Eren's 2 billion dollar businesses

Hey, it’s Guy & Farzan.

Quiet weekend in Sydney. Summer's well behind us now. Dark mornings, longer lie-ins, few drinks with the fire on. I've got into limoncello recently. Perfect winter tipple. As winter starts, feels like time to reflect, on the year behind, the year ahead. Enough rambling. Let's get into some founder stories.

Reading time: 8.75 mins

In the mail today. 3 founder stories, 1 bit of founder advice, 1 quote

 Founder story 1 

Eren Bali: From a remote Turkish village to Building two billion-dollar companies

See how Eren Bali democratised education with Udemy and revolutionised Healthcare with Carbon Health, creating a $45M net worth along the way."

The Journey
- Born in 1984 in Durulova, Malatya, Turkey, a remote apricot-farming village
- Learned in a one-room schoolhouse with his mother as the sole teacher for five grades
- Self-taught advanced mathematics through internet forums using a second-hand computer
- Won gold medal in Turkish Math Olympiad and silver at International Math Olympiad
- Graduated from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2005 with degrees in mathematics and computer engineering
- Moved to Silicon Valley in 2009 to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams

The Evolution of Vision
- 2008: Built KnowBand, an early livestream classroom in Turkey (didn't take off)
- 2009: "A world where anyone could learn anything, from any expert in the world"
- 2010: Launched Udemy as a virtual learning academy to democratise education
- 2015: "Let's completely redesign how clinics work" founded Carbon Health
- 2024: Returned to Udemy as CTO while remaining Executive Chairman of Carbon Health
- 2025: Continues mission to knock down barriers in both education and healthcare

Overcoming Obstacles
- Pitched Udemy to over 30 Silicon Valley investors, all said no initially
- Faced internal tensions and had to make the difficult decision to let co-founder Gagan Biyani go in 2012
- Navigated the complex transition from education tech to healthcare systems
- Had to restructure Carbon Health operations when valuation dropped from $3.3B to $1.4B in 2023
- Balanced leading two major companies across different industries simultaneously

Today's Impact

Udemy:
- 44+ million learners worldwide
- 183,000+ courses available|
- Serves learners in over 180 countries
- Multibillion-dollar public company valuation

Carbon Health:
- 83 clinics across 12 states
- $1.4 billion valuation (as of 2023)
- Raised over $538 million in funding
- Built proprietary electronic health record system

Growth strategies that worked

Key Milestones
- Won silver medal at International Math Olympiad as teenager
- Moved to Silicon Valley and joined Founder Institute incubator in 2009
- Officially launched Udemy in San Francisco in 2010 after securing seed funding
- Stepped aside as Udemy CEO in 2014 to become Chairman Co-founded Carbon Health in 2015 with Dr. Caesar Djavaherian
- Udemy went public in 2021 with multibillion-dollar valuation
- Returned to Udemy as CTO in 2024 while maintaining Carbon Health leadership

The Philosophy

"Even though the internet doesn't completely level out education, it does give people the chance to catch up."

"The strongest startups don't come from brainstorming sessions or investor pitch decks. They come from the places where life bruises you. The places where the system doesn't work, and you decide to fix it anyway."

"What problem have you lived... that no one else can solve like you? Because that's where your story starts."

Founder story 2

Bogg Bag: From $30K failure to $100M success

The Story:
Kim Vaccarella, a commercial real estate professional, couldn't find the perfect beach bag - so she made one herself. The Bogg Bag, made from lightweight EVA material, is now on track for $100M revenue in 2024.

The Journey:
- 2008: Conceived the idea after searching unsuccessfully for a sturdy, non-collapsible beach bag
- 2010: Got first prototype for $60, placed initial orders totaling $30K
- 2012: Disaster struck - entire $30K shipment arrived defective with black streaks
- 2012: Nearly gave up, donated defective bags to Hurricane Sandy victims
- 2013: Victims started asking where to buy more bags - realized the product worked
- 2014: Secured $120K investment from coworker, found new manufacturer
- 2018: Hit $1M revenue, Kim quit her 26-year career to focus full-time

Key Numbers:
- Started with $30K (lost on defective shipment)
- $120K investment to restart (coworker made $10M+ return)
- $100M projected 2024 revenue
- Available in 4,500+ stores including Target and Dick's Sporting Goods

The Lesson: Sometimes your biggest failure becomes your proof of concept. Kim's disaster led to an accidental market test that proved demand existed.

