Scaling Down the Big Ideas: The Venture Dictionary - 25 Essential Startup Concepts Adapted for Solopreneurs, Creators, and Small Businesses from Operating by John Brewton
A Resource for Building Sustainable Ventures Without the VC Money
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Why Startup Frameworks Matter for Creators, Solopreneurs and Small Businesses
The vocabulary of Silicon Valley (product-market fit, unit economics, burn rate, network effects) originated from founders managing radical uncertainty with limited resources and capital constraints. The founder’s playbook applies to you, to all small businesses, and to most larger firms as well. You just have to know how to scale down the big ideas to your immediate requirements.
This document translates the 25 essential ideas from top venture capital firms and business schools into practical frameworks for anyone building a sustainable business independently.
The key difference: While venture capitalists optimize for scale and billion-dollar outcomes, creators and solopreneurs optimize for profitability, autonomy, and sustainable lifestyle design.
You’ll notice that many VC-native concepts actually become more important at smaller scale. Ruthless prioritization matters more when you’re the entire organization. Unit economics matter more when you’re reinvesting your own cash. And doing things that don’t scale, the hallmark of early YC companies, is literally the job description of every solopreneur learning customers.
- john -
1. Product-Market Fit (PMF)
In the Startup World:
Product-market fit represents the moment when a product satisfies market needs so effectively that customers actively seek it out without aggressive sales. Marc Andreessen defined it as “being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” The Sean Ellis test measures PMF: if 40% or more users respond “very disappointed” to losing your product, you’ve achieved it. Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital prioritize finding PMF before scaling, recognizing that building the wrong thing at scale is worse than building slowly but authentically.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Product-market fit for a creator means people pay (or subscribe) because they genuinely can’t imagine living without your offering, not because you convinced them. It’s the difference between one-off customers and repeat paying subscribers. Test this brutally: Can you credibly say that 40% of your audience would be disappointed without you? If not, double down on understanding what specific pain point or desire actually drives purchase behavior, and rebuild your offering around that core insight rather than a diluted version of your original idea.
2. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
In the Startup World:
The MVP is the most basic version of a product that still delivers substantial value, enabling founders to validate ideas quickly with minimal resources. Lean startup methodology emphasizes shipping MVPs to get real-world feedback rather than spending months building fully-featured products that miss the market. Y Combinator’s Paul Graham popularized “do things that don’t scale”—early founders should engage in labor-intensive, unscalable activities (like manually onboarding users) to gain deep insights before automating.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your MVP is the simplest version of your offer that proves the core concept works. If you’re a coach, an MVP might be a $500 one-on-one engagement with a single committed client; if you’re building a digital product, a one-page landing page with a waitlist and customer interviews (not a finished product). Launch to real customers immediately, a 1-minute Loom walkthrough sent to 10 interested people teaches you more than a month of solo perfection. The goal is to stop theorizing and start learning from actual market feedback, even if that feedback comes through manual, unscalable channels.
3. Unit Economics (CAC and LTV)
In the Startup World:
Unit economics determine whether a business model scales profitably by analyzing the relationship between Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC—how much you spend to acquire a customer) and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV—total revenue that customer generates). VCs look for an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1. CAC payback period (time to recoup acquisition costs through customer profit) should be under 12 months. Strong unit economics signal sustainable, scalable growth.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your unit economics are the foundation of profitability and reinvestment capacity. If a customer costs you $100 in ad spend but generates $500 in lifetime value, your 5:1 ratio means you can reinvest profits to grow at scale. Calculate this obsessively: Track how much time/money you spend acquiring each customer type, and how much they spend over their lifetime. For a Substack writer, one organic follower might have infinite LTV (low or zero CAC) but low conversion to paid; one paid ad click might cost $2 with $150 LTV. Knowing this ratio guides whether you should write more content (high-LTV organic channels) or run ads (potentially lower LTV, faster growth).
