Ask HN: Entrepreneurs, how long did it take you to succeed?
The entrepreneur shares their journey of building multiple businesses over two decades. After selling Staff Squared in 2022 and Fundipedia in 2025, they are now focusing on angel investing and consulting. They plan to document their experiences on their personal website in the coming months.
- ▪The entrepreneur started their first business in 2000, which was a computer hardware company called Atlas.
- ▪They transitioned Atlas into a custom software shop and later developed Fundipedia and Staff Squared.
- ▪After years of hard work, they sold Fundipedia for an eight-figure sum in 2025.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
It took me about ten businesses and over 20 years to "succeed". I wanted to retire at 35 for as long as I could remember, missed that by 7 years.Sold Staff Squared in 2022 for a good sum (7 figure), reinvested most of it into Fundipedia.Sold Fundipedia for life changing (8 figure) sum in 2025.All businesses were bootstrapped, reinvesting profits to grow them organically.I'm now angel investing and consulting. I'm posting more about my journey on my personal website over the coming months https://www.simonswords.comRough timeline:2000 - started a computer hardware company called Atlas alongside a speed dating company (that's not a joke, I ran a speed dating company and some other weird businesses).2002 - switched Atlas to designing websites, stopped selling hardware and associated support…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Ycombinator.