In 2012, I co-founded a company (https://EVALS.NET) that built a SaaS product out of my basement in California (yes, a basement in California—I know, rare).
It started with an idea, a friend dropping by, and a prototype that barely held together. That friend made three phone calls on the spot, and by the end of the day, we had commitments at the state, regional, and local levels.
The first on-site demo was… let’s call it “memorable.” It crashed at least five times. Each time it happened, I could feel the sweat pooling in places sweat doesn’t belong. But the group didn’t care—they saw the vision, the problem we were solving, and the passion behind the product.
That’s when I realized: people invest in the mission. And the demo was a success - they committed to being a customer immediately.
From there, it took off. Apple invited us to demo the product at their store openings nationwide, and I collaborated with GoPro to explore API integrations.
Then came the calls from users.
"Your app saved someone's career. The data and videos it captured helped us realize we made a mistake in assessing someone. Because of your product, they got a second chance."
Moments like that hit differently.
We scaled.
We started in emergency services, and grew and grew into different industries: electric utility, hospitals, and more.
I messed up the AWS ELB and we had a big bill in hours.
We sold the company in 2017, and moved on to new adventures.
But that SaaS?
It’s still out there, serving people and changing lives.
It’s been bought and sold multiple times since, but every now and then, I catch a glimpse of it still making waves. And my code still makes up the bulk of the platform! (I have a friend who is still involved).
For me, this is the ultimate success metric: creating something that outlives you and continues to make an impact long after you’ve moved on.
If you can dream it in a basement and sweat through its worst days, you can take it anywhere.
https://lnkd.in/gGt_9Va2
❤️
Jake