4. Burn Rate and Runway
In the Startup World:
Burn rate measures how quickly a startup depletes cash reserves (monthly expenses minus monthly revenue). Runway indicates how many months remain before the company exhausts capital. VCs monitor burn rate obsessively; 18-24 months of runway is considered healthy. The Burn Multiple (net burn ÷ new ARR) is a sophisticated measure of capital efficiency.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Runway is your personal + business monthly expenses divided by net monthly profit (after costs). If you spend $5,000/month and your business generates $2,000/month profit, your runway is 2.5 months before you need external income. This is why profitability matters for solopreneurs far more than growth rate. Extend runway by reducing personal expenses (longer runway) or increasing profit margins through higher prices or lower costs. A solopreneur with 12+ months of runway can experiment freely; one with 1-3 months must be ruthlessly focused on profitable activities only. Build a financial cushion—3-6 months of expenses—before taking on risky experiments.
5. Network Effects
In the Startup World:
Network effects occur when a product becomes more valuable as more people use it, creating a self-reinforcing growth loop. Research from NFX shows network-driven companies account for ~70% of tech industry value creation. Network effects serve as a powerful moat, once they reach critical mass, competitors cannot easily build equivalent networks without massive resources.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Network effects for creators manifest as community, not traditional software networks. Your Substack grows faster when existing subscribers invite friends; a cohort-based course becomes more valuable when students know each other. Build this intentionally through: collaboration with other creators (expanding your combined audience), cohort models (where students’ value increases together), and community features (members help each other). You don’t need millions of users for network effects to work—even 50 committed community members creating and supporting each other’s projects creates powerful network leverage.
6. Moat (Competitive Advantage)
In the Startup World:
A moat is a sustainable competitive advantage protecting a business from rivals. Forms include proprietary technology, intellectual property, brand recognition, high switching costs, and operational efficiency. Companies with strong moats achieve 25% higher valuations. Benchmark Capital’s investment thesis centers on identifying companies with emerging moats that sustain across market cycles.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your moat is often harder to copy than you think. If you build a loyal community around your expertise, that community (not the content itself) becomes your moat—it’s difficult and expensive for competitors to replicate deep trust relationships. Other moats: your specific point of view (nobody else has your exact combination of experience), your reputation (built over years, hard to fake), your audience (built one relationship at a time), and your systems (documented processes that let you operate efficiently at scale). Focus on deepening one moat ruthlessly. A newsletter with 10,000 subscribers who trust your specific perspective has stronger moat than a newsletter with 100,000 semi-engaged readers.
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7. North Star Metric (NSM)
In the Startup World:
The North Star Metric is the single metric capturing core value delivered to customers, serving as stable strategic direction. It differs from One Metric That Matters (OMTM), which changes based on immediate priorities. Airbnb’s NSM is “nights booked”; Slack’s is “number of daily active users in paid workspaces.” Every daily decision should ladder up to improving the NSM.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Choose one metric that represents your business actually working: for a newsletter, it might be “paid subscriber growth”; for a coaching business, “clients with positive outcomes” or “monthly revenue”; for a digital product business, “monthly recurring revenue from products.” Other metrics are important (engagement, churn, profit margin), but they all exist to support your NSM. If you’re a Substack writer whose NSM is “paid subscribers,” every decision (topics, frequency, guest writers) gets evaluated by whether it moves that metric. This focus prevents context-switching and keeps limited time deployed to high-impact activities.
8. Cohort Analysis
In the Startup World:
Cohort analysis tracks specific user groups over time to measure retention, engagement, and revenue patterns. A group of users signing up in January is tracked separately from February signups, revealing retention curves that identify problems early. For SaaS, cohort analysis reveals which customer segments have highest LTV, guiding acquisition strategy.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Track cohorts of customers by signup month or acquisition channel. Do customers who arrive through your email list stay longer than those from paid ads? Do January cohorts have higher LTV than June cohorts (seasonality signal)? Build a simple spreadsheet with months in columns and customer counts in rows, calculating what percentage of each cohort is still active/paying after 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Dramatic dropoff in month 2 signals onboarding problems; flat retention from month 3-12 means you’ve found a stable product. This simple visualization teaches you more about your business than aggregate metrics ever will.
9. Churn Rate
In the Startup World:
Churn rate measures percentage of customers canceling per period. B2B SaaS benchmark is 3.5% monthly; below 5% is healthy. Revenue churn (revenue lost) matters more than customer churn (percentage of customers). High churn at a specific usage point often signals specific friction point worth investigating.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
If you have 100 paying subscribers and 5 cancel this month, your churn is 5%. Sustainable growth requires LTV to exceed CAC by 3x; high churn makes this impossible (short LTV means customers leave before returning value). Obsess over churn by asking: What do cancelled customers have in common? Did they complete onboarding? Use the product? Get support? A single cancellation reason (e.g., “didn’t have time”) repeated across customers is a solvable problem worth solving immediately. Even small churn improvements compound dramatically—reducing monthly churn from 5% to 3% (just 2 percentage points) roughly doubles long-term customer value.
