The Underdog: From His Parent’s Basement to $25M
Starter Story
Jan 28, 2024
This is the story of how David Park went from a broke kid in his parent's basement to building a company now worth over $25M.
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Hi
David
what's
your
story
I
was
working
from
my
parents
house
in
the
bedroom
day
and
night
I
had
no
money
and
it
was
time
to
really
it
was
time
to
make
it
or
break
it
This
is
David
Park
And
for
years
he
tried
everything
to
make
money
I
started
my
first
company
when
I
was
16
I'm
27
now
That's
a
decade
of
failing
Then
one
day
he
came
across
an
idea
that
would
change
his
life
forever
But
at
the
beginning
things
weren't
looking
so
bright
I
cold
called
every
single
agency
for
eight
hours
a
day
for
weeks
and
weeks
and
weeks
They
hang
up
on
you
reject
you
literally
probably
99
percent
of
the
time
But
when
everything
was
at
its
worst
David
experienced
a
miracle
Suddenly
we
get
a
huge
wave
of
users
We're
getting
to
50
60
80
000
MRR
Then
I
got
a
cancer
diagnosis
and
it
felt
like
my
dreams
and
nightmares
were
happening
at
the
same
time
This
is
the
story
of
how
David
Park
built
an
A
I
app
to
a
25
million
dollar
valuation
in
just
two
years
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
David
grew
up
in
a
family
of
entrepreneurs
and
even
though
they
never
had
a
lot
of
money
he
still
had
a
dream
that
he
could
be
one
too
When
I
was
in
seventh
grade
I
thought
you
know
man
it'd
be
so
cool
if
like
I'm
a
founder
and
it'd
be
so
cool
if
I
can
build
stuff
And
so
when
I
was
16
I
actually
made
my
first
company
It
was
like
a
clothing
brand
Obviously
it
failed
spectacularly
David
experienced
his
first
failure
early
on
And
like
all
protective
parents
they
sacrificed
everything
they
had
to
send
them
off
to
a
college
in
hopes
for
a
better
life
My
parents
gave
me
20
000
They
said
you
know
you
go
to
college
you're
going
to
have
a
better
life
than
us
You're
going
to
go
be
a
lawyer
doctor
The
sad
thing
is
I
kind
of
felt
like
I
didn't
really
fit
in
anywhere
I
didn't
really
feel
it
fit
in
in
my
fraternity
I
didn't
really
feel
it
fit
in
with
like
the
people
in
my
major
I
was
always
surrounded
by
people
but
I
always
felt
like
a
little
bit
lonely
which
is
kind
of
sad
David
was
facing
a
dilemma
He
was
an
entrepreneur
at
heart
but
he
was
trapped
in
an
environment
that
didn't
make
him
happy
So
we
made
a
huge
decision
He
decided
to
drop
out
and
chase
his
dreams
of
starting
a
startup
And
luckily
along
the
way
he
meets
someone
just
as
weird
and
passionate
as
him
His
eventual
business
partner
and
co
founder
Henry
He
loved
AI
I
loved
writing
We
always
try
to
find
some
way
to
make
it
work
The
sum
total
of
failed
startups
that
we
did
together
was
probably
nine
or
ten
which
is
pretty
nuts
Eventually
we
stumbled
upon
GPT
2
We
asked
it
to
tell
us
a
story
GPT
2
spit
out
this
line
that
said
nothing
is
darker
than
a
butthole
And
and
obviously
as
two
people
enamored
with
this
tech
we
were
raving
We're
like
this
is
the
funniest
line
ever
Also
it's
profound
That
butthole
sentence
convinced
us
two
buttholes
to
create
Jenny
All
right
So
this
is
a
quick
product
video
for
Jenny
The
boys
had
found
their
idea
and
now
the
business
was
in
motion
Henry
would
do
the
coding
and
David
would
do
the
selling
Their
goal
was
simple
Create
a
product
to
help
agencies
write
better
content
with
the
help
of
AI
And
their
next
goal
was
to
make
their
first
dollar
That
was
like
a
terrible
painful
time
of
cold
calls
Obviously
nobody
wants
to
talk
with
you
They
hang
up
on
you
reject
you
You
have
to
get
used
to
getting
rejected
So
I
was
working
from
my
parents
house
just
in
the
bedroom
It
was
pretty
sad
My
mom
should
wake
up
and
then
she'd
hear
me
just
like
raving
to
some
poor
soul
about
why
they
need
to
invest
in
us
or
they
need
to
buy
us
And
then
she'd
go
before
she'd
go
to
sleep
She'd
still
hear
