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My friend and I started it as a side job, working nights and weekends. We also downsized and cut all our expenses to about $1,000/month (mortgages were smaller

My friend and I started it as a side job, working nights and weekends. We also downsized and cut all our expenses to about $1,000/month (mortgages were smaller back in 2005). We quit our full-time jobs when 1Password revenues were close to $80,000/year.

martin_a 4y ago
This is inspiring and what I'd like to do, too. I'm working on downsizing and reducing expenses. I'll have repaid a credit fully next year, that allows me to increase savings etc. Slowly those things come together. Also trying to create small side hustles, bootstrap them, hope that something sticks and try to scale that up till I can quit the corporate job and focus on things I'd love to do. It's probably a longer journey than expected if you've got no money advantage.
- roustem 4y ago
  This is awesome, great to hear! You are absolutely right at trying different things. Best of luck!
princevegeta89 4y ago
Great story. Did you have a family with kids at that time as well?
- roustem 4y ago
  Thank you! Yes, Natalia and I had two little kids and Dave and Sara just had a newborn at the same time
WestCoastJustin 4y ago
You mean 1password.com?! That's amazing great work. Huge Canadian success story [1]. You're definitely underselling the achievement here but guess it's funny to look back and were probably super excited about that first 80k. I imagine there is probably a books worth of war stories about this. [1] https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/toronto-based-1password-raises-620-mln-valued-at-6-8-bln https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/toronto-based-1password...
- roustem 4y ago
  Thank you so much! It was certainly a new chapter for us, working directly for our customers and being able to live on the product we made.
bombcar 4y ago
This is a good point - reading up on FIRE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement can be useful - perhaps with some intelligent allocation of resources and time you can start bootstrapping today and five years later have the mortgage payment eliminated. And if you're serious about doing a startup, do consider moving to an area that will have what you need but is cheaper.
pj_mukh 4y ago
Kudos! Long time user here! Love 1password.
- roustem 4y ago
  Thank you <3

martin_a 4y ago

This is inspiring and what I'd like to do, too. I'm working on downsizing and reducing expenses. I'll have repaid a credit fully next year, that allows me to increase savings etc. Slowly those things come together. Also trying to create small side hustles, bootstrap them, hope that something sticks and try to scale that up till I can quit the corporate job and focus on things I'd love to do. It's probably a longer journey than expected if you've got no money advantage.

roustem 4y ago
This is awesome, great to hear! You are absolutely right at trying different things. Best of luck!

princevegeta89 4y ago

Great story. Did you have a family with kids at that time as well?

roustem 4y ago
Thank you! Yes, Natalia and I had two little kids and Dave and Sara just had a newborn at the same time

WestCoastJustin 4y ago

You mean 1password.com?! That's amazing great work. Huge Canadian success story [1]. You're definitely underselling the achievement here but guess it's funny to look back and were probably super excited about that first 80k. I imagine there is probably a books worth of war stories about this. [1] https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/toronto-based-1password-raises-620-mln-valued-at-6-8-bln https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/toronto-based-1password...

roustem 4y ago
Thank you so much! It was certainly a new chapter for us, working directly for our customers and being able to live on the product we made.

bombcar 4y ago

This is a good point - reading up on FIRE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement can be useful - perhaps with some intelligent allocation of resources and time you can start bootstrapping today and five years later have the mortgage payment eliminated. And if you're serious about doing a startup, do consider moving to an area that will have what you need but is cheaper.

pj_mukh 4y ago

Kudos! Long time user here! Love 1password.

roustem 4y ago
Thank you <3