Founders

Daniel Vassallo

Former AWS engineer, founder of Small Bets (sold to Gumroad) and UserbaseSource [4]Source [9]Source [2]

Info productsOnline communitiesCloud computingAudience buildingBootstrapping

Unclaimed profileLast verified Oct 2, 2026

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About

Daniel Vassallo is a Maltese entrepreneur based in the Seattle area and a former software engineer at Amazon Web Services. He left Amazon in February 2019 after eight years, writing that his pay had grown from $75,000 in his first year to $511,000 in his last.Source [1]Source [4]

His first independent product was Userbase, a service for adding user accounts and encrypted data storage to static websites. Community Inc. reported that it attracted a waitlist and a number one Product Hunt launch but earned about $10,000 a year after he had invested $100,000 and a year of work. It still operates, open source, with Stripe-verified revenue of $20,971 all time on TrustMRR (as of October 2026).Source [5]Source [6]Source [7]

Much of his income after Amazon came from information products and a paid community rather than software. Community Inc. reported that the book The Good Parts of AWS, written with former Amazon colleague Josh Pschorr, earned over $140,000, and that his video course Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience earned about $310,000. A cohort course on his small bets approach grew into the Small Bets community, started in November 2021 and run with partner Louie Bacaj from July 2023.Source [5]Source [8]

Gumroad bought 10% of Small Bets in 2024 and the remaining 90% in April 2025 for $3.6 million, half cash and half stock options, according to his own post; he agreed to keep running it for five years and to help Gumroad part time. He earlier served as Gumroad's part-time Head of Product.Source [8]Source [9]Source [1]Source [10]

His X profile, followed by about 205,000 accounts, now lists Small Bets, Single Server, a tool for deploying many apps to one Linux server, and Full Send, a browser racing game launched in April 2026.Source [3]Source [11]Source [12]

Watch

Mastering the Lifestyle-First Approach to Indie Hacking with Daniel Vassallo by Indie Hackers on YouTube

Career

2019 to now
2021 to now
2026 to now
2 companies have no public dates yet, so they are listed below but not charted.
CompanyYearsRoleStatus
FULL SEND

Builds and runs FULL SEND, a 2D browser racing game listed on TrustMRR under his name.Source [12]Source [13]

  • TrustMRR lists it as founded in April 2026 with $8,560 in all-time Stripe-verified revenue (as of October 2026).Source [12]
  • The game site shows time trials, multiplayer and a title sponsor.Source [13]

Suggest a correction to FULL SEND

2026 to nowFounderSource [12]Source [3]Active
Small Bets

Started the Small Bets community in November 2021 out of his cohort course, co-owned it with Louie Bacaj, and sold it to Gumroad in April 2025 while agreeing to keep running it.Source [5]Source [8]Source [9]

  • Ran 29 cohorts of the $375 Small Bets course before the Discord community became the main product (as reported by Community Inc.).Source [5]
  • Took Louie Bacaj on as partner in July 2023; by May 2024 he and Bacaj each owned 45% and Gumroad 10%.Source [5]Source [8]
  • Sold the remaining 90% to Gumroad for $3.6 million (50% cash, 50% stock options), stating the business made almost $500,000 profit in 2024 (self-reported).Source [9]Source [1]

Suggest a correction to Small Bets

2021 to nowFounder and co-ownerSource [5]Source [8]Operator under Gumroad ownershipSource [9]Source [1]Acquired
Gumroad

Worked as Gumroad's quarter-time Head of Product, about ten hours a week, after becoming one of its sellers; after the 2025 Small Bets sale he said he would also help Gumroad part time.Source [10]Source [9]

  • Joined after earning over $250,000 on Gumroad in less than a year, according to founder Sahil Lavingia.Source [10]
  • Holds Gumroad stock options from the Small Bets sale that vest every six months.Source [9]

Suggest a correction to Gumroad

UndatedHead of Product (part time)Source [10]Source [14]Active
Userbase

Founded and owns Userbase, an open source service that adds user accounts and end-to-end encrypted storage to static websites.Source [2]Source [6]

  • Built it with developer Justin Berman and others; the MIT-licensed code is on GitHub.Source [2]Source [15]
  • Earned about $10,000 a year against $100,000 of his own money invested, per Community Inc.Source [5]
  • Shows $20,971 all-time Stripe-verified revenue and $95 MRR on TrustMRR, where it is listed for sale (as of October 2026).Source [7]Source [16]

Suggest a correction to Userbase

2019 to nowFounder and ownerSource [2]Source [7]Active
Amazon

Spent eight years at Amazon building developer tools in AWS, rising from entry level developer to senior engineer, and left in February 2019.Source [4]

  • Was promoted twice to senior engineer within three and a half years.Source [4]
  • Led what he described as the most important project in his department's history in his final years.Source [4]

Suggest a correction to Amazon

2019Software engineer, Amazon Web ServicesSource [4]Source [1]IPO

Milestones

  1. 2026-04Launched the browser racing game FULL SEND.Source [12]
  2. 2025-04Sold Small Bets to Gumroad for $3.6 million.Source [9]Source [1]
  3. 2024-05Gumroad took a 10% stake in Small Bets in a $500,000 share exchange.Source [8]
  4. 2023-07Took on Louie Bacaj as Small Bets partner.Source [5]
  5. 2022-07Opened Small Bets community sign-ups independent of the course.Source [5]
  6. 2021-11Started the Small Bets community.Source [5]
  7. 2021-01Named by Sahil Lavingia as Gumroad's part-time Head of Product.Source [10]
  8. 2020-04Launched the course Everyone Can Build a Twitter Audience.Source [5]
  9. 2019-12Released The Good Parts of AWS with Josh Pschorr.Source [5]
  10. 2019-06Published his essay on leaving a $500,000 job at Amazon.Source [4]
  11. 2019-02Left Amazon Web Services after eight years.Source [4]

Books

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Sources

  1. Maltese Founder Daniel Vassallo closes $3.6 million company sale, Who's Who Malta, 2025-04-22. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  2. About Us, Userbase. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  3. Daniel Vassallo (@dvassallo) profile, read via api.fxtwitter.com, X. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  4. Why I Quit a $500K Job at Amazon to Work for Myself, DEV Community (Daniel Vassallo), 2019-06-29. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  5. How Daniel Vassallo Grew a Group of Small-Time Entrepreneurs to $1M, Community Inc.. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  6. Userbase: Logins and persistence for static sites, Userbase. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  7. Userbase, TrustMRR. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  8. Gumroad now owns 10% of Small Bets, LLC, X (Daniel Vassallo), 2024-05-03. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  9. Small Bets is joining Gumroad!, X (Daniel Vassallo), 2025-04-16. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  10. No Meetings, No Deadlines, No Full-Time Employees, Sahil Lavingia, 2021-01-07. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  11. Single Server: All your projects on a single server, singleserver.com. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  12. FULL SEND: Verified revenue, TrustMRR. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  13. FULL SEND, fullsend.game. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  14. Q&A with Daniel Vassallo (Head of Product) and Randall Kanna (Head of Community), Gumroad. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  15. smallbets/userbase repository, GitHub. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  16. Daniel Vassallo (@dvassallo): 2 startups, TrustMRR. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.
  17. Daniel Vassallo, dvassallo.com. Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

History

  • Oct 2, 2026: Profile created from public sources (Founded editors)

Compiled by Founded editors from the cited public sources. Editorial policy / Request removal