How to Build a $1.1 Billion Company in 18 Months

Let’s be honest: the tagline sounds ambitious, right? How to build a $1.1 billion Company in just 18 months. But hear me out — this isn’t a “get rich quick” strategy; it’s the story of how Zach Abrams, founder of Bridge, quietly pulled it off.

If you’re a founder, a BD pro, or anyone in Web3, this isn’t something you want to miss.

When Bridge launched, I remember checking them out about a year ago. I went to their website, and my first thought was, Wow, clean design, but super simple. The biggest question I had? What exactly do they do? 

All I knew is that they were building stuff for stablecoins, specifically for developers.

In-depth information about Bridge’s work was hidden behind a “learn more button”, and they were mostly quiet in the press — except for one place: Zach’s Twitter. (Great name, by the way.)

Thanks to the Empire Podcast by Blockworks, Zach shared what it was like building for the past 18 months and ultimately led to this massive exit.

Here are five key takeaways from his recent The Empire podcast interview, along with some insights from Zach’s Twitter strategy.

1. Build the Product and Let the Market Define Its Use

Bridge’s innovation started as a stablecoin platform designed to support USDC payments. When they first built it, they didn’t have every use case mapped out — instead, they let the market guide them. For instance, one major use case that emerged was treasury management, where international TradFi companies could use Bridge to replace SWIFT for moving funds internally and to vendors in different countries.

“The market shows us what is possible,” Zach explained.

Their approach was to remain flexible, allowing customer demand to shape the product, leading them to a dynamic product-market fit.

Key Takeaway: Talk to customers frequently and build for them, not for what you think they want