Jerry Chua's Linkedin Analytics

Today, I'm building a bootstrapped $1.2M ARR business. I've tried 10+ businesses. VC-backed. Angel-backed. Govt-backed. Bootstrapped. Crashed. Burned. Millions of dollars lost. Here is my life + business journey. 15 years ago. I quit GE's Financial Management Program. (FMP) A fast track to CFO. The journey between? Lessons I never expected. After 6 months at GE. I leapt into self-employment as a Financial Advisor. Hit 6 digits in my 1st year 💰 Grew to $220k in my 5th year. But the entrepreneurship bug bit hard. In 2015, I dove into the deep end. Multiple businesses. No focus. Failed for 3 years 😓 Lost over $1M of angel money. Eager to prove others wrong, craving success. In 2018, I launched a relocation tech startup. Hit $1M, $2.2M, $4M revenue YoY. Raised $7M (Angels, Govt, VC). COVID hit. Tight margins. Founders fell out. Crashed and burned again. 🔥 Depressed for months. Asked, "Do I have what it takes?” Then, I chanced upon this quote: "𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚." - 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒂 2022: Launched again. A SaaS tool for financial planners. Bootstrapped, faced compliance and tech issues. Failed again. 😩 Started offering lead gen services to Businesses. Learned, iterated, productized, scaled. 🫶 In 8 months: $15k MRR. Dec 2023: $35k MRR. Jul 2024: $60K MRR. On track to $100K MRR, $1.2M ARR by Dec 2024. 🚀 Nice margin, high retention. "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆." — 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔 My co-founder, Danielle, joined in Aug 2023. Super operator, great partnership. We understood: ✅ Will to practice > Will to win. ✅ Be obsessed with improvement. ✅ Treat our craft as an obligation. ✅ Enjoy the journey (Pains + Struggles) 𝗜𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 > 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 No overnight success. The journey and learnings make sense when you look back. Always moving forward, focused on growth and meaningful impact. "𝑩𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈." - 𝑴𝒆𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒄𝒌𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕 🚨 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴? 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. P.S. I’m also a Liverpool supporter, proud husband, dad of two, and fitness enthusiast! 👊