a chip on my shoulder too.

- Receiving the investment from EC, selling my house, and cutting my personal expenses by 50% helped a ton mentally, knowing even if everything goes totally wrong I'm set for a year or two to just do this and learn as much as I can. It was hard to concentrate on anything Jan-Apr

- Launching 2 other SaaS businesses and a community for IT business owners while @hostifi_net was still growing each month was big distraction and waste of time. When I refocused in May, great things started to happen.

- Having a YouTube influencer in the IT/MSP business space become an advocate and part of the affiliate program was, and still is, huge for business credibility and customer acquisition

- Consistently sharing my story as I built the business via twitter, podcast appearances, YouTube interviews, my website, and blog posts was a great way to not only find new customers, but make new friends and connections in the SaaS and IT/MSP industries

- Letting go of my fear of becoming a "manager", hiring @Ersafcr7, and building our internal processes was one of the most challenging and rewarding things in my business. I regard it as one of the most important accomplishments of my career.
blog.rchase.com/growing-my-saa…

If you want to know more about the growth drivers:

https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1255211082983124992?s=20

TLDR though, @hostifi_net is a solution attached to the success of a larger, high-growth platform: Ubiquiti UniFi.

Customer acquisition was a combination of SEO, social media, and online communities.