Yes, completely freelancer developed. I closed the agency and moved to SF from LA when we got to 30k monthly uniques.
Overall, the two years prior to the inflection point and the first users were pretty inefficient. The vision was actually always the same (a universal social platform for all of shopping), but the execution changed dramatically. We literally just kept launching features around this concept, but they were pretty unfocused, until the minimalist redesign.
On the other hand, this 2 year period allowed me to make lots of product design mistakes and learn from them and to develop a personal philosophy and approach to product design.
Overall, the two years prior to the inflection point and the first users were pretty inefficient. The vision was actually always the same (a universal social platform for all of shopping), but the execution changed dramatically. We literally just kept launching features around this concept, but they were pretty unfocused, until the minimalist redesign.
On the other hand, this 2 year period allowed me to make lots of product design mistakes and learn from them and to develop a personal philosophy and approach to product design.