Founder story 3

Santiago Basulto: From Argentina to $250K ARR with DataWars

"From Coding in Cafes to Building a Data Science Education Empire: How Santiago Left Argentina, Sold His First Company, and Created DataWars - A Platform That's Revolutionizing Practical Tech Training."

The Journey
- Born in Argentina in 1987 into a working-class family with strong European immigrant influence
- Started working at age 12-13 to make money, embracing the old-school work ethic
- Dropped out of college in 2012 to pursue coding professionally
- Became one of the first Argentinians to work remotely for an American company via Skype
- Built and sold his first company, Remoter, to INE (American IT training leader)
- Used proceeds from sale to achieve financial independence and move to Italy
- Launched DataWars in 2023 as a practical data science training platform

The Evolution of Vision
- 2012: "I love coding - let me try this professionally" Post-Remoter Sale: "There's a huge gap in practical IT training across all industries"
- 2023: "People need hands-on projects, not just videos and books"
- 2024: "We can measure real skill progression through practical challenges"
- 2025: Reached $250K ARR by focusing on learning through doing

Overcoming Obstacles
- Balanced financial constraints while starting his career in Argentina
- Navigated early remote work challenges when tools were limited
- Learned the complex IT training industry after acquisition by INE
- Resisted the temptation to fulfill every customer request to maintain product focus
- Built discipline to work 14+ hour days while maintaining work-life balance
- Overcame the crowded edtech market without relying on paid advertising

Today's Impact
- $250K annual recurring revenue 15 employees across US, Argentina, and Italy
- 20,000 monthly website visitors
- 100 newsletter subscribers
- Small seed funding secured Serving both individual learners (B2C) and corporate training programs (B2B)

Growth strategies that worked
- Freemium Model: Offered compelling free tier for 6 months before introducing paid options
- Community Building: Created viral sharing through Reddit, LinkedIn, and word-of-mouth
- Bottom-Up Sales: Identified free users at companies and upsold premium corporate plans
- Content Distribution: Leveraged YouTube and LinkedIn for organic reach
- Partnership Strategy: Collaborated with publishing websites for traffic generation
- User segmentation: Different value propositions for students vs. working professionals

Key milestones
- Started as remote developer working for US companies from Argentina
- Built network and expertise through corporate roles
- Sold first company (Remoter) to INE and reached senior positions
- Achieved financial independence from sale proceeds
- vRelocated to Italy near the mountains for quality of life Launched DataWars with zero revenue model for initial validation Converted free users to paid subscribers through time-saving premium features

The Philosophy

"People overestimate what they can achieve in 1 year, but underestimate what they'll be able to accomplish in 10 years."

"There's no real risk in entrepreneurship. People think there's a risk, but there isn't. The key is to keep costs low and save enough to give yourself runway."

"Don't start your startup too early. The best entrepreneurs are made after 30. Work for companies you like first - build your network, become financially independent, and understand how industries really work."

"Great products are created with less money, not more. VC money can be detrimental and tends to favor the worst entrepreneurs."

Founder advice from Gavin Hammar (founder Swarm)) 

What's the secret sauce to bootstrapping a successful SaaS business?

Honestly? It's perseverance. That's it.

After bootstrapping 3 companies, I've learned it's not about growth hacks or fancy marketing.

It's just showing up. Every. Single. Day.

What this ACTUALLY looks like:
- Talking to customers when you'd rather be coding
- Making tiny improvements nobody notices
- Continuing when growth feels painfully slow
- Learning from failures that make you question everything

My first business took 12 YEARS to exit. Not 12 months. Not 12 funding rounds.

Here's the truth: competitors can copy your features, messaging, pricing...

But they can't copy your willingness to play the long game.

While they chase quick wins, you're building something sustainable through consistent, unglamorous work.

The hardest part? Having the discipline to keep going when results don't come overnight.

 A longish quote we loved 😜 

All done for this week.

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See you next week.

Guy + Farzan
Founderoo