The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less

Minimalist entrepreneurs know that life is about more than just their companies. The true magic of entrepreneurship is that you and your business can improve the quality of life of many people. And it doesn’t have to be millions; “enough” is what you decide it is, not a specific amount.

Profitability means sustainability. Instead of treading water until a lifeboat comes along to save you—which is how many founders think about raising their next round of VC funding—it means building your own boat.

There are only four different types of utility: place utility, form utility, time utility, and possession utility. What can you make easier to understand, faster to get, cheaper to buy, or more accessible to others?

As you fulfill the first customer cycle, document each part of the process so that with every consecutive customer you have a playbook. This document will be the true MVP of your business. I’m not talking about the minimum viable product that we’re all trying to build and to launch. I’m talking about the manual valuable process that precedes it and... See more

This is about building relationships. You will be doing business for a long time, and it is much easier to keep a customer than to find a new one. Never oversell. Be honest, open, and always kind. Show them how you most recently improved your product. Tell them a recent failing. Don’t sell them on your product, educate them on your journey and lear... See more

When push comes to shove, entertainment wins. Social media is no different. Every platform has a feed that puts all of the content head-to-head. There’s one feed, for everything. If content is king, entertainment is the king of content.

At Gumroad, we disclose everyone’s salary in the company to everyone else, using a simple spreadsheet I keep up to date. This lets people feel good about how much they make and minimizes information asymmetry between me and the rest of the team. Revealing that kind of information may seem scary at first, but that’s just because it’s unusual. In pra... See more

It’s the community that leads you to the problem, which leads you to the product, which leads you to your business. Once you’ve found community-you fit, start contributing with the intention of becoming a pillar in that community. Pick the right problem (it’s probably one you have), and confirm that others have it. Then confirm you have business-yo... See more

Kristina Garner, mother of two boys, teaches families how to run secular, nature-based homeschooling programs for their kids. What started as a blog in 2015 about her personal passion has become Blossom and Root, a business that employs dozens of people and helps thousands of families every month.