Achieving $75M in Revenue with No Investors: The Journey of a Consumer Tech Company Founded by a Former VC

ichael Segal, the founder and CEO of Skylight, has built his consumer electronics company into a successful business with $75 million in revenue, all without taking on any investors. Segal, who used to work in venture capital at Bessemer Ventures, started Skylight as a side project creating digital picture frames for families to share photos. Despite only having two employees and minimal effort, the business reached $2 million in sales. Segal then decided to leave the world of venture capital and focus on growing Skylight.

To keep costs low and maximize profits, Segal has chosen to only sell online and reinvest those profits back into the business. Despite being approached by investors, Segal plans to continue this approach and maintain control over the company’s operations. This is unusual in today’s business world, especially in the consumer hardware industry where the cost of developing and launching a product is often high and companies often turn to investors for funding in exchange for giving up some control.

Segal has also recently hired Aviv Gilboa, a former employee of Ring and Kleiner Perkins, to help with product development and retail distribution strategies as Skylight looks to continue its growth. However, the company faces increased competition in the digital picture frame market from startups such as Aura and Nixplay, both of which have raised significant funding to fund their expansion. Segal notes that as the market has grown, cheaper copycat products have also emerged, making it more difficult for Skylight to stand out.

Segal, who was born in Moscow and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was a year old, originally studied biochemistry at Harvard before working in venture capital and starting his own unsuccessful handmade goods marketplace. He returned to Harvard for business school and developed the idea for Skylight during a class assignment. The company raised almost $55,000 on Kickstarter in 2015 and reached multimillion-dollar sales before Segal left his job at Bessemer to become the startup’s CEO. Despite facing challenges and breaking traditional rules along the way, Segal’s determination and innovative approach have helped him build Skylight into a successful and growing business.