The chart may look smooth, but the journey to $1M ARR had ups, downs, and moments I wanted to quit.

Here's the full story: projectionlab.com/blog/we-reac...

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When I started ProjectionLab as a side project in 2021, I was just a normal engineer working solo on nights & weekends after my day job.

I couldn't imagine my little app ever making 5 figures... let alone 7!

But today, we're a 3 FTE team helping 100k+ households plan for a better financial future.

As always, Grant's writing is grounded, thoughtful, and accessible.

If you haven't checked out Inner Entrepreneur, it's worth a read.

His original book Financial Freedom helped spark my FI journey, and played a big role in why I started building PL in the first place.

I never expect an email reply, let alone a future shoutout in a book!

In the long run, that's where our staying power will come from.

If you try out the new version of projectionlab.com, let us know what you think!

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This is exactly the kind of flexibility we WOULD NOT have if we had taken outside funding.

Staying lean and bootstrapped means we get to prioritize product quality, technical clarity, and long-term sustainability. Not just chasing growth at all costs.

This release clocks in around 80,000 lines of code and 3 months of sustained effort.

But more importantly: it puts us in a much better position to build that next wave of features we strategized about in February.

⌛ Monthly precision inputs
✂️ Better US state & local tax modeling
🧑‍💻 Technical debt reduction
📆 Calendar year alignment
🏦 Inherited IRAs (Traditional & Roth)
⚙️ Advanced RMD controls
🏡 More property tax & assessed value modeling options
💻 UX improvements across event forms
➡️ And a lot more!

No hacks or secrets. We're just staying focused on our strengths, and trusting each other with theirs.

Hiring the wrong person can kill your business.

But hiring the RIGHT person?

That's how you keep coding and 10x TTM search impressions at the same time.

#buildinpublic

But we've come a long way since then.

And it's time to focus on what really matters -- building in a way that's calm and sustainable, and being a good steward for this product and the 9,000+ customers using PL to plan their financial futures.

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thanks Nick! never would have believed it 3 years ago, but hard work, consistency, and some luck, can really compound over time.

Showing up every day was not always easy. And $1M in 4 years may not be rocketship numbers.

But creating a bootstrapped business that's profitable, efficient, and fully aligned with our customers is more than enough for me 😊

#buildinpublic

went from 1 to 5 this year!