Poll: Full-time software engineers over 200k, how'd you get there?

Re:Poll: Full-time software engineers over 200k, how'd you g... by tosser8398b9 on Monday June 03, 2013 @02:50PM (#5815040)

Answering from a throwaway: started my own software company 10 years ago, selling SaaS w/ monthly recurring revenue in the CRM space. I was 25 at the time, and left a 150K/year job as a lead engineer.

Endured 18 months basically zero income, then a slow climb from ~60K to 500K/year in 2012.

Monthly recurring revenue = stable income. Especially b/c our primary product is a low price point, so our revenue is well distributed across hundreds of clients.

Other than the sacrificial early years, the key points are:

1. No VC

2. Long, steady SaaS income ramp

3. Small company - 3 people total, I'm the only developer (and always have been), and I own the majority of the company. The company does over 1M in revenue annually, with a low cost basis.

If someone wanted to go this route, I would advise them:

1. Be a full-stack generalist

2. Build a revenue-generating company by selling software (vs. giving it away in hopes of attracting eyeballs & monetizing those).

3. Learn a vertical (CRM, in our case), and fix a pain point. Don't follow the herd into the sexy startup de jour.

4. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't kill yourself.

5. Offer extremely good customer service

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Re:Poll: Full-time software engineers over 200k, how'd you g... by mapster on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @01:30AM (#5859925)

would love to learn more about your path - maybe a mixergy interview? :)

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Re:Poll: Full-time software engineers over 200k, how'd you g... by tosser8398b9 on Thursday June 20, 2013 @11:51AM (#5912787)

hmm. I answered from a throwaway account b/c I don't particularly want "the internet" knowing how much money I make in a given year. So I don't know that a follow-on interview would fit my psyche =)

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