10. TAM, SAM, and SOM
In the Startup World:
Total Addressable Market (TAM) is total revenue if you captured 100% of a market. Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) narrows to what you can realistically reach. Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is what you actually aim to capture. VCs demand credible, bottom-up TAM calculations (count customers × average revenue per customer) rather than top-down industry estimates.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
TAM matters less for solopreneurs (you’ll never serve all possible customers in your niche). SOM matters most: How many customers realistically want what you offer? How many can you actually reach? If you’re a fitness coach, your TAM might be “all people wanting fitness coaching” (millions), your SAM might be “people in your city with disposable income” (thousands), and your SOM might be “people willing to pay $500/month for personalized coaching I can credibly serve” (maybe 20-100). This SOM calculation determines whether this business can become your full-time income. If SOM is only 20 customers, you need very high price per customer; if SOM is 1,000, you can operate at lower price points.
11. Traction Metrics
In the Startup World:
Traction demonstrates genuine market validation: organic growth, revenue validation, high retention, customer advocacy, and repeatable acquisition patterns. VCs prioritize traction signals over compelling pitch decks. Authentic traction requires data, not anecdotes, and demonstrates repeatable patterns, not one-off successes.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Traction for you is: Do people buy unprompted? Are customers referring friends? Do people show up to your cohort or use your product consistently week after week? Are you hitting revenue targets? Traction manifests as: unsolicited customer testimonials, repeat purchases, paid community members actively participating, email replies expressing genuine thanks, and week-over-week or month-over-month revenue growth. One customer paying $1,000 isn’t traction; ten customers all buying organically (without relentless sales effort) and staying engaged for months is. Document traction obsessively—these stories become your competitive advantage when talking to potential customers, collaborators, or future investors.
12. CAC Payback Period
In the Startup World:
CAC Payback Period measures time to recover customer acquisition cost through profit generated. Formula: CAC ÷ (Monthly Profit per Customer). SaaS companies aim for payback under 12 months. Short payback periods enable rapid reinvestment and scaling.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
If you spend $500 in ads and acquire a customer paying $200/month (at 80% gross margin = $160 profit/month), payback is 3.1 months. This means every customer acquired in January funds ads for February. Short payback periods are critical for bootstrap growth—they enable reinvesting revenue into acquisition without external capital. Calculate payback for each channel (organic search, ads, referrals, partnerships). If paid ads have 12-month payback but organic has infinite payback (customer friends send free customers), focus ruthlessly on organic until it’s exhausted, then layer paid ads. Some solopreneurs operate at very high CAC payback periods or even long-term payback (breakeven in year 2) because customers have very high lifetime value—this is fine as long as you have runway to absorb it.
13. Go-to-Market Strategy (GTM)
In the Startup World:
Go-to-market strategy defines how you’ll reach target customers effectively and efficiently. Harvard Business School identifies four motions: sales-led (high-touch enterprise), product-led growth/PLG (self-serve), hybrid, and partner-led. GTM strategy encompasses distribution channels, messaging, marketing tactics, and customer acquisition timeline.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your GTM is simpler but just as critical. What’s the one channel through which customers will find you and convert? For a Substack writer, GTM might be: write valuable free content → build Twitter audience → link Twitter to Substack → convert top 5% to paying. For a coach, GTM might be: launch free webinar → build email list from attendees → run cohort course → convert best students to 1-1 coaching. For a digital product, GTM might be: free opt-in (lead magnet) → email nurture sequence → low-friction entry product ($17) → upsell to premium product ($197). Test each channel’s conversion and CAC before doubling down. A single well-executed GTM channel beats splitting attention across five mediocre ones.
