Thread by @nzupan

I was so busy building I didn't notice that @ParetoSecurity, a #sidegig I started last July with @dz0ny, just blew past €10k in total revenue. Not too bad considering 10 months ago it was just an idea. Here's how it happened: 🧵 1/10

Running @teamniteo for over a decade, I've had this itch of making sure everyone on the team had basic security hygiene sorted, but without invading their privacy by installing management software. 2/10

I used to just straight up ask my colleagues "is your disk encryption turned on?" but that always felt so creepy! Surely there was a better way? 3/10

I wasn't alone in my search. In a @calmfund discussion, I learned that @basecamp had to develop such a system internally, because it didn't exist. Other founders voiced they have been looking for such a tool too.

github.com/basecamp/handb… 4/10

I started thinking about developing such a tool for myself and fellow bootstrappers.

@dhh cheered me on, saying: "Can't imagine what company below the size of WE HAVE A BIG IT DEPARTMENT wouldn't want to pay to keep all employee computers secure." 5/10

Were there actually more than a few potential users? I whipped up a basic static HTML website with an email form and reached out to see if anyone would sign up. 6/10

Sure enough, more than a hundred people signed up to the newsletter: let the coding begin!

The first beta version was ready by the end of the summer, and we released the code on GitHub.

github.com/paretoSecurity… 7/10

In the months since, we've added a number of new checks, been featured in @Setapp, launched the Teams/Business plan and grew our user base to over 2k devices. 8/10

Whenever I have a slow day, I scroll through our testimonials and am immediately jolted back into action! Such as this one from @jimmhay, the founder of excellent @minaal bags! 9/10

And it all started by just me scratching my own itch. ✌️ 10/10