Gumroad
What they Do Best
Gumroad is a User-friendly e-commerce platform tailored for digital content creators.
Main Industry
E-commerce
Platform
Independent/Standalone
Type of Product
Desktop/Web App
Target
B2B + B2C
Price Range
Free
Business Model
Subscription
Free Plan
Free Plan
Pricing Details
Revenue Estimates
$21,200,000
Monthly Website Traffic
22,620,000
Revenue Per Traffic
$0.08
Idea to Money
Sahil Lavingia built Gumroad in just 22 hours, launched the prototype on Hacker News the next Monday. And it was an instant hit.
Founders
Employees
17
Year Started
2011
Dedication
Full-Time
Market Insights / Trends
sell digital products
Industry Incumbent
Etsy ($2.6B/year)
How They Came Up With The Idea
Sahil, a digital creator, encountered a challenge when he designed an app icon that he wanted to sell. At that time, there was no streamlined way to sell digital products, and creators had to request payment through PayPal and then share the products via Dropbox, which was both time-consuming and complex. Recognizing the need for a secure and user-friendly platform for digital product sales, Sahil saw a significant opportunity in the market. He envisioned numerous use cases from the creator community and decided to build a platform that would enable creators to sell their digital products with ease.
How They Built The First Version
The initial iteration of the Gumroad project was developed over the course of a single weekend by Sahil, who had acquired proficiency in Python during his tenure at Pinterest. The application was a simple CRUD implementation, and was noteworthy for its ability to contain the entirety of Gumroad's functionality within a single Python file, main.py. Additionally, the application was hosted on Google App Engine, which provided the advantage of eliminating the need for operational expertise. the need for operational expertise. the need for operational expertise.
Growth Channels
He launched the prototype on Hacker News and 50K+ people checked out Gumroad on the launch day.
But almost no one became a customer. So Sahil started sending cold emails every day and sent thousands of cold emails.
He also promoted & engaged with people on Twitter & Hacker News actively. By that time he knew quite a few high-profile investors already.
Main Growth Channel
Email List
Tech Stack
Tools
- Notion