Inside Tettra’s Long, Winding, and Persistent Path Toward Achieving Profitability

Andy Cook, co-founder and CEO at Tettra, shares the company’s journey from “Ramen profitability” to actual profitability over the course of several years.

Rachael Bassey on November 11, 2019 (last modified on November 8, 2019) • 1 minute read

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

That’s what Andy Cook asked himself when Tettra was about 2 weeks away from going out of business.

The answers were obvious––they’d lose the team. He’d have to sell off more stock he’d earned at HubSpot in order to pay his personal bills, maybe move in with mom and dad.

But maybe, he and his cofounder Nelson could keep trying to make it work.

Luckily, the worst-case scenario never panned out.

Instead, they made some hard decisions, mainly around decreasing expenses––Andy and Nelson stopped taking paychecks, the team took temporary pay cuts.

The goal? Get to “Ramen profitability” as Andy called it. Because, well, Ramen noodles was about all they could afford.

Then, they made some long-term bets––the big one being launching a freemium plan.

It took months and a team committed to his vision––but eventually, the team got their salaries up.

Andy and Nelson were able to take paychecks again.

…And…well, no one is eating Ramen anymore. At least, not out of necessity. 🙂

Inside Tettra’s Long, Winding, and Persistent Path Toward Achieving Profitability

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

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