But I was accountable to our creators, our employees, and our investors–in that order. That’s what I told every new hire and every investor. I didn’t want to become a serial entrepreneur, and risk disappointing another customer base. and this was the first time in my life when the present year felt worse than the last. There was a path to an independent business, not beholden to the go-big-or-go-home mentality I signed up for when I raised money. So instead of pretending to be some sort of product visionary, trying to build a billion-dollar company, I’m just focused on making Gumroad better and better for our existing creators. Because they are the ones that have kept us alive. Instead of freaking out about how ‘small’ Gumroad actually is (like I thought they would), our creators have grown more loyal. It feels like we’re all in this together, trying to do earn a living doing what we love.