book.chapter Embrace minimalism

A "Company of One" is a business model that challenges the traditional notion that growth is always beneficial. Instead, it focuses on becoming progressively smarter, more efficient, and more resilient over time without necessarily expanding the workforce or taking on more risk. This approach is about growing revenue without increasing headcount, resisting the pressure to scale up just for the sake of scaling. Traditionally, growth has been seen as a marker of success in business. If a company is doing well, the natural inclination is to hire more people, expand infrastructure, and increase advertising and promotion. However, endless growth is not necessarily beneficial or financially viable for every business. As author Paul Jarvis explains, a Company of One resists and questions some forms of traditional growth, not on principle, but because growth isn’t always the most beneficial or financially viable move. This approach can apply to solo entrepreneurs, small founding teams, and even leaders and employees of larger organizations who want more autonomy. If you're a Company of One, you're inclined to build a lifestyle business rather than a large enterprise, structuring your work around your ideal life rather than the reverse. You likely wish to work at a comfortable, sustainable pace rather than pushing yourself to support expensive overheads and salaries. Companies of One often share four key traits: resilience stemming from accepting reality, having a strong sense of purpose, and confidence in adapting to change - with no need to explain pivots to others; autonomy and control through mastering core skills and applying them to chosen projects rather than top-down directives; speed and nimbleness unencumbered by office politics or internal processes; and simplicity and focus on excelling at what you do best rather than pressure to expand. An illustrative real-world example is Psychotactics, a successful one-person consulting firm founded by Sean D'Souza. Early on he decided $500,000 in annual profit was plenty, so he produces a daily podcast, runs in-person trainings, and works hard to help customers, then takes the rest of the year off once he hits his target. His thoughtful customer retention tactics like sending handwritten notes and cartoons with chocolate deliveries cost little but are cherished by customers more than expensive offerings. This company focuses on overserving existing customers rather than chasing infinite growth. As Paul Jarvis notes, "For companies of one, the question is always what can I do to make my business better?, instead of what can I do to grow my business larger?" The current Silicon Valley model pushes endless growth and scale, but data shows larger companies fail at similar rates to smaller ones. Businesses dependent on perpetual growth to survive are inherently fragile. In contrast, a company profitably sustaining its current size has inherent stability. Starbucks illustrates the risk of reckless growth – expanding too fast with new products diluted its brand, and it had to close 900 stores before refocusing on core offerings allowed renewed growth. As Paul Jarvis advises, "When you focus on doing business and serving customers in better and better ways, your company of one can end up profiting more from the same amount of work because you can raise the prices until your demand flattens out to where you can handle it. There’s nothing wrong with finding the right size and then focusing on being better. Small can be a long-term plan, not just a stepping-stone." Technology now enables tiny companies to leverage automation and remote work to punch above their weight class. Sales funnels, drop-shipping, print-on-demand, and more let solo entrepreneurs compete using their agility advantage. While some level of growth may happen organically, Company of One philosophy focuses on getting better vs. getting bigger for its own sake. As Paul Jarvis puts it, "We don’t need an attitude of world domination and crushing it in our work in order to make a great living or even have a substantial impact. Our work can start and finish small while still being useful—focused on moving toward better instead of more." The Company of One approach can work within larger entities too, as an autonomous team. Though stereotyped as outgoing and charismatic, successful leaders of Companies of One are often introverts. Essential abilities include setting ambitious goals, managing others judiciously, understanding stakeholders, communicating effectively, and resilience. Company of One leaders need to be generalists able to make things happen themselves. Constant vigilance is required to avoid growing beyond your definition of success. Saying no to misaligned opportunities preserves space for rare perfectly aligned ones. Most companies seek constant growth for understandable reasons like inflation, investor expectations, customer churn, and founder's ego. But added complexity inevitably increases costs. Staying small allows you to keep personality and values at the core of your business. The savvy approach is to start with the smallest viable version, get customer feedback, and only then polish and expand judiciously. Early profitability provides more options down the road. As Gary Sutton wrote, “You can’t sell your way out of an unprofitable business.” Starting lean and focusing on profitability enables smarter launching and sustainability. In Paul Jarvis' words, "start small. Start with just the smallest version of your idea and a way to make it happen. Instead of waiting (sometimes for years) for bigger wins to happen, you can use small wins to propel you. That’s actually a much smarter way to launch. Easing up on the “growth equals success” mentality opens you up to starting and becoming more profitable much sooner."