February 10, 2026
Bootstraps or Baby Steps?
My Eighth Year as a Bootstrapped Founder
Ex-Googler’s bootstrapped year: baby, book, $8k—fans cheer, skeptics say safety net
TLDR: An ex-Google founder sold TinyPilot, became a dad, and made $8.2k profit while writing a developer-writing book. Comments split between praising independence and calling “bootstrapped” with a safety net, sparking jokes about paternity leave vs paperback and a frank look at indie money tradeoffs.
Eight years after leaving Google, the TinyPilot TinyPilot creator returned with a brutally honest update: he sold his hardware startup, became a dad, and now his “whole job” is writing a book for developers. The money? $16.3k revenue, $8.2k profit, fueled by 422 early readers and a modest Kickstarter. He spent on computer gear and AI tools (used to fix layouts, not to write), and openly missed his $50k goal—cue applause for transparency and groans about reality.
The comment section lit up over the label “bootstrapped.” What is bootstrapping anyway? Building without outside funding. One camp cheered the autonomy; another jabbed that this looked like “bootstrapped with a safety net.” Memes flew: “paternity leave or paperback?”, “golden parachute bootstraps,” and “baby steps > VC steps.” Spicy, but funny.
Fellow solo builders rushed in with war stories: the independence is sweet, but paychecks swing like a pendulum. One commenter said the hardest part is the inconsistency; another confessed the “gnawing anxiety” of diversifying while feeling guilty for ignoring the main business. Supporters chimed “thanks for sharing,” while the author, mtlynch, stayed in the thread to take questions. Bonus brag: his client’s post hit #1 on Hacker News. Cue the popcorn, folks.
Key Points
- •In 2025, the author earned $16.3k in revenue and $8.2k in profit, primarily from a developer-writing book project.
- •A March Kickstarter raised $6k for the book; 422 readers purchased paid early access; a legacy business added $100–$200/month.
- •Major expenses were $2.1k on computer hardware and $1.9k on LLM usage for auxiliary tasks.
- •He sold TinyPilot in 2024 and shifted focus in 2025 to writing, editing, and publishing a book for developers.
- •Output included 12 notes, 12 monthly retrospectives, 150 book pages (seven free excerpts), and editing for seven clients, including a post that hit #1 on Hacker News.