Founder Stories

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Ryan Petersen: Flexport, Founder Mode, and the Return of the Founder-CEO

Ryan Petersen founded Flexport in 2013. He stepped back in 2022. He returned in 2023 to steer the company through the freight downturn. Along the way, Paul Graham's Founder Mode essay used his story as the anchor.

Ryan Petersen

Flexport

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I almost shut down on the day we got our biggest break

Founder Storybootstrap

5 min read·solo founder

I almost shut down on the day we got our biggest break

Solo founder Nora Mancini was thirty seconds from sending a wind-down email to her four customers. Then her laptop chimed.

Nora ManciniAtlas Vault

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Bootstrapped SaaS to $1M ARR in fintech embedded payments

Founder Storyfintech

6 min read·embedded payments

Bootstrapped SaaS to $1M ARR in fintech embedded payments

We crossed $1M ARR in embedded payments without raising a dime. Here's the boring vertical the headline fintechs missed.

Aman ShahPierline

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