We just hit $1M ARR in our first 7 months.
So why do I feel so sh*t?
It's a rite of passage on LinkedIn to post this milestone. Yet, I don't feel like celebrating.
Comparison Trap
Every week, another AI startup hits $10M ARR in months. Why aren't we growing at that pace?
We raised lots of VC so we can hire amazing talent and become the best at helping execs publish B2B content on LinkedIn (to start with).
But now we have to worry about metrics like burn rate and out of cash date.
If our growth isn't exponential, we will struggle to raise our next round and... basically die.
Existential Threats
Then there's the constant worry that OpenAI, Anthropic or Google will creep into the application and marketing services layer and crush us.
Every time we discover an amazing way to work with Claude or automate an internal workflow, some YouTuber gives it away for free weeks later.
It is so hard to build competitive moats when the ground keeps shifting like this every month. This pace of innovation is dizzying. It's one of the hardest challenges AI founders face right now.
Fleeting Loyalty
Customers are also not loyal in this AI age.
They have experimental AI budgets and will 'test' multiple competitors at once.
This $1M ARR could vanish as quickly as it came.
The Silence
No one talks about this sh*t in public because there's zero upside in doing so.
Am I the only Founder feeling this way?
Here's the reality: hitting milestones doesn't mean the anxiety goes away. The comparison to faster-growing startups, the threat of big tech crushing you, the constant innovation making your moats obsolete, and customers who aren't loyal. These are the real struggles behind the celebration posts.
If you're a founder feeling the same pressure, know that you're not alone. The wins don't always feel like wins when the ground keeps shifting.