He built a freelance platform with no fees. Investors laughed. Now he has 1M users

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Ben Huffman built a company everyone called stupid. Until more than 1M people were using it.

In this episode of State of Play, the Contra's design founder shares how he went from college dropout to building a new path for creative independence.

We get real about the pain cave: that brutal, lonely gap between your vision and the world’s doubt, and how to keep going when no one believes in you.

If you’re building something and feel like no one gets it, this one’s for you.

Chapters

[00:00] - Why investors laughed

[02:04] - Getting your first client

[03:03] - Trust issues with platforms

[04:32] - Building with 0% commission

[05:40] - The sting of rejection

[07:36] - Near burnout and losing it all

[08:57] - How Contra makes money

[10:02] - A 20-year-old earns $50k

[12:24] - $50k/month playbook

[13:40] - Why it’s a great time to be creative

[14:25] - The “Hollywood model” shift