Kyle Nolan

Kyle Nolan

@kylenolan.dev

🧑‍💻 Bootstrapping https://projectionlab.com 📈 Currently $1M+ ARR

944 followers122 following73 posts

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Just shipped a tax strategy optimizer that saves the median household $300k in lifetime taxes. Really exciting to make powerful tools like this accessible to everyone. And kinda crazy to realize I've been working on ProjectionLab for half a decade now. #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

You'd be working directly with me on a large Vue 3 + TypeScript codebase, shipping features used by thousands of households. This is hard work with a high quality bar. But also the most fun I've ever had building software :)

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Well that's more real-time visitors than usual! Cool to see this story picked up on HN: bsky.app/profile/kyle...

Kyle Nolan@kylenolan.dev

We did it!! $1,000,000 in annual recurring revenue. With zero funding. 🥹 And I'm still processing that this is real. No AI hype. No VC money. Just 4 years of hard work building good software to solve a real problem we had ourselves. And never giving up.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

We did it!! $1,000,000 in annual recurring revenue. With zero funding. 🥹 And I'm still processing that this is real. No AI hype. No VC money. Just 4 years of hard work building good software to solve a real problem we had ourselves. And never giving up.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

When I started ProjectionLab as a side project in 2021, I was just a normal engineer working solo on nights & weekends after my day job. I couldn't imagine my little app ever making 5 figures... let alone 7! But today, we're a 3 FTE team helping 100k+ households plan for a better financial future.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Weeknights from 8pm to midnight. 20+ hrs every weekend. 14 months to 500 customers. That's what it took to bootstrap projectionlab.com from a side project into a real business. Grateful to see the story get a small mention in Grant Sabatier's new book Inner Entrepreneur this year.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

His original book Financial Freedom helped spark my FI journey, and played a big role in why I started building PL in the first place. I never expect an email reply, let alone a future shoutout in a book!

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Back in February, we mapped out which ambitious new features could accelerate growth. But what did we do next? Something completely different! 🙈 We realized that to build those ambitious features sustainably, we needed to upgrade the foundation. So by popular request, we focused on:

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Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

This is exactly the kind of flexibility we WOULD NOT have if we had taken outside funding. Staying lean and bootstrapped means we get to prioritize product quality, technical clarity, and long-term sustainability. Not just chasing growth at all costs.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Back in February, we mapped out which ambitious new features could accelerate growth. But what did we do next? Something completely different! 🙈 We realized that to build those ambitious features sustainably, we needed to upgrade the foundation. So by popular request, we focused on:

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

⌛ Monthly precision inputs ✂️ Better US state & local tax modeling 🧑‍💻 Technical debt reduction 📆 Calendar year alignment 🏦 Inherited IRAs (Traditional & Roth) ⚙️ Advanced RMD controls 🏡 More property tax & assessed value modeling options 💻 UX improvements across event forms ➡️ And a lot more!

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

This release clocks in around 80,000 lines of code and 3 months of sustained effort. But more importantly: it puts us in a much better position to build that next wave of features we strategized about in February.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Code is stable. Tests are passing. Confidence is high. Let’s ship 80,000 lines to prod this morning and find out which of those was... optimistic 😅 #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Just hit 4M search impressions this year! 🔥 Want to know the secret to how I did it? ... I didn't! Last year I brought on Jon Kuipers to lead growth & marketing for ProjectionLab. And he's been crushing it. I'm focused on building. He's focused on growth.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

No hacks or secrets. We're just staying focused on our strengths, and trusting each other with theirs. Hiring the wrong person can kill your business. But hiring the RIGHT person? That's how you keep coding and 10x TTM search impressions at the same time. #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

In the next 3-5 years, will we see any platforms start to optimize for authenticity, not just engagement? Or is the endgame engaging AI slop flooding all channels everywhere?

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

I finally turned off subscription notifications! For 4 years, I watched every subscription created/cancelled like a hawk. Spike in cancellations? Spike in anxiety 😅 I started projectionlab.com from zero, and worried I could end up back there in an instant...

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

But we've come a long way since then. And it's time to focus on what really matters -- building in a way that's calm and sustainable, and being a good steward for this product and the 9,000+ customers using PL to plan their financial futures. #buildinpublic

projectionlab.comProjectionLab - Modern Financial & Retirement Planning ToolsSimulate your financial future. Modern financial and retirement planning tools to plan for early retirement, financial independence, and more.
Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

We hit $1M in total revenue and closed out January at $70k MRR! 🔥 In the early days, I never imagined projectionlab.com would help 100,000+ people plan for a better life. There were lean months, late nights, and moments of doubt. You can see in the revenue chart: it's been a roller coaster.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Showing up every day was not always easy. And $1M in 4 years may not be rocketship numbers. But creating a bootstrapped business that's profitable, efficient, and fully aligned with our customers is more than enough for me 😊 #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Kind of wild people spent 2,500+ hours this week in projectionlab.com! That's like two weeks of time every single day 🤯 Back when I was working alone, I'd scramble to get the new tax/finance updates added before Jan 1. But thanks to the team, everything went smoothly this year! 😊 #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Want to know how a financial choice would impact your future net worth? We just made it more visual (and more fun!) to explore what-if scenarios in projectionlab.com I've been excited to build this one for a while. If you check it out, I'd love to hear what you think! #buildinpublic

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Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

🆕 Other New Features: Explore new milestone criteria types and aesthetic customization for bar charts, improvements to Fund with Account and Route to Accounts features, and more.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Want to know how a financial choice would impact your future net worth? We just made it more visual (and more fun!) to explore what-if scenarios in projectionlab.com I've been excited to build this one for a while. If you check it out, I'd love to hear what you think! #buildinpublic

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

Also just shipped: 📊 Plan View Enhancements: Hover & click to plot any yearly summary metric, click on notable event icons in the chart to open the related UI elements, and explore 25+ built-in plots with improved color-coding.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

✂️ More Tax-Withholding Settings: Define withholding rates for account types that have non-tax-free withdrawals or conversions in Plan Settings > Tax > Tax Withholding.

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

✅ Achievement Unlocked: 1M organic search impressions this year! Last year we had: - No content strategy - Only branded queries in search console - Marketing site all tangled up in the same project as the core app 🙈

Kyle Nolan
@kylenolan.dev

With only 1 engineer (me!), we always need to be really judicious about what work to take on. At first, I had to focus on product to the exclusion of everything else. But this year, we've made a concerted effort to balance that out. And it's great to start seeing some results! 🎉 #buildinpublic

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