I built a billion dollar company in 18 months

TL;DR

Eric Lyman, co-founder of Ramp, details how he and his co-founder explicitly set a goal to build a billion‑dollar company in 18 months, reverse‑engineered the target, and achieved it — Ramp reached an $8.1B valuation within two years of incorporation (March 2019 – 2021) and grew from ~$10M to over $100M annual revenue in roughly 15‑17 months.

Key insights

• The goal of a $1B valuation in 18 months was stated explicitly before starting; the founders reverse‑engineered the timeline and milestones.
• Ramp incorporated in March 2019, publicly launched in February 2020, and became a billion‑dollar company in 2021 (less than two years from incorporation).
• Revenue grew 70× year‑over‑year in the first year; from $1M to $100M run rate took 15‑17 months.