ramen profitable
/ˈrɑːmɛn ˈprɒfɪtəbəl/
CommonGenerating just enough revenue to cover the founders' bare living expenses, usually without taking a salary.
Has a slightly proud connotation in indie-hacker and bootstrapped founder circles. The implication is that you're surviving without investors, which some founders treat as proof of viability.
Real-world examples3 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | we're ramen profitable which means we don't need investment to survive, just to grow. | The company can keep running without investors, but won't scale quickly without capital. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | hit ramen profitable at month four. still not paying myself anything but at least the servers are covered. | Revenue is covering infrastructure but not yet a real salary. | x, 2024 |
| 03 | honestly ramen profitable is underrated. means you have time to figure things out without dying. | Being barely sustainable gives you runway to keep building without pressure. | reddit, 2023 |
Use it when
- A startup is making just enough money to keep going without outside funding.
- Founders are paying themselves nothing but the company covers its own costs.
- Describing the stage between 'pre-revenue' and 'actual business'.
Do not use it when
- The company is generating real salary for its founders.Use “profitable” instead.
- The company is still burning through savings or investor money.Use “pre-revenue” instead.
Ramen profitable vs bootstrapped
ramen profitable
Ramen profitable is a financial state: revenue barely covers costs.
VS
bootstrapped
Bootstrapped is a funding approach: no outside investment, building on your own.
Origin and context
Coined by Paul Graham of Y Combinator in a 2009 essay. The idea was that a startup reaching this threshold could survive without investors, buying time to find product-market fit.
- First seen
- 2009
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/ramen-profitableUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0