On building slow burn companies π₯
https://makersandbuilders.substack.com/p/on-building-slow-burn-companies-
A tough economy is a great time to build a slow burn company.
- This may be a side hustleβ¦
- An open source project
- Or a slow burn startup π₯
Some of my faves: @mailchimp, @airtable, @github, @glossier
How do you build a slow burn company? Some characteristics:
- Single, simple use case
- Small (often developer-led) team
- User acquisition is cheap, simple, self-serviceMargins sustain growth
- Strong community-driven support
Slow growth <-> slow burn Fast growth <-> fast burn
Slow growth must be paired with low burn, or you squander your natural organic growth advantages.
Some categories of slow burn companies you could play around with:
- Communities
- Open source projects
- Bottoms up markets
- Low ticket SaaS
- Developer evangelized tools
With any company, but slow burn companies especially, it always helps to build from first principles:
- Solve a real pain point
- Have unit & growth economics that work
- Build a dramatically, not just incrementally better product
- Surround yourself with the best people