me
kind
of
speaking
to
some
other
poor
fellow
So
it's
like
pretty
much
just
working
day
and
night
The
worst
part
was
like
Korean
moms
will
just
get
together
and
just
talk
about
their
kids
like
they're
trading
cards
Like
my
kid
is
now
a
level
two
Amazon
engineer
My
kid
is
now
doing
their
master's
at
Stanford
And
then
it
would
get
to
my
mom's
turn
and
she
would
just
say
oh
my
son
is
working
on
a
startup
The
most
humiliating
thing
was
I
had
to
ask
my
mom
for
her
card
if
I
wanted
to
get
Chipotle
because
I
just
had
like
no
money
I
was
a
real
loser
but
my
parents
were
so
kind
to
me
Like
they
never
made
me
feel
like
a
loser
Like
they
would
always
um
they
would
always
give
me
food
and
they'd
never
make
me
feel
bad
about
They
never
they
never
So
they
never
made
me
feel
bad
about
anything
They
just
always
like
there
was
always
just
food
on
the
table
On
days
that
I
didn't
believe
in
myself
I
felt
like
my
parents
believed
in
me
My
co
founder
would
believe
in
me
My
friends
obviously
believed
in
me
So
it
was
painful
but
I
guess
I'm
glad
that
I
went
through
them
Yeah
In
2020
GPT
3
came
out
David
is
getting
some
traction
thanks
to
a
wave
of
businesses
wanting
to
get
their
hands
on
AI
They're
getting
users
but
eventually
they
hit
a
plateau
plateau
They
try
everything
but
they
can't
get
past
2
000
a
month
in
revenue
Then
David
learns
and
implements
something
that
would
change
his
business
forever
It
really
came
down
to
the
boring
stuff
of
just
talk
to
your
users
ask
them
more
difficult
questions
You
know
you
shouldn't
be
asking
why
do
you
like
my
product
You
should
be
asking
why
do
you
dislike
my
product
Like
what
what
do
you
love
about
other
people's
products
The
focal
point
of
I
feel
like
many
founders
when
they
talk
to
users
it's
like
they
make
it
about
themselves
and
their
product
When
it
should
really
be
about
the
users
Tell
me
about
your
current
workflow
How
does
Jenny
fit
into
it
What
exactly
do
you
do
with
Jenny
Or
like
can
you
share
your
screen
and
can
we
write
an
article
together
These
insights
are
really
important
We
realized
that
people
wanted
to
have
a
friendly
AI
assisted
writing
journey
And
so
when
we
pulled
out
everything
that
was
when
we
really
started
to
grow
After
months
of
talking
to
customers
and
refining
the
product
they
start
to
find
a
new
audience
for
Jenny
But
at
this
point
David
basically
has
zero
dollars
left
in
his
bank
account
He's
exhausted
all
of
his
options
but
he
decides
to
try
one
more
thing
He
agrees
to
go
on
a
random
podcast
to
talk
about
his
startup
journey
It
doesn't
have
that
many
listeners
But
luckily
one
scout
for
Jason
Calacanis
happened
to
listen
to
the
podcast
The
craziest
miracle
ever
because
like
it
was
not
viewed
by
many
people
And
so
I
got
100
000
check
from
Jason
Like
I
said
I
was
living
off
Shin
Ramen
and
you
know
know
whatever
my
parents
put
out
on
the
dinner
table
So
100
000
was
so
crazy
The
first
thing
we
do
is
my
co
founder
and
I
we
book
a
flight
to
Malaysia
because
at
the
very
least
it'll
cut
down
our
burn
by
one
fourth
We
basically
just
want
to
extend
our
runway
because
we
kind
of
didn't
trust
ourselves
with
the
money
It
was
a
crazy
moment
getting
the
check
but
I
didn't
feel
successful
at
all
because
now
the
real
job
of
getting
my
hands
dirty
was
actually
getting
started
I
kind
of
raved
earlier
about
like
how
much
I
love
my
family
but
I
was
alone
by
myself
It
was
very
productive
but
it
was
very
lonely
It
was
tough
It
was
it
was
character
building
I
would
say
I
had
a
hundred
K
check
I
was
completed
by
myself
It
was
time
to
make
it
or
break
it
Now
the
real
dirty
work
had
begun
with
a
bit
of
funding
and
a
tiny
runway
David
and
his
co
founder
spent
the
next
several
months
iterating
and
building
Jenny
into
a
completely
new
product
Talking
to
customers
documenting
the
progress
and
trying
just
about
anything
to
increase
revenue
Then
one
