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 http://spark.laravel.com 
- Wrote our first KB articles for http://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 http://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. https://blog.rchase.com/growing-my-saas-from-solo-founder-to-1-employee/
Growing my SaaS from Solo Founder to +1 Employee

I felt I should share my experience with how I’ve been working on systemizing the business processes and delegating work, as it is a common challenge that entrepreneurs face in their journey. Last...

https://blog.rchase.com/growing-my-saas-from-solo-founder-to-1-employee/
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.
You can follow @_rchase_.
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