Lessons from John O'Nolan

Compounding growth works

Our first $1M in ARR took 5 years.
The next $1M of ARR took 1 year and 9 months.
We're on track for the next $1M to take 8 months.

Compounding growth really works as long as you stick around for long enough.

‒ John O'Nolan, https://twitter.com/JohnONolan/status/1255930411412123649

It's not all good

Author: John O'Nolan, https://twitter.com/JohnONolan/status/1255930417913323520

Thing that nobody really talks about: it's not all fucking good.

I've burned out hard multiple times. So has Hannah. Many sleepless nights and absorbing an insane amount of pressure for literal years. Nothing comes for free, and it isn't always fun. It often isn't.

I'd say first 5 years were mostly pain with occasional glimmers of hope. Last 2 have been just as stressful, but with fewer undertones of impending doom.

There is real sacrifice involved in achieving anything, no matter what anyone says.

Remember: Most people only tweet good things, which makes it very easy to feel like you're doing shit and everyone else is great all the time.

It's not true though. You're probably doing better than you realise, and others doing worse than you imagine.

Perspective.