Milestones

50 Startup Milestones Every Founder Should Celebrate

A complete list of startup milestones worth celebrating - from first commit to $1M ARR. Track your progress with badges.

January 9, 2026HackerBadges Team

50 Startup Milestones Every Founder Should Celebrate

Building a startup is a marathon, not a sprint. Along the way, there are dozens of milestones worth celebrating—not just the big revenue numbers, but the small wins that keep you going.

Here are 50 milestones every founder should track and celebrate.

🚀 Launch Milestones

1. First Commit

The journey of a thousand miles begins with git init.

2. First Landing Page Live

Your idea now exists on the internet. That's huge.

3. First Signup on Waitlist

Someone is interested enough to give you their email.

4. Product Hunt Launch

You put yourself out there. Win or lose, that takes courage.

5. First Version Shipped

It's ugly, it's buggy, but it's LIVE.

6. First Real User (Non-Friend)

A stranger is using your product. This is validation.

💰 Revenue Milestones

7. First Dollar

The hardest dollar you'll ever make. Frame it.

8. $100 MRR

You have recurring revenue. You're in business.

9. $500 MRR

Covers your coffee habit.

10. $1,000 MRR

Four digits. You're a real SaaS now.

11. $2,500 MRR

Covers basic expenses.

12. $5,000 MRR

Part-time income replacement.

13. $10,000 MRR

Full-time viable. This is life-changing.

14. $25,000 MRR

You could hire someone.

15. $50,000 MRR

Serious business territory.

16. $83,333 MRR ($1M ARR)

You hit the million-dollar milestone.

17. First Annual Plan Sold

Someone trusts you for a full year.

18. First Enterprise Deal

Big company, big contract, big validation.

👥 Customer Milestones

19. 10 Paying Customers

Double digits. You have a customer base.

20. 50 Paying Customers

You're not a fluke.

21. 100 Paying Customers

Triple digits. Time to think about support.

22. 500 Paying Customers

You're building something real.

23. 1,000 Paying Customers

You have a community, not just customers.

24. First Customer Referral

Someone loves your product enough to tell others.

25. First Testimonial

Social proof you can actually use.

26. First Case Study

Deep validation of your value.

📈 Growth Milestones

27. First Organic Signup

Someone found you without you paying for it.

28. First Inbound Lead

They came to YOU.

29. 100% MoM Growth

You doubled in a month.

30. First Viral Moment

Your product spread without you pushing it.

31. First Press Mention

A publication wrote about you.

32. 10K Website Visitors

People are paying attention.

33. 100K Website Visitors

You're getting real traffic.

🛠️ Product Milestones

34. 100th Feature Shipped

You've been building consistently.

35. First Integration

Your product talks to other products.

36. First API Customer

Developers trust your code.

37. Zero Bugs Week

Everything works (for now).

38. First Major Refactor

You improved the foundation.

39. 99.9% Uptime Month

Reliability matters.

🤝 Team Milestones

40. First Hire

You're not solo anymore.

41. First Contractor

You can delegate.

42. First Full-Time Employee

Someone bet their career on your vision.

43. First Remote Team Member

You're a distributed company now.

💪 Personal Milestones

44. Quit Your Day Job

You went all-in.

45. First Full Month of Ramen Profitability

You're covering costs. Barely. But still.

46. First Vacation While Business Runs

You built something that doesn't need you 24/7.

47. Paid Yourself a Salary

You're officially employed by yourself.

48. First Year in Business

You survived year one. Most don't.

😅 Honest Milestones

49. First Pivot

You adapted. That's a skill.

50. First Failure You Learned From

Every failure teaches something. Badge it.

Track Your Milestones

Don't let these moments pass without recognition. Create achievement badges for every milestone you hit.

With HackerBadges, you can:

  • Generate beautiful milestone badges
  • Connect Stripe/LemonSqueezy for auto-verification
  • Share badges on Twitter/X
  • Build a public profile of achievements

Start Tracking Your Milestones →

Create Custom Milestones

Don't see your milestone on this list? Create a custom badge for:

  • Specific revenue numbers
  • Launch dates
  • Customer counts
  • Any achievement you want to celebrate

Create Custom Badge →


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50 Startup Milestones Every Founder Should Celebrate | HackerBadges Blog | HackerBadges Blog