People often ask: "Are you raising?" No. Not planning to.
This decision matters more than anything we've put in the product. Here's why.
The promise we made
Sablio is a local-first time-tracking tool with short retention that promises not to surveil the user. That promise implies:
- We won't sell data (there's barely any, and what exists is encrypted locally).
- We won't add a surveillance dashboard to satisfy an enterprise buyer.
- We won't pivot to ads if growth disappoints.
All three commitments are incompatible with venture capital. Not complicated, not subtle: incompatible.
What venture capital asks for
A VC fund invests $2M today hoping to take out $40M in 7 years. To get there, they need a product that goes from 100 users to 100,000, or multiplies its price by 10, or sells.
All three paths lead somewhere. The 100,000 users path leads to a more generic product that drops niche choices (like local-first, Québec-by-default, 14-day retention). The price × 10 path leads to enterprise and its demands (surveillance, SSO, full audit trail). The sell path leads to a buyer who'll decide the product's future for you.
None of the three produces the tool we want to write.
The alternative math
We ran a spreadsheet. With 500 paying users at $15/month, we make $90,000/year. Two people can live modestly on that in Québec, not lavishly but decently.
With 2,000 users, $360,000/year. Three people live well. We can hire a part-time designer.
With 5,000 users, $900,000/year. Stable team of five, full-time, retirement, insurance. That's our dream ceiling.
Five thousand users forever is less ambitious than 50,000 users in three years, but it's reachable without distorting the product.
The rhythm
We ship slowly. One major release per semester. We write code we want to re-read in three years. We answer users by email, individually, signed.
Old-fashioned. Also, on reflection, how the companies we love work — the good pen makers, the cobblers who last, the book publishers.
What we promise you
Sablio will be here in 10 years. Not because we have a 10-year plan, but because we have a business model that doesn't force us to disappear.
If we're wrong, we'll email you before turning the servers off. You'll get a clean CSV export and 90 days to leave. No surprise.
The modesty of the plan is what makes the promise solid.
— Patrick