# Noah Kagan

> Noah Kagan is the founder and CEO of AppSumo, a bootstrapped software deals marketplace generating $80-100M in annual revenue, built for under $60 over a single weekend in 2010. A former Facebook employee #30 and Mint.com employee #4 — fired from both — he turned serial rejection into a playbook: 7+ businesses each worth $1M+, a New York Times bestselling book (Million Dollar Weekend), a YouTube channel with 1M+ subscribers, and a podcast in the top 0.1% globally. He splits his time between Austin, Texas and Barcelona, Spain with his wife and child.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO (Chief Sumo) at AppSumo
- **Organizations:** AppSumo, Sumo.com, KingSumo, SendFox, TidyCal, BreezeDoc, OkDork
- **From:** United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS in Business Administration and Economics, University of California, Berkeley — Haas School of Business
- **Known for:** Built AppSumo from $60 to $80-100M annual revenue, fully bootstrapped, New York Times Bestselling Author — Million Dollar Weekend (2024), Facebook Employee #30 — helped build early Facebook Ads platform

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Graduated UC Berkeley; joined Intel as Marketing Analyst
- **2005** — Joined Facebook as employee #30, reported to Mark Zuckerberg
- **2006** — Fired from Facebook by Zuckerberg; missed ~$100-200M in equity at 2012 IPO
- **2006** — Joined Mint.com as employee #4; helped grow it to 1 million users
- **2007** — Departed Mint.com; chose salary over equity (Intuit acquired Mint for $170M in 2009)
- **2007** — Founded Gambit (later Kickflip), social gaming payments; processed $30M+ in transactions
- **2009** — Gambit/Kickflip shut down after Facebook lawsuit over payment policy violations
- **2010** — Founded AppSumo for ~$60 while couch-surfing; profitable within weeks
- **2015** — Launched SumoMe (later Sumo.com), website marketing tools suite
- **2016** — Launched Noah Kagan Presents podcast
- **2020** — Launched TidyCal, SendFox as standalone Sumo Group products
- **2023** — AppSumo hits $80M annual revenue; YouTube channel crosses 1M subscribers
- **2024** — Published Million Dollar Weekend — New York Times Bestseller #8
- **2024** — Got married; welcomed first child; took paternity leave from AppSumo
- **2025** — Returned as active AppSumo CEO; refocused company strategy

## Achievements

- Built AppSumo from $60 to $80-100M annual revenue, fully bootstrapped
- New York Times Bestselling Author — Million Dollar Weekend (2024)
- Facebook Employee #30 — helped build early Facebook Ads platform
- Grew Mint.com to 1 million users as employee #4
- Founded 7+ businesses each worth $1M+ including AppSumo, Sumo, KingSumo, SendFox, TidyCal
- YouTube channel with 1M+ subscribers and ~330M total views
- Podcast in top 0.1% globally (Noah Kagan Presents, 380+ episodes)
- OkDork newsletter running since ~2008 with 100,000-350,000+ subscribers
- CNBC feature: earns $3.3M/year running his own tech company (2024)
- Created the widely-adopted Coffee Challenge — used by entrepreneurs worldwide

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Active as AppSumo CEO; publishing YouTube content on AI strategy and fatherhood
- **2025-11** — AppSumo's biggest Black Friday deals coverage on YouTube
- **2025-09** — Returned as active AppSumo CEO after paternity leave; published 'I'm back as AppSumo CEO' podcast episode
- **2024-12** — Published '9 Lessons from 2024 + My Goals for 2025' annual reflection
- **2024-06** — Welcomed first child; took paternity leave from AppSumo
- **2024-01** — Million Dollar Weekend published January 30; hit NYT Bestseller list at #8
- **2024-01** — CNBC feature: '41-year-old was fired from Facebook — now makes $3.3M/year'

## Links

- Website: https://noahkagan.com
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/noahkagan
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/noahkagan
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@noahkagan
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/noahkagan
- TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@noahkagan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/noah-kagan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-28