night
something
incredible
happens
Suddenly
we
get
a
huge
wave
of
users
Every
minute
I
refresh
the
page
I
think
we
would
get
tens
of
new
users
Every
minute
that
I
refresh
the
page
a
guy
named
Zain
Khan
posted
a
Twitter
thread
that
became
one
of
the
most
viral
Twitter
threads
in
history
And
we
were
actually
included
in
that
thread
From
there
we
went
from
like
2000
to
10
000
MRR
in
one
month
That's
when
I
felt
the
first
semblance
of
success
Jenny
AI
was
growing
at
a
rapid
pace
and
David
felt
like
he
was
on
top
of
the
world
but
there
was
still
a
problem
Virality
comes
and
goes
It's
not
something
David
could
rely
on
to
build
a
great
business
So
the
very
next
thing
I
want
to
do
is
kind
of
figure
that
out
for
ourselves
I
brought
on
one
of
my
college
buddies
actually
to
help
us
with
TikTok
and
Instagram
reels
all
that
jazz
And
then
we
experienced
our
second
wave
of
virality
We
understood
the
power
of
social
media
We
continued
to
kind
of
push
on
with
viral
marketing
When
we're
getting
to
50
60
80
000
MRR
you
know
now
it
was
kind
of
happening
where
I
think
at
that
point
we
were
close
to
like
a
million
a
year
From
where
we
started
that
was
like
so
crazy
to
us
And
I
felt
like
man
we
could
push
this
so
much
further
We
could
go
so
much
farther
But
then
I
got
a
cancer
diagnosis
and
it
felt
like
my
dreams
and
nightmares
were
happening
at
the
same
time
The
most
worrying
thing
for
me
though
is
that
it
would
put
me
out
of
commission
and
there
was
a
chance
that
my
voice
would
be
damaged
I
remember
the
surgery
because
of
the
fever
They
had
to
reschedule
me
which
made
my
sleep
deprivation
food
deprivation
all
that
even
worse
It
prolonged
my
pain
more
But
one
thing
that
helped
was
my
mom
told
me
that
there's
something
I'll
tell
you
before
your
surgery
And
don't
worry
it's
going
to
give
you
all
the
strength
you
need
You're
not
even
going
to
be
nervous
Everything's
going
to
be
fine
And
then
so
for
some
reason
my
mom
went
to
the
bathroom
or
something
while
I
was
taking
a
nap
and
the
nurses
run
in
and
they're
like
because
of
your
fever
complication
we
have
to
do
surgery
right
now
I
don't
even
speak
Korean
to
be
signing
documents
like
can
we
wait
for
my
mom
And
then
they're
like
we
just
got
to
run
it
now
And
I
was
honestly
thinking
about
like
man
I
got
a
crazy
start
up
right
now
I
just
bolt
out
of
here
Thyroid
cancer
moves
kind
of
slow
Like
it's
not
like
the
craziest
risk
I
take
But
I
remember
on
the
ceiling
there
was
a
Bible
verse
It
said
like
leave
everything
to
God
I
was
like
all
right
well
I'll
leave
it
up
to
the
big
man
upstairs
Like
I
have
to
get
the
surgery
so
I'll
just
stay
I
don't
know
what
I
just
signed
My
mom's
not
here
It's
fine
I'll
just
stay
The
surgery
went
well
I
was
able
to
not
speak
for
a
little
bit
but
I
was
able
to
get
my
voice
back
A
few
days
after
the
surgery
I
was
like
hey
mom
like
what
was
that
thing
you
want
to
tell
me
before
the
surgery
She
told
me
oh
it's
just
it's
dumb
It
was
just
this
one
Bible
verse
that
I
really
liked
and
happened
to
be
the
same
Bible
verse
that
was
on
the
ceiling
It
was
pretty
crazy
to
me
where
I
take
it
as
is
like
miracle
What
an
awesome
little
blessing
that
I
got
I
had
to
read
that
Somebody
had
to
tell
me
that
And
my
mom
was
in
the
bathroom
so
I
didn't
get
she
didn't
get
to
read
to
me
But
thankfully
that
painter
put
it
up
there
for
me
So
I
got
to
read
it
After
the
surgery
I
was
obviously
very
emotional
I
was
very
moved
by
the
love
that
I
received
from
my
family
my
girlfriend
And
I
thought
the
limited
time
I
have
left
was
like
my
family
my
grandparents
all
that
stuff
But
instead
I'm
I'm
spending
so
much
time
on
my
startup
like
so
much
time
So
I
actually
shopped
Jenny
to
like
if
people
would
be
open
to
acquiring
Jenny
at
that
point
David
was
facing
a
wave
of
problems
after
his
surgery
He
realized
that
the
business
was
unstable
without
him
leading
the
