David Boyne

Why this site exists

I quit a $230K job at AWS to go all-in on a single bet: turn an open-source side project into a real business. No co-founder. No VC. A handful of savings. Just me, my laptop, and a product called EventCatalog.

When I started, I went looking for advice on how to actually get off the ground. Most of what I found was founders talking about scaling from $1M to $10M, or raising their Series B. That's great if you're already there. But if you're at zero, trying to get your first users and your first dollar of revenue? There's a huge gap. Nobody talks about that part.

So I decided to fill it. Every lesson I learn, every mistake I make, every decision that moves the needle (or doesn't), I turn into a visual you can absorb in 60 seconds. No fluff, no theory. Just the real stuff from someone who's in the middle of it right now.

That's A Bootstrapper's Diary. Built to help and inspire anyone going from zero to something.

Where the idea came from

Before A Bootstrapper's Diary, I created EDA Visuals, a collection of visuals that help people learn event-driven architecture. That project has been downloaded over 15,000 times and is used by teams and educators around the world.

It taught me something important: people don't want to read a 20-page whitepaper to understand a concept. Give them a clear visual and they'll get it in seconds. That format works. So when I started documenting my bootstrapping journey, I knew exactly how I wanted to do it.

What's EventCatalog?

EventCatalog helps teams document, discover, and manage their event-driven architectures. It started as a weekend hack. Today it's used by thousands of teams, with 28K+ catalogs created and growing.

The product is open source at its core with paid tiers for teams and enterprises. Getting from free tool to $26K MRR has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I've done. This site is where I document every step of that journey, warts and all.

Speaking

I love talking about this stuff in person. If you're running a conference, meetup, or event and want someone to talk honestly about what it takes to go from zero to a real business, I'd love to come and share what I've learned so far. No polished success story. Just the raw, unfiltered version.

Reach out on Twitter or LinkedIn and let's make it happen.

Follow along

I share new visuals here every week and post updates on Twitter. If you're building something of your own, or even just thinking about it, these visuals are for you.