2024 Year In Review

    $ December 31, 2024

    As has been my custom for the past fourteen years, I like to spend a bit of time at the end of the year reflecting on the year that has been, looking ahead to the year that is to come, and noting down these reflections for posterity.

    Professionally

    2024 started on a high for Lemon Squeezy. In 2023 we reached PMF and had grown 2500% by the end of the year. Going into 2024, it started to feel like demand was outgrowing capacity and we were beginning to see some growing pains (we were still only a team of 18). A good problem to have. However, we were starting to see profits increase nicely and were confident we could continue to grow the business in 2024.

    And then in February, we got the call. Stripe wanted to chat acquisition. We had been talking with Stripe about partnership opportunities for some time, but this was different. At first, we were sceptical, as we had been fielding inbound VC and acquisition interest for some time at this point, and had already been down a few potential acquisition roads that fizzled out. But we all knew that Stripe would be the ideal company to buy Lemon Squeezy.

    So we embarked on what would become an insane, surreal and intense journey to sell Lemon Squeezy. A couple of months of negotiating resulted in a term sheet, followed by a couple of months of due diligence, which was an intense experience. Shout out to Mike from Horizon Partners who guided us through this process and were amazing to work with.

    During diligence JR, Orman and I flew out to Stripe's SF office to meet in person. It was a week of firsts for me:

    • First time on the west coast of America

    • First time meeting my co-founders  

    • First time in a "big tech" office

    • First time flying Premium Economy

    It was a crazy trip, and one I'm so appreciative I was able to make. Meeting JR and Orman in person was very much a highlight of my year. We got to know one another, shared some great experiences, and drank some very good whiskey.

    Diligence was an intense process and not one I want to repeat any time soon. But by the end of July we had managed to seal the deal and Stripe flew our whole team out to SF for onboarding. This was another amazing week meeting Lemon Squeezy team in person and starting our new jobs in Stripe. At the end of the week while we were in SF it was officially announced that Stripe had acquired Lemon Squeezy.

    Since August, I've transitioned from my CTO role to an Engineering Manager in Stripe. Going from an 18-person startup to an 8500-person company is a bit of a culture shock (to say the least) but it's been an amazing experience so far. The folks at Stripe are smart, friendly and driven to create awesome experiences for our users. Values that matched our own culture at Lemon Squeezy (and a big part of the acquisition making sense). 

    It has been a big adjustment for me and I've learned loads since joining Stripe. I'm really only just starting to feel like I'm settling in now, after five months. But I'm glad I'm still able to work with the Lemon Squeezy team, and I'm looking forward to what next year brings and what we're going to be able to achieve as part of Stripe.

    Personally

    Due to the above, 2024 turned out to be a pretty crazy year for us as a family too. It has been by far the busiest and most intense year of work I've ever had. But the rewards have been worth it. 

    It goes without saying, that selling your business to a company like Stripe doesn't come without significant financial rewards. Which is amazing but also incredibly surreal and often hard to process. Most of the latter half of this year I've spent in a kind of daze as I've tried to process what it means to have become "successful" in business. To be honest, there's still a lot to work through here. But that doesn't mean I haven't found time to celebrate our success.

    Being a huge petrolhead, the first thing I thought about once I knew a big payday was coming, was which supercar to buy. I've always dreamed about being able to own a supercar, and I always knew if I ever ended up with a chunk of spare cash, it would be one of the first things I did. So I bought two 😂 I bought an Audi RS6 as a "family" supercar, and an amazing looking Audi R8 in Vegas yellow as my "fun" supercar. I now have 1200 bhp sitting in my driveway, which is just crazy to me.

    Cars aside, knowing what to do with our newfound wealth has been a journey. First, there's dealing with tax, which has honestly been the biggest nightmare of the whole experience. I won't go into it all, suffice to say it turns out that paying a seven-figure tax bill is not a fun experience. Then there's figuring out what to do with what's left. We're trying to be sensible (invest it) and not blow it or fritter it away. It sounds simple, but doing it in a tax-efficient way isn't as easy as it seems. We're very much still at the beginning of our wealth management journey and we have a long way to go. 

    One thing I can say though is that we very much feel the burden of the incredibly fortunate position we find ourselves in. We've tried to find ways to make sure we see this wealth as a gift and reciprocate that gift to others. I'm pleased to say we've found multiple ways to do that already this year.

    However, after all is said and done, I've found myself coming to appreciate the simple things in life more this year. My amazing family, a good meal, a walk on the beach on a nice day, etc. I've made a conscious effort to make sure that I'm thankful for the amazing things that have happened this year, but that I'm also content with my life without high-flying jobs, new houses and supercars.

    Looking ahead to 2025

    It feels like 2024 has been the start of a new journey in my life, both professionally in my career but also personally for us as a family. 2025 is shaping up to be a year of much more learning, growing and travelling this new path. It's one I'm excited to be on and I'm very much looking forward to what 2025 brings.

    As always, it is my prayer that in 2025, I will continue to walk closely with God and that he will continue to strengthen, encourage and grow me in spiritual maturity. I am so thankful to Him for how He has sustained us this past year, and I pray that he will continue to equip us for whatever 2025 might bring.

    Wishing you all a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2025.