AMA
Official ask-me-anything conversations with notable guests
Sahil Lavingia

I'm Sahil, founder of Gumroad and author of The Minimalist Entrepreneur. AMA.

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Started as a weekend project in 2011, Gumroad has grown–with its fair share of ups and downs–to helping 94,000+ creators earn over $500,000,000. In February 2019, I published a Medium essay, “Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company,” that struck a chord with thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs who’d much rather build a sustainable business like Gumroad than chase a binary billion-dollar-or-bust outcome. I wrote The Minimalist Entrepreneur to help anyone start, build and scale their own sustainable business. AMA!
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Jason Grant
What's the most important aspect of modern day software to get right?
Sahil Lavingia
Yusuke Nishijima
What’s your hobby?
Sahil Lavingia
@yusuke2424 Painting, writing, drawing, eating.
Mark Sweeney
Yo! I've used GumRoad. great product Sahil. --- will check it out. You globe trotting? NYC based? Wouldn't be opposed to meeting next time you're in NYC.
Sahil Lavingia
@msween10 No and no. (To the questions, would love to meet at the next NYC TME meetup :))
Haq
The drive, passion, and integrity you have of putting the interest of your creators above your own personal self interest is amazing and inspiring. I think many entrepreneurs are obsessed with raising large amounts of money at high valuations asap rather than focusing on sustainability and adding value to their existing users. It's a flaw in SV culture to grow fast or die. I wonder how many other startups adding important value to people's lives would still exist today if they followed your example rather than ending up in the graveyard. Some might have ended up at 1B+ valuations even if it took many more years to get there. It takes courage to take the hard but right decisions when things don't go your way. I'm confident that as long as you are a part of Gumroad, it will eventually be a unicorn and I'm looking forward to that article when it comes out. Thank you for teaching us a great lesson on perseverance, sheer will, and determination.
Maxime Delamar
Hi Sahil nice work ! Will read your essay ! :)
Soumik Sadman Anwar
Why isn't there a Wire Transfer option for creators from countries that don't support PayPal?
Sahil Lavingia
@soumikcipher There is in many countries.
Andrew Hart
Hi, Sahil How many eng worked overall for building the final version of Gumroad and what was the take away(s) you have from distribution (growth basically) Thanks
Sahil Lavingia
@andrew_hart1 There's no final version of Gumroad. But so far about 50 people.
Eric Z
Hi Sahil - when are you gonna integrate Bitcoin as a payment option?
Benjamin Grandfond
Hi @shl to be honest, I didn't read (yet) your essay and maybe you answer the question there. I am wondering what did the first version look like? How fare did you develop the product before launching in one weekend?
Benjamin Grandfond
@shl I kept on reading your essay and what a great story is yours!
Archisman Das
Hi Sahil, If the 19-year-old you were starting today, what advice would you give him?
Sahil Lavingia
@archisman_das Nothing. Everything worked out great.
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