"If you don't have a good grasp of your inflows and outflows, you don't have a sustainable business."

Apostolos Dedeloudis is currently putting nearly 40 hours per week into building his product, Flowsage — and he's a full-time undergrad student.

Pretty ambitious, and that isn't the half of it. His goal is to be a $1B+ founder by the time he's 25.

Let's take a look a peek at his finances. 👇

Unlearning finance

💰 "I’ve worked hard to break some of the beliefs about money that I grew up with." —Apostolos

Apostolos says he didn't grow up with a good model of how to look at money. In fact, he says some of the beliefs that were instilled in him probably did more harm than good.

So he put a lot of work into learning — and unlearning — everything he needed to know on the topic. Now, he loves spending time investing and diversifying his portfolio.

Learning to invest

These days, he's got a good head on his shoulders, in terms of finance.

💰 "I prioritize long-term gains over short-term ones. With all of my decisions, whether they are business or financial, long-term growth is the focus." —Apostolos

Apostolos invests half of his investment money into the S&P 500 and half into ten stocks that he expects to grow in the coming years:

• Nvidia

• Microsoft

• Apple

• JPMorgan & Chase

• Simon Property

• Realty Income

• Citi

• Spirit Aerosystems

• Pfizer

• Palantir

He's trying to balance these investments between growth and dividend stocks. He says finance and real estate companies pay good dividends, while tech companies see a lot of growth.

💰 "I wouldn’t want to waste time actively managing my portfolio. I prefer to invest in companies I understand and believe in, and then I leave it alone." —Apostolos

He has about €2k invested so far.

💰 "I believe in building the habit of investing regularly, regardless of the actual amount." —Apostolos

Until recently, he was also investing in crypto too, but he recently sold everything and put it into his product because he believes it’ll have a higher ROI.

Hard numbers

💰"I started building Flowsage out of pure curiosity. I’ve been building on the OpenAI APIs from the moment they were released and I wanted to test out its limits. Before I knew it, I had a fully functioning product!" —Apostolos

Let's talk about his product. Apostolos launched Flowsage less than a month ago and he plans to be at $1k MRR by the end of the quarter.

Here’s what he’s currently bringing in:

• Revenue: $50/mo

• Founder pay: $0

• Other sources of income: Allowance from parents while at university

• Business bank account: $130

Here are his business expenses:

• Domain: $30/year

• Cloud costs: $5/mo

• AI: $30/mo

And here are his personal expenses:

• Food: €250/mo

• Entertainment: €100/mo

• Subscriptions (including gym): €100/mo

• Miscellaneous: €50/mo

Current and future funding

You probably noticed that allowance. Apostolos says he’s very lucky that his parents are able to cover his living expenses while he’s at university, as it allows him to reinvest all of his revenue into his product.

The way it works is that, while he's in school, his parents will pay his rent and give him an allowance. He uses the allowance to pay expenses. Anything left over refills his emergency fund. If there’s anything left over after that, he invests it.

And he aims to get more funding too.

💰 "I didn’t need to raise a seed round, as expenses were minimal to ship the MVP, but I will be raising Series A funding in the next six months." —Apostolos

It isn't just about the funds; it's about the guidance.

💰 "We’re very early-stage, and advice will be more valuable than capital at this point in time." —Apostolos

As for why he's going to pursue funding, he feels that at this stage in his life, he can really hustle. So he's okay with the often-crazy expectations of VCs, so long as he gets liquidity and mentoring in exchange.

Subscribe here to get future peeks behind the curtain and learn how other indie hackers are thinking about money.

Health and conferences

Apostolos happily spends on travel. But to make sure there is “inherent value” in the trip, he combines his travels with conferences.

For example, he went to Web Summit in Lisbon, where he met lots of founders and investors. Also, Penn Blockchain Conference in Philadelphia, where he got invited to participate in a hackathon.

💰 "Traveling to conferences allows me to meet new and interesting people and get different perspectives. And it also greatly inspires me to work harder to achieve my goals." —Apostolos

He also spends on his health. And again, he believes it has a direct impact on his business.

💰 "I think being more mindful of what goes into my body has been the lifestyle change that has impacted my productivity the most. Good food allows me to be more productive and have more energy throughout the day." —Apostolos

His health spending doesn’t stop at food. He says he’s going to a gym that he can't really afford. And it's worth every penny because it's closer to where he lives and he’s excited to go there every day.

💰 "Investing in your health is the best investment you can make." —Apostolos

Coding on a budget

💰 "Having a good grasp on your inflows and outflows is the #1 thing a founder should do. If you don’t know where money is coming in, or even more importantly, where it's going out, you don't have a sustainable business." —Apostolos

Apostolos is on a tight budget, but he doesn't bother tracking his personal expenses.

💰 "I find I lose more time tracking where every cent goes. Having a rough idea of where money is flowing is good enough for me!" —Apostolos

For his business, though, he keeps a monthly P&L. He believes that this helps him to plan better for the future.

💰 "Always keep a detailed account of business inflows and outflows. It will make your life so much easier in the future." —Apostolos

One thing that he suggests for folks on a budget is to learn to code. He says it has saved him at least $20k over the last five years. And it gives him intimate knowledge about every product he builds.

💰 "Having a tech cofounder can work for some, but I think it’s important to have a complete understanding of your product." —Apostolos

Consistency > smarts

Let's wrap up with a little bit of friendly advice from Apostolos: Be consistent!

Whether it's personal finances, health, indie hacking, or something else, he believes that consistency is everything.

💰 "The person who will be the most successful is not the smartest in the room; rather, the most consistent. The person who shows up every day, or the one who saves up every month, will be miles ahead of the smartest in the long term." —Apostolos

You can check out Apostolos on X or check out Flowsage.

Please note that the above are opinions. This is meant for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be financial advice.

And if you'd like to be featured as a guest in a future interview for this series, let me know in the comments!

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