Sahil started with the idea for Gumroad while still working at Pinterest back in 2011. He wanted to sell an icon he had designed, and there was no easy way to do it. He was looking for a "lemonade stand version" of a business, it was not available, so he built it over the weekend. Gumroad launched on Hacker News, got to the #1 spot, and people loved it as an idea. The idea was not a great fit for Pinterest, so Sahil self to start it as an independent company. He'd given up some equity in Pinterest which would have been worth millions, but invaluable learning opportunity and a chance to build his own billion dollar company seemed worth more at the time.