14. Freemium and Product-Led Growth (PLG)
In the Startup World:
Freemium offers a basic product version for free indefinitely, upselling to premium. Product-Led Growth positions the product itself (not sales) as the primary driver of acquisition and conversion. Slack, Dropbox, and Notion exemplify PLG—users get immediate value from the free tier, experience clear premium value, and convert naturally. Requires low marginal cost per user and clear feature differentiation.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Freemium works when marginal cost is near-zero (digital products, content, software) and premium tier offers substantial value. A Substack writer might offer free posts (freemium) + paid deep-dives (premium). A coach might offer free 30-minute calls (freemium) + $5,000 cohort (premium). A course creator might offer free YouTube videos (freemium) + $299 course (premium). The free tier must deliver genuine value and help users reach their “aha moment” (recognition of product benefit) before hitting the paywall. Set the paywall strategically: too generous and no one converts; too restrictive and free users don’t get enough value to advocate. Test paywall position obsessively through customer feedback, not guessing.
15. Blitzscaling
In the Startup World:
Blitzscaling prioritizes speed over efficiency to achieve massive growth and market dominance, developed by Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder). Accept inefficiency and capital burn for market position in winner-take-all dynamics. Requires product-market fit and clear momentum before initiating.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Blitzscaling is generally wrong for you—it requires external capital and makes sense only when network effects or winner-take-all dynamics exist (rarely true for creators). Instead, embrace “sustainable scaling”: methodically improve unit economics, reinvest profits, and grow at the pace your business can sustain without external funding. A creator might scale from 100 to 1,000 paid subscribers over 2 years through consistent content and community building (sustainable scaling) rather than burning cash for growth (blitzscaling). The goal is building a business that funds its own growth rather than chasing hockey-stick curves that require VC capital.
16. Crossing the Chasm
In the Startup World:
Geoffrey Moore’s framework describes the adoption gap between early adopters (technology enthusiasts) and the early majority (pragmatists). Most products die crossing this chasm because pragmatists want proven solutions, not bleeding-edge technology. Successful crossing requires intensely focusing one “beachhead” market before expanding.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Crossing the chasm for creators means transitioning from early fans to broader audiences with different values. Early adopters love your raw authenticity and experimental nature; the early majority wants proven, polished systems and guarantees. For a course creator, early adopters buy any course you offer; early majority wants case studies proving the course works. For a newsletter, early subscribers love half-baked ideas; broader audiences want well-researched takes. You can’t please both—decide which you’re building for. Build your beachhead market (e.g., “solopreneurs making $0-50k/year wanting to reach $200k/year”) completely before expanding to adjacent markets. One deeply satisfied market segment is worth more than ten half-satisfied ones.
17. Founder-Market Fit
In the Startup World:
Founder-market fit describes alignment between an entrepreneur’s skills, experience, and passion with a market opportunity. Founders with strong market fit have competitive advantages rooted in specialized knowledge, industry networks, or unique perspective. They develop better products, create efficient GTM strategies, and adapt faster.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your founder-market fit is your unfair advantage. Why are you uniquely qualified to serve this market? Did you live the problem? Do you have 20 years of industry experience others don’t? Are you the only person with your specific combination of skills and perspective? Founder-market fit is easier to build when you’re solving a problem you’ve personally experienced intensely. A fitness coach who lost 100 pounds has credibility no certification can buy. A business writer who built a company from zero has insights competitors can’t match. Lean into your unique background ruthlessly; it’s your competitive advantage. Audiences would rather follow someone they believe understands them deeply than someone following a generic playbook.
18. Pivoting
In the Startup World:
A pivot is a strategic shift in business model, product, or target market based on validated customer learning. Common pivots include zooming in on one resonant feature, targeting a different customer segment, changing business model, or shifting pricing strategy. Lean startup methodology frames pivoting as disciplined, data-driven adaptation rather than failure.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Pivot decisively when data shows the market wants something different than you built. Track these signals: High interest in one niche / feature / topic while others are ignored. Customer requests for something you didn’t plan. Much higher conversion from one audience segment. Observable friction or abandonment at specific points. If you see clear patterns, you have permission to pivot. But distinguish pivots from perfectionism—don’t constantly rebrand because a few customers want something different. Commit to testing a pivot for 30-60 days of consistent effort before concluding it’s the right direction. Instagram pivoted from Burbn (check-in app) to photo-sharing because data showed Burbn’s photo features got 10x more engagement than check-ins.
