diff ~/p/david-perell ~/p/sahil-lavingia

David Perell vs Sahil Lavingia

Products, revenue & stack compared side by side.

David Perell

Founder of Write of Passage, the cohort writing course; host of How I Write

@david_perell United States

Sahil Lavingia

Founder of Gumroad and author of The Minimalist Entrepreneur

@shl United States

David Perell vs Sahil Lavingia at a glance

David Perell and Sahil Lavingia are both indie makers listed on IndieMakerList. They overlap in Educators & Course Creators and Creators & Writers. David is based in New York, United States, Sahil in Brooklyn, United States. David started in 2017 and Sahil in 2011. David Perell has 4 products listed on IndieMakerList vs Sahil Lavingia's 3. On revenue, David self-reports ~$2M/yr (Write of Passage) (as of 2021) and Sahil $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025). On X, David has about 481K followers and Sahil about 394K.

Side-by-side comparison

Based in: David Perell: New York, United States; Sahil Lavingia: Brooklyn, United States
Started: David Perell: 2017 (9 yrs indie); Sahil Lavingia: 2011 (15 yrs indie)
Revenue (self-reported): David Perell: ~$2M/yr (Write of Passage)self-reported, as of 2021 · source for David Perell's revenue; Sahil Lavingia: $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025)self-reported, as of 2025 · source for Sahil Lavingia's revenue
Products listed: David Perell: 4; Sahil Lavingia: 3
Product status: David Perell: 4 active; Sahil Lavingia: 3 active
X followers: David Perell: 481K; Sahil Lavingia: 394K
Categories: David Perell: Educators & Course Creators Creators & Writers; Sahil Lavingia: E-commerce Creators & Writers Educators & Course Creators Open Source Makers
Style: David Perell: bootstrapped; Sahil Lavingia: builds in public
Courses & resources: David Perell: 3; Sahil Lavingia: 1

Revenue figures are self-reported by each maker and not audited; dates and scope differ. Highlighted categories are shared by both.

Tech stack

No tools in common in their publicly listed stacks. See the indie maker tech stack.

David Perell

No stack shared publicly.

Sahil Lavingia

No stack shared publicly.

How they build

David Perell

Write online to let opportunities find you.
Build a personal monopoly at the intersection of your interests.
Treat writing as a skill you can learn, not a talent you have.
Learn in public and share what you learn every week.

Sahil Lavingia

Start with a community you are already part of, then build for it.
Do things manually before you build software, and build as little as possible.
Profitability gives you the freedom to make your own decisions.
Run the company in public: open metrics, open board meetings, open source.
Creators should own their audience and get paid directly.

Learn from David and Sahil

David Perell

[course] Write of Passage · $4,000–$10,000 (2023)
[podcast] How I Write
[newsletter] Monday Musings

Sahil Lavingia

[book] The Minimalist Entrepreneur

David Perell vs Sahil Lavingia FAQ

Who makes more money, David Perell or Sahil Lavingia?

David Perell self-reports ~$2M/yr (Write of Passage) (as of 2021) and Sahil Lavingia self-reports $17.8M/yr (Gumroad, 2025). By these self-reported figures, Sahil Lavingia's reported monthly revenue is higher. Figures are unaudited and may cover different periods or businesses, so treat them as rough indicators.

Who has built more products, David Perell or Sahil Lavingia?

David Perell has 4 products listed (including Write of Passage, How I Write and Monday Musings); Sahil Lavingia has 3 products listed (Gumroad, Flexile and Helper).