It's been too long
The last time Jon and I were together was 32 months ago.
In April 2019, we did a retreat with Darby and Shay in Portland. While we were there we met up with a bunch of other folks. Here's the photo:
Looking at that photo, I can't believe that was the last time Jon and I saw each other in person. So much has happened since then.
By the end of April 2019, Jon and I had been working on Transistor for 16 months. We'd just hit $12,500 in MRR.
When we took this photo, Jon was still working full-time for a games company in Chicago. But this was also the month that I went "full-time" on Transistor, and I got my first paycheck ($5,000, if I remember correctly).
At the time, we had no idea what the future held:
That it would be another 2 years and 8 months before we saw each other in person again!
That 4 months later, Jon would quit his job and come work at Transistor full-time.
That by the following year (April 2020) our salaries at Transistor would surpass what we'd made in our previous jobs.
That in 2021, we'd hire two full-time people (Helen and Jason) to work with us.
That 18,658 podcasts would be hosted on Transistor.
The COVID pandemic blocked Jon and I from meeting up numerous times. But last week, Jon flew into Kelowna, BC and we got to hang out again.
Even though we chat every day in Slack, and have frequent calls, there's nothing quite like being together in person.
Our goal was to hang out, snowboard, share meals, do some planning, and reflect.
We had plenty of time to talk about the past 4 years of building Transistor, and what it's meant to us.
The thing is, back when we started, our progress felt slow. We were impatient to reach our goal of being able to work on Transistor full-time together.
Looking back at it now, I can't believe how fast everything happened. It took 14 months for us to go from $0 in revenue to $10,000 a month. But it only took 4 months for us to go from $10k to $20k in revenue.
Reaching your goals really is "gradually and then suddenly." It feels like it's a slow slog, until one day you wake up, and realize you've made it.
Now, Jon and I have new goals for Transistor. We're really fired up about what we're going to build in 2022.
But it was nice to take a moment, look back, and see how far we've come.
I am unbelievably grateful for this company, our customers, our team, and my partnership with Jon.
It's been seriously life-changing. 💯
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin