Solo founder turns side project into $2.5B automation giant

Hey Solo Founders,

Six years ago a developer in Berlin was spending his nights hacking away on an open-source side project, frustrated by clunky workflow automation. Seven months ago, that side project was worth $270 million. Today, it’s worth a whopping $2.5 billion.

Meet Jan Oberhauser, who just raised $180M for n8n after transforming it from an open-source tool into a European unicorn: the EU’s fastest-growing AI automation platform. Revenue quadrupled in 8 months as he made a big pivot: repositioning the entire platform around AI orchestration.

What's remarkable isn't just the numbers ($40M+ ARR, 200k+ active users) – it's how Jan built it: starting with a personal pain point, pioneering a controversial "fair-code" license model, and putting community first. His first hire? A developer evangelist, not an enterprise salesperson.

Today, we explore how a visual effects artist turned solo founder built the infrastructure powering AI workflows at Vodafone, Delivery Hero, and the UN.

Read how n8n became one of Europe's most valuable solo-founded companies and what it means for ambitious builders everywhere.

P.S. Read how a solo founder sold his first company to afford college in America, then dropped out and raised $3M to build the memory layer for AI here.