Sahil Lavingia | The Success Story Of A 19-Year-Old Entrepreneur

Sahil Lavingia is an Indian entrepreneur well known as the founder and Ceo of Gumroad. Gumroad is a digital service trading platform. Sahil designed Gumroad after facing difficulties in selling his photorealistic icon to a client. Hence, he designed a platform to reach several customers at once to sell anything digitally. Although, his journey reflects that of a hardworking and focused boy achieving exceptional success.

Sahil’s Early Life

On the 25th of August 1992, Sahil Lavingia was born in New York, USA. He moved to Singapore at age of four where he was grown up to eighteen. Then, he came back to the USA to study at the University Of Southern California. Sahil was inclined toward the business world since childhood. But he clearly had no idea about the steps to establish a successful business. So, he followed the usual path till college. He worked hard in academics and got to USC, Silicon Valley.

Sahil Lavingia Carrer

Sahil’s career as a coder started right from college. No doubt, he was a brilliant mind. He started designing iPhone apps for startups when he was in college. He has designed iPhone apps for big companies such as Turntable.

Before going to California, Sahil had a traditional plan of starting his business. There were genuine steps such as getting a degree, Joining a big company startup then moving on to start a company. But as soon as he got exposed to Silicon Valley Culture, he grew very fast. He learned app development and find clients indirectly using hacker news. Subsequently, Pinterest hired Sahil to design iPhone app. He was one of the early hired developers at Pinterest. He served at Pinterest until the beginning of Gumroad.

Sahil Success Journey

Although Sahil was a brilliant student since childhood. He designed Pinterest and Turntable at a very early age. But he rose to fame after creating Gumroad . The beginning of Gumroad was no coincidence but an attempt to solve a major problem. The problem which Sahil faced when he tried to sell his photorealistic icon. It takes a lot of time and effort to reach out to every customer individually. That’s when he decided to design a platform that will serve the purpose. He was so passionate about his idea that he created the prototype of Gumroad just over a weekend in 2015. This incredible performance was a result of the expertise that he has gained working years in the field.

Books

Sahil has incorporated all his entrepreneurship knowledge of his life into his book The Minimalist Entrepreneur. This book is of great help to small enterprises. Although It is not for venture capitalists, rather it teaches you to build a successful business step by step by being yourself and doing what you like to do. The book lay emphasis on creating something that can add value to others’ life. Entering the business regime and then thinking of products is the wrong way. Apart from it, several other factors such as profitability, building customer community, and working by little are also discussed in the book. Sahil has just put the crux of all his entrepreneurship experience in it.

Life Lessons For Us

Sahil’s story is a story of determination. It teaches us once you know your goal in life, nothing seems out of the way. You should be focused on your goals and you can achieve anything in life.