Hip to be square (Source: Getty Images / Neilson Barnard)
Today, Anthony Casalena’s stake in Squarespace — his website for building beautiful websites — is worth ~$2.4B.
The platform has 3.7m subscribers and reached $621m in 2020 revenue (+28% YoY). Here’s its path to success:
2003: Anthony Casalena starts writing the code for Squarespace after recognizing the need for a website platform that takes design seriously.
2004: Casalena officially launches Squarespace with a $30k check from his dad to purchase servers. He manages the entire business out of his dorm at the University of Maryland. By 2005, Squarespace has 10k+ trial accounts and 478 customers.
2006: Squarespace brings in $1m+. Following college, Casalena moves to New York and begins hiring a skeleton team.
2010: After turning down a buyout offer from Getty Images, Casalena accepts his first institutional investments from Accel and Index Ventures for $38.5m.
2012: Squarespace surpasses 100 employees and launches its commerce offering in 2013.
2014: Squarespace raises another $40m in funding and purchases its first Super Bowl ad spot.
2017: Squarespace raises an additional $200m. Its Super Bowl ad featuring a pissed-off John Malkovich wins an Emmy.
2019: Squarespace acquires appointment site Acuity Scheduling and social media template platform Unfold.
2021: Squarespace raises $300m, acquires hospitality management platform Tock for $400m+, and goes public with a market value of $6.6B.
And it all started in a dorm room.
