Happily burning money to make his product a reality

Tom Garcy is side-hustling his product Kyugo while running a design agency and raising three kids. And he can do it all because he invests in himself, making sure his body, his environment, and his time are optimized for a good — and productive — life.

Let's take a peek at his finances. 👇

Money buys freedom

According to Tom, money has one role: It buys freedom.

💰 "I believe that money can get you freedom. Freedom to choose what you want to do and where you want to spend your time. That is the truest luxury." —Tom

He makes sure his family's needs are met — comfortably — and then invests the rest into whatever he feels will bring that freedom.

We haven't seen anything yet in crypto

That's why, while Tom believes in saving money, he's not keeping it on hand. His "savings" are mostly investments: ETFs, stocks, and crypto.

ETFs are his low-risk investments. He opts for 10+ year horizons and uses these investments as savings for the future — particularly as college funds for his three kiddos. And just to make sure he doesn't flush their tuition down the drain, his fund rebalances automatically, keeping that investment safe.

Stocks are mostly a thing of the past for him at this point. He still likes to research companies and invest a bit here and there, but he's doing this less and less because he's more open to risk now.

That's why he's all about crypto.

💰 "We haven't seen anything from crypto yet. We’re just early." —Tom

According to Tom, there are a lot of crypto projects right now that could be the future of currency.

💰 "ETH for sure. The next one is SOL, which is funny, because it’s like +30% from last week. I also like what PYR, DOT and CRV are doing. And I hold some coins from the past that are still way down (COTI, ORN, or OCEAN), so time will tell on those." —Tom

When he invests, he doesn't invest in a coin itself. He invests in the team and their plan. He likes to study what they're doing and the real-world use cases for it. And he invests where he sees the most potential.

Speaking of potential, if there's FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), that's when Tom invests — he would rather lose money on a bet than invest in "sure things" for little reward.

His big advice on investing, though?

💰 "Start investing early." —Tom

Investing in yourself = investing in your business

So he's big on investing in the typical sense. But what else does he invest in that pays dividends in his life? Travel, education, health, family, housing, and time.

Travel

First and foremost, he invests in travel.

💰 "Traveling and exploring different parts of the world and different cultures is essential for me and my family." —Tom

Not so much this year, though. He just had his 3rd kid so jetsetting isn't necessarily top of mind.

Education

Tom also spends on educating himself.

He's always buying books, though he notes that he's not sure he'll ever finish them now, for the same reason mentioned above.

And he supports multiple science podcasts because he loves science. He wants to know exactly how his body works, as well as how nature works and how it can be of benefit to his body.

So he listens and studies, and then he implements his findings into his daily life. If you'd like to do the same, he recommends Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia.

Health

As you might assume from his areas of interest, Tom likes to invest in his fitness and nutrition as well. Educating himself on the topic is mostly a time investment. But here, he puts in the dollars too.

💰 "This is what keeps me going. I want to fuel my body with the best stuff. The more fit I am, the more productive I am and the more energy I have. In fact, the more work I have, the more I work out and focus on nutrition." —Tom

For most of us, the more work we have, the less we take care of ourselves, so I really appreciate that mentality.

He also happens to be a foodie, so spending a lot at a nice restaurant is a not-so-guilty pleasure.

Family

Kids aren't cheap. They cost time and money.

💰 "I could spend my time working more and doing more. I could maybe even have more revenue and get ahead. But it’s not worth it – I’m watching my kids grow. I learn from them and how they explore the world. They teach me mindfulness. Spending time with my family makes everything worth the work." —Tom

Housing

He says he pays a lot ($2k/mo in the Czech Republic) for rent — more than most of his peers consider to be wise.

But it has a garden. It's quiet. There's sunshine all day long. He can get outside easily. And after years of living in Prague's city center, he says it's worth every penny.

💰 "Invest in a great work environment and a great place to live. It affects your mood, energy, and overall positivity. I’d never hesitate to pay even more for a place where I can be in direct contact with nature and sun." —Tom

As for why he rents instead of owning, he says he wants to be able to invest all his money where he wants to invest it. He doesn't want the burden of a mortgage, which he says can easily deplete your resources. He'll buy property one day, but not yet.

Time

And like I said, Tom believes money can buy time.

💰 "I’m not hesitant to invest money in services that give me more free time — time that I can spend on something I truly care about. If you have a lot of work, hire someone. Build a team of freelancers who can do most of the job. This will free up your time to focus on what matters the most. You can take a vacation or travel guilt-free." —Tom

---

Enjoying this format? Subscribe to get future peeks behind the curtain and learn how other indie hackers are thinking about money:

---

Brass tacks

Ok, let's get down to brass tacks. Tom launched a Kyugo a month ago and now he's preparing for his first marketing campaign. The first 30 days is a free trial, so there's no revenue yet. But he's got 140 trials in progress, and he expects 40 will convert.

Here's what he's bringing in:

• Kyugo revenue: $0/mo
• Design agency revenue: ~$23k/mo
• Business savings: Undisclosed
• Personal savings: 4-5 months of savings

Everything is being funded by his design agency, This is Garcy, and his savings. As far as his savings, he doesn't like cash sitting around, so he suggests keeping a few months of savings and investing the rest.

Here are his costs for Kyugo:

• Amount spent on Kyugo to date: $8,000
• Outsourced development: $1200/mo

And here are the costs for his agency:

• Design freelancers: $5000/mo
• Adobe Creative Cloud: €52/mo
• Figma: $45/mo
• Waalaxy: €80/mo
• TweetHunter: $49/mo
• iStock: €192/mo
• Email Octopus: $24/mo
• Miro: $18.15/mo
• PlayHT: $594 annually

As a designer himself, he's outsourcing development for Kyugo, and that costs him $1200/mo, which isn't bad.

As for his personal costs:

• Total: $5,100/mo
• Rent/utilities: $2000/mo
• Food: $1700/mo
• Family (clothing, hobbies, etc.): $1200/mo
• Car: $200/mo

Burning money is okay

So he's totally self-funded, thanks to his design agency. He's not opposed to investment. In fact, he was looking for an angel investor in the beginning, but the terms he received were unrealistic — the investor insisted that he relocate to another country and bring on a co-founder.

💰 "My main goal was to put the idea out there. Make it happen, make it a reality. So I was ok with “burning” money on it, just to make it happen. I set a budget that I would allow myself to lose in order to release Kyugo." —Tom

He was willing to lose $20k-$25k. And now, thanks to the positive feedback he's received, he increased that budget by about $15k in order to really see what his product can do. He plans to use the increased budget for additional development and a marketing campaign.

Saving on currency conversion

He keeps his business and personal accounts separate, despite the fact that there's no income and he's funding it from his personal savings. He also has two other bank accounts in different countries.

That's because he works with people from all over the EU and the US with his design agency. He says that avoiding the currency conversion saves him a lot of money.

Strict budgets for life and business

And he's big on budgeting. He has a strict monthly budget for his needs: $5,700/mo. He says it's enough for a very good quality of life. And knowing this number is important because it gives him a very clear idea of how much he needs to make in order to keep the same level of living.

He doesn't want to go above that, though he recognizes that, as income increases, expenses tend to increase too. He says he wants to make sure that happens slowly and consciously.

After needs are met, he invests 20-30% and sets aside 20-30% for unexpected expenses or wants. But he says nine times out of ten, the latter doesn't get spent.

💰 "Set aside a fixed budget every month that will eventually allow you to build your product. Never touch this money." — Tom

---

You can check out Tom's app, Kyugo, or his UX blog. Or check him out on his website, Linkedin, X, or Product Hunt.

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!