The Struggle: Bootstrapping from $0 to $50 in MRR in just 4 years

The first guest on our new series, The Struggle, is Clay Smith, CEO and co-founder of Akita. Started five years ago as part of the Launchpad program at NDRC in Dublin, the company earned its first 50 dollars in revenue last year. As Clay puts it, they became ramen profitable. The instant kind.

It took 4 years, two pivots, consulting on the side, being creative about rent and possessing a dancing goat to make it through.

Clay told this story at the SaaStock18 stage but also separately sat for a chat with Alex Theuma before the conference. As you will hear he never quite lost hope and kept on pushing through. In retrospect, some tough situations were avoidable, others were inevitable.

If you have a story of struggle you would like to share with us, get in touch by emailing [email protected]

You can watch Clay’s entire presentation where he has a picture of the dancing goat, as well as 40 hours of recorded content from 130 speakers, by getting our SaaStock18 on demand bundle.

You have until the end of today, November 1st to snatch an early release ticket for SaaStock19 at the lowest price it will ever be. This is your last chance before March 2019.

We hope you enjoy our new series.

Check out the other ways SaaStock is helping SaaS founders move their business forward: 

🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe: 14-15 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland
Book tickets: https://saastock-europe.com/tickets/

🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: April 2026 | Austin, Texas
Book tickets: https://saastock-usa.com/

🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/)

🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)