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How a Solo Dev Went From $0 to $57M RaisedㅣLaravel, Taylor Otwell
@ EO
06/13/25
Takeaways
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
When building open-source software, you encounter both constructive criticism and negativity from haters; it's crucial to focus on your core fans instead of trying to please everyone.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I believe that doing the hardest parts of a project first is essential, as it helps maintain momentum when motivation is high.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
As a solo founder, I prefer to fail quickly rather than waste months on a project that doesn't gain traction.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I created Laravel to build web applications faster, not with the intention of making it a popular open-source framework.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
Laravel has grown tremendously, from a few downloads per day to a quarter million downloads daily, showcasing the strength of the community.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I started Laravel in Arkansas, which helped me maintain focus and clarity on what I wanted to build, unlike the distractions of a tech hub.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
For the first three years, I made no money on Laravel; it was completely open source.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I launched Laravel Forge in 2014, and within a month, it was making more money than my regular job, leading me to work on Laravel full-time.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I initially hesitated to hire others for my company, fearing they would disrupt my vision, but once I did, I realized it was a mistake to wait so long.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
The underdog mentality in web development motivated me to prove that PHP could be a great way to build applications quickly.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
Open source is now powering almost every business, and it's become the norm to release software on platforms like GitHub. I spend the first hour and a half of my day managing pull requests for the open-source Laravel framework, and I'm still the only person doing that at the company.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
If you develop an attitude of not listening to the community, they will become unhappy, which risks a fork in the open-source project, leading to a community-friendly version of your product.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
When building open-source software, it's crucial to listen to your core audience who are already using your product and love what you're doing, rather than getting distracted by outside feedback.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I had never considered taking outside investment before Accel because I was happy with our small team and didn't want anyone to mess up what I had built.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
The expectations for developer tools have risen significantly since 2011, and if we wanted to take Laravel to the next level, it required ambitious projects and a larger team.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
Our core mission remains to build awesome developer tools and nurture a great community through events like Laracon and Laravel meetups.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I should have built a larger team much earlier, but I was scared and didn't know how to do it effectively.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
When I first released Laravel, I was very involved in community forums, answering questions and asking for feedback on new features to create a welcoming environment.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
Building a strong community involves embracing relationships and encouraging contributions, which helps create a vibrant ecosystem around your framework.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
I see myself as an average developer, which helps me build tools that assist the average developer in doing their job more efficiently.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
The best advice I can give is to solve a problem that you personally have, as these are the issues you will understand the most deeply.
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Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
Do the hardest parts of your project first, as this will help maintain momentum and ensure you tackle the core challenges early on.
TO
Taylor Otwell
06/13/25
@ EO
If you fail, it's better to fail early in the process rather than after investing months into a project.