S2E27 The 12 Most Shocking Surprises on Our Way to $1M ARR
Tue Mar 25 2025
It took eWebinar 16 months to go from idea to product launch, then another 36 months to hit $1M ARR; this is the core theme of this season. That's a total of 52 months from incorporation date.
You might have read about companies that get to $1M in a year, much less now with AI startups and the world riding that wave. Those are outliers and not the norm. 36 months to $1M is actually the median, even for funded companies.
“Normal” is not newsworthy and doesn’t get the media spotlight it deserves so you might feel like you’re moving too slow even when you’re in the right place.
On this season finale episode, Melissa and Todd dive into the 12 most shocking surprises on their way to $1M ARR after everything they tried, learned, and failed, which formed the foundation by which they continued to iterate on the business and product.
Thank you for tuning into Season 2 of ProfitLed!! Your support is deeply appreciated.
If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving us a review as that will help us continue to make episodes for you.
Takeaways:
• Things they thought would have a huge impact, but didn’t
• Assumptions that made them think they’d get to $1M faster
• Things that took a lot more effort and time than anticipated
• Why you don’t need fancy metrics to prioritize roadmap
• Why $1M is not the magic number even though it seems like it is
Contact ProfitLed
Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host
Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Subscribe to 'your founder next door', Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar.
Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar.
Thanks for listening!
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It took eWebinar 16 months to go from idea to product launch, then another 36 months to hit $1M ARR; this is the core theme of this season. That's a total of 52 months from incorporation date. You might have read about companies that get to $1M in a year, much less now with AI startups and the world riding that wave. Those are outliers and not the norm. 36 months to $1M is actually the median, even for funded companies. “Normal” is not newsworthy and doesn’t get the media spotlight it deserves so you might feel like you’re moving too slow even when you’re in the right place. On this season finale episode, Melissa and Todd dive into the 12 most shocking surprises on their way to $1M ARR after everything they tried, learned, and failed, which formed the foundation by which they continued to iterate on the business and product. Thank you for tuning into Season 2 of ProfitLed!! Your support is deeply appreciated. If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving us a review as that will help us continue to make episodes for you. Takeaways: • Things they thought would have a huge impact, but didn’t • Assumptions that made them think they’d get to $1M faster • Things that took a lot more effort and time than anticipated • Why you don’t need fancy metrics to prioritize roadmap • Why $1M is not the magic number even though it seems like it is Contact ProfitLed Tweet us at @profitledfm. Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host Follow Melissa Kwan on LinkedIn where she share stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly. Subscribe to 'your founder next door', Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places. Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites. This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar. Learn more at ewebinar.com and find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into automated webinars that perform better than a live webinar. Thanks for listening!