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.
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
Made with HackerBadges - Achievement badges for indie hackers