Evan, thanks for confirming what so many solopreneurs have done (a radical act) — intentionally choosing to stay small, and build a one-person business for meaning, not just money.
Thanks for this article Evan, I've read twice over the last week. As someone who is knee-deep in my own "Bad Business" and loving it, this article resonated with me 100%. Keep up the great work
we are such a productivity, outcome, benchmark based society. its truly refreshing to imagine a world where we ease up a little bit. we will become more humane
Evan, have you done the research that tells you how many founders, owners, and writers of their Substack achieve 34,000 subscribers within three months? Please do that research and report back to us. Also, to provide context and your life experience, you might also tell us how many Substack writers have a steady income with their main job as investor. Put that all together and it makes sense why you wanted to make the changes you have recently.
Very good post. Can we translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter? We then will share with Salvador Lorca notes (10.000 followers), with links to you aswell.
I started my own business--an "Unaccelerator" for precisely these reasons. First, because I saw too many people seduced into chasing unicorns that fit the investment mold, when they could be bootstrapping "good enough" ones that give them the autonomy to do the work they want to do anyway, their own way.
Second, because it's what I love to do myself, help people follow their curiosity and make a living doing what they would do for intrinsic reasons.
So much truth. Knowing full well what it took in the past to run my small business to feed my family, and knowing my great success was a gross anomaly, I really want to know how to go small, while keeping the lights on.
Evan, thanks for confirming what so many solopreneurs have done (a radical act) — intentionally choosing to stay small, and build a one-person business for meaning, not just money.
Cool to see this post, Evan. The tide turning against scale seems like a hugely positive development!
measuring something’s value by how much money it makes is like measuring he value of sex by the amount spent on prostitution
Evan, I'm toying with the idea of starting a "bad business" and I've read this essay twice already this week. Thank you for all you do!
You should do it! Bad businesses have a way of working better than you think
Thanks for this article Evan, I've read twice over the last week. As someone who is knee-deep in my own "Bad Business" and loving it, this article resonated with me 100%. Keep up the great work
we are such a productivity, outcome, benchmark based society. its truly refreshing to imagine a world where we ease up a little bit. we will become more humane
Evan, have you done the research that tells you how many founders, owners, and writers of their Substack achieve 34,000 subscribers within three months? Please do that research and report back to us. Also, to provide context and your life experience, you might also tell us how many Substack writers have a steady income with their main job as investor. Put that all together and it makes sense why you wanted to make the changes you have recently.
I love this, Evan! Couldn't resonate more as a founder myself :)
Very good post. Can we translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter? We then will share with Salvador Lorca notes (10.000 followers), with links to you aswell.
Knock yourself out.
Many thanks, Evan.
An objectively good business != what a VC thinks is a good business, though they may often overlap
This is so well put, timely, and important.
I started my own business--an "Unaccelerator" for precisely these reasons. First, because I saw too many people seduced into chasing unicorns that fit the investment mold, when they could be bootstrapping "good enough" ones that give them the autonomy to do the work they want to do anyway, their own way.
Second, because it's what I love to do myself, help people follow their curiosity and make a living doing what they would do for intrinsic reasons.
So much truth. Knowing full well what it took in the past to run my small business to feed my family, and knowing my great success was a gross anomaly, I really want to know how to go small, while keeping the lights on.
Thanks a lot for stating a great retort to VC driven blitz scaling narrative. Lifestyle business are most of the tines better