pack
after
seeing
no
growth
when
he
was
out
with
cancer
David
also
realized
Jenny
did
not
have
product
market
fit
So
he
had
a
tough
choice
to
make
either
cash
out
grab
a
quick
few
million
bucks
and
start
fresh
or
double
down
Find
ways
to
fix
the
business
Find
a
product
market
fit
and
take
things
to
a
whole
nother
level
It
just
didn't
feel
right
to
like
throw
my
cards
in
early
You
know
it
wasn't
like
a
triumphant
I
will
not
sell
this
It's
sort
of
like
I
don't
know
if
this
is
the
right
decision
but
it
just
feels
right
in
my
gut
That
one
hard
decision
I
made
I'm
very
proud
of
myself
From
then
I
focused
on
hiring
people
on
the
marketing
growth
side
and
we
went
into
more
scaling
mode
I
would
say
up
to
the
one
million
we're
doing
a
lot
of
exploring
trying
out
a
bunch
of
zany
ideas
a
bunch
of
paths
And
then
from
one
to
three
we
really
started
heavily
deploying
capital
in
the
ones
that
were
successful
Tactically
what
I
would
do
is
I
would
basically
start
a
TikTok
account
try
a
bunch
of
different
creative
formats
and
then
find
one
format
that
works
and
somehow
turn
that
into
a
series
and
then
start
multiplying
your
accounts
So
you
could
have
multiple
creators
You're
basically
paying
creators
like
some
baseline
monthly
salary
and
you're
giving
them
some
incentives
where
like
if
your
videos
get
X
many
views
or
if
you
get
Y
conversions
then
you
get
you
know
even
more
money
per
month
You
should
basically
just
think
about
how
can
you
scale
the
content
I
think
that's
like
the
big
question
you
should
ask
I
started
my
first
company
when
I
was
16
I'm
27
now
That's
a
decade
of
failing
I
really
only
got
any
semblance
of
success
in
the
last
18
months
So
it's
nine
years
almost
a
decade
of
just
gut
punches
people
not
taking
you
seriously
You
need
that
discipline
I
think
If
you
really
care
about
your
dream
and
if
you
really
care
about
making
something
that
is
used
by
millions
of
people
then
you
can't
give
it
like
a
one
week
shot
You
can't
you
can't
even
give
it
a
year
shot
You
have
to
really
put
your
all
into
it
Sacrifice
everything
for
many
many
years
And
then
you
have
a
shot
You
have
maybe
a
chance
at
success
but
even
if
you
put
your
all
into
it
there's
a
chance
that
you
will
fail
if
you
still
make
a
startup
and
you
still
try
despite
knowing
that
you
could
have
nothing
and
you
could
lose
everything
And
that
must
mean
that
you
really
care
about
what
you're
building
building
and
you
really
care
about
making
a
better
life
for
yourself
your
family
your
users
We
talked
about
quitting
earlier
Had
I
sold
then
which
was
earlier
this
year
it
was
only
like
six
seven
months
ago
you
know
know
it
would
have
been
such
a
terrible
decision
for
me
to
sell
at
that
point
because
we
went
from
selling
to
three
million
Now
we're
at
three
million
ARR
We're
above
three
million
ARR
The
true
worth
of
our
startup
now
is
probably
like
10
to
30
million
You
know
it's
like
it's
like
way
more
than
what
I
would
have
sold
for
then
Within
six
months
we
more
than
doubled
our
business
Yeah
Persistence
is
quite
important
I
would
say
Hey
Pat
from
Starter
Story
here
Thank
you
guys
so
much
for
watching
I
really
hope
David's
story
inspires
and
motivates
some
of
you
to
get
started
on
your
own
thing
As
you
saw
in
the
video
David
changed
his
life
by
turning
a
simple
idea
into
a
three
million
dollar
per
year
SaaS
product
If
you're
curious
about
doing
something
similar
but
you're
still
looking
for
an
idea
well
right
now
you
can
download
our
Deep
Dive
SaaS
report
for
free
It
breaks
down
52
different
micro
SaaS
ideas
and
tons
of
other
stuff
you'd
want
to
know
Just
click
the
first
link
in
the
description
And
if
you're
serious
about
building
it
then
consider
joining
Starter
Story
and
we'll
help
you
do
that
Much
love
And
I'll
see
you
guys
in
the
next
one
Peace
Transcribed
by
https://otter
ai
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