“I love that constraints breed creativity. That’s the way I like to build a business.” — Aaron Foss, Nomorobo

Aaron Foss, founder of Nomorobo, an anti-robocall company, shares insights on achieving an eight-figure exit over a decade through strategic decision-making and leveraging low-risk bets. By participating in a Federal Trade Commission contest, he secured $25,000, enabling further investment in his startup. Emphasizing the importance of public idea validation, Foss capitalized on press attention by sharing his algorithm openly, unlike a competitor who feared idea theft. He strategically avoided paid acquisition by focusing on organic user growth, leveraging the inherent demand for robocall solutions. Foss also implemented a freemium model to gather valuable data and drive users to the mobile product. Through thousands of incremental decisions, a deliberate freemium approach, and effective programmatic SEO and press management, Nomorobo achieved a successful acquisition with Foss retaining 66% ownership, despite a lean team of three full-time and two part-time employees, plus contractors.