How Nathan Barry bootstrapped Kit from zero to $42M ARR in 10 years
Introduction
What does it take to grow a side project earning $1,000 a month into a $42M ARR business with $4M in profit?
On this episode of the Zero to $10M ARR Podcast, we sat down with Nathan Barry, founder and CEO of Kit, to find out.
Nathan’s path started with freelance web design. Then selling iPhone apps. Then writing books about design. In 2014, he went all-in on Kit (then ConvertKit), even though it was only making $1K per month.
Fast forward 10 years. Kit has grown into a $42M ARR powerhouse.
In this episode, Nathan walks us through the real inflection points that drove that growth:
- Acquiring his first 100 customers
- Going from $60K ARR to $1M ARR in 9 months
- Scaling to $6M ARR in a single year, then hitting $10M ARR soon after
- How niching down into email marketing for bloggers changed everything
- What role direct marketing, content, and affiliates played at each stage
- The most pivotal decision that changed Kit’s entire trajectory
We also asked Nathan what he would do if he were starting from scratch today. His answer was tactical, specific, and worth hearing if you're scaling a SaaS business right now.
Nathan has lived every stage of the founder journey, from scrappy side hustle to serious scale. If you’re growing your own SaaS or considering what lever to pull next, this episode delivers.
Listen in to learn how he did it—and how you can apply the same tactics.
Links and Resources
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