19. Term Sheet
In the Startup World:
A term sheet outlines key investment terms and conditions: investment amount, equity stake, valuation, voting rights, board composition, liquidation preference, anti-dilution protection, and vesting schedules. While typically non-binding except confidentiality clauses, it sets foundation for legal agreements and prevents misunderstandings.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Term sheets don’t apply to you unless seeking external investment. However, if you ever raise capital from investors, angels, or friends/family, formalize the terms in writing: How much are they investing? Do they get equity or debt? If equity, what percentage? What decisions require investor approval? When/how do they exit? Simple clarity document beats handshake deals. But honestly, most solopreneurs are better off bootstrapping than raising capital—you maintain 100% control and don’t have to satisfy investor return requirements. If you do raise, understand that term sheet provisions matter more than valuation. A $5M valuation with aggressive terms may deliver less value than a $3M valuation with founder-friendly terms.
20. Liquidation Preference
In the Startup World:
Liquidation preference grants preferred stockholders the right to receive proceeds from sales or liquidations before common stockholders. A 1x non-participating preference means investors get their money back before founders; a participating preference means they get money back plus additional pro-rata share. In founder-friendly terms, investors convert to common (pro-rata share only, no preference).
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
This only matters if you raise equity capital from investors. If you do, negotiate for the investor getting a 1x non-participating liquidation preference (standard, founder-friendly). Avoid participating preferred (they double-dip) and avoid having liquidation preference at all if you’re sure you won’t raise later. Most bootstrapped businesses with exit value under $10M shouldn’t raise equity—the dilution and governance burden isn’t worth the capital unless you have a massive TAM requiring venture scale.
21. Cap Table and Dilution
In the Startup World:
Capitalization table tracks ownership across shareholders: founders, employees, investors. Dilution occurs when issuing new shares reduces existing shareholders’ ownership percentage (though absolute value may increase if company valuation grows faster). Median founder ownership at Series A exit is 20-30% solo, 15-20% per co-founder.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
You don’t need a formal cap table unless you’re splitting equity with co-founders or employees. If you do, use a simple spreadsheet tracking names, shares granted, shares vested, and percentage owned. Equity incentives for early employees/contractors help you hire without massive cash outlay. But be thoughtful: if you grant 10% to your first hire when you’re still finding product-market fit, and that person leaves, their unvested shares return—use vesting schedules (4-year vesting with 1-year cliff standard). Most solopreneurs are better off paying employees/contractors cash and keeping ownership simple.
22. Vesting Schedule
In the Startup World:
Vesting determines when founders and employees earn full ownership of equity grants. Industry standard: 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff (no equity for 12 months, then 25% at cliff, remaining 75% vests monthly). The cliff protects against early departures.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
If you have co-founders, use standard 4-year vesting with 1-year cliff for each person. This ensures everyone stays committed through the risky early period—if someone leaves in month 6, they get nothing. After month 12, they start earning equity, protecting both co-founders from people bouncing when commitment tests begin. If you hire your first employee as equity partner, use the same schedule. This isn’t mean—it’s practical. Both founder and employee are protected if the arrangement isn’t working. After vesting completes (48 months), equity is fully earned and person can leave without restriction.
23. Funding Stages: Seed and Series A
In the Startup World:
Pre-seed ($100k-500k): Concept and MVP stage, from friends/family and angels. Seed ($500k-2M): Product works, early traction, from angel syndicates and seed VCs. Series A ($2M-15M+): Product validated, repeatable growth metrics, from institutional VCs. Each stage targets specific metrics and investor types.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Most bootstrapped creators never raise capital and don’t need to. If you do seek funding, you’re likely pre-seed (angels investing in you personally) or seed (early customers validation). Pre-seed is “friends and family, personal savings, revenue from customers.” Seed would come from angel syndicates or seed funds if you’ve proven meaningful traction and want to accelerate. Generally, raise only when: (1) You’ve validated product-market fit, (2) You’ve run out of capital and have clear use for investor money, (3) Competition is arriving and speed matters. Most solopreneurs hit profitability before any of these apply, making external capital unnecessary and actually damaging (dilution + investor pressure for hockey-stick growth when profitability is good enough).
24. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
In the Startup World:
OKRs align teams around ambitious objectives with 3-5 measurable key results. Objectives are qualitative and inspiring; Key Results are specific, quantifiable, verifiable. Used by Intel, Google, and high-growth startups. Typically 3-5 OKRs per organization, refreshed quarterly.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
As a solopreneur, you can’t delegate, so OKRs are simpler but just as valuable. Set quarterly objectives like “Establish authority in AI for writers” with key results like “Publish 4 major essays,” “Host 1 Twitter space,” “Get 5 published mentions in major publications,” “Grow email list from 5,000 to 10,000.” This beats vague goals like “grow.” At quarterly review, you’ll have concrete data on progress. Use OKRs to ruthlessly prioritize—anything not supporting your quarterly OKRs gets deferred or delegated. This prevents the constant context-switching that kills solopreneur productivity. If you have a team (even 2-3 people), each person gets their own OKRs aligned with company OKRs.
25. Defensibility
In the Startup World:
Defensibility is a company’s ability to maintain competitive advantages over time. Modern sources include network effects, proprietary technology, brand strength, data advantages, switching costs, and community. Companies with strong defensibility grow exponentially (value scales with revenue); without it, growth is linear.
For Creators and Solopreneurs:
Your defensibility is the reason customers choose you over anyone else selling similar offerings. Strong defensibility sources for creators: trusted community (reputation and relationships built over years), unique perspective (your specific combination of views competitors can’t duplicate), audience (followers who specifically want your take), systems and frameworks (documented methods people follow), and integration with their lives (habit-forming content). Speed is your near-term advantage (move fast, test ideas, capitalize before competition notices), but long-term defensibility comes from deepening one of the above. Don’t try to build defensibility across all dimensions, pick one (e.g., “become the trusted voice for solopreneurs building SaaS”) and dominate it ruthlessly.
Thinking Like a Founder, Building Like a Creator
The vocabulary of venture capital describes a particular business context: high uncertainty, significant capital, distributed teams, and venture-scale growth targets. But the frameworks underlying this vocabulary—thinking about unit economics, ruthlessly prioritizing, validating assumptions with customers, building sustainable competitive advantages—apply perfectly to solopreneurs and creators.
The key adaptations:
Profitability, not growth. Venture capitalists accept burn because they expect massive scale; you optimize for positive unit economics and cash flow from day one.
Runway from revenue, not capital. Your runway is your personal/business burn divided by profit. Extend it by reinvesting profits or reducing expenses, not raising.
One powerful moat, not many. Focus ruthlessly on deepening a single defensibility source rather than trying to be great across many dimensions.
Bootstrap testing, venture mindset. Use YC’s “do things that don’t scale” approach (manual onboarding, personal outreach) to validate before automating. But adopt the venture mindset of testing, learning, and pivoting decisively based on data.
Sustainable scale. Growth at the pace your business can sustain without external capital. If this is 20% quarter-over-quarter forever, that’s a $100M business in 10 years, better than VC-backed companies that burn out scaling unsustainable models.
These 25 concepts form the intellectual foundation of every successful creator, solopreneur, and small business. Master them, and you’ll make better decisions, communicate more credibly with potential customers and partners, and build businesses that endure.
The founder’s playbook applies to you, to all small businesses, and to most larger firms as well. You just have to know how to scale down the big ideas to your immediate requirements.
- john -
Ready to apply these ideas? Start with one metric you’re not currently tracking (probably North Star Metric or Unit Economics). Measure it for 30 days. Then rebuild your business strategy around making it better.
One metric at a time. And day at a time. One problem solved at a time.
That’s how we build. That’s how we grow.
- j -
In 2026, I’m working directly with 100 creators building real businesses.
I want to bring operating strategy, competitive positioning, and financial planning to a community that’s fundamentally different from my typical industrial and technology clients.
For the first 100 creator founders: Four 60-minute 1:1 advisory sessions for $95.
Context: My standard engagement starts at $10K/month. This isn’t that. This is me learning from you while helping you build something sustainable.
Limited to 100 spots. Message me with questions or to claim yours or just click below to sign up (sign up requires browser access):
John Brewton documents the history and future of operating companies at Operating by John Brewton. He is a graduate of Harvard University and began his career as a Phd. student in economics at the University of Chicago. After selling his family’s B2B industrial distribution company in 2021, he has been helping business owners, founders and investors optimize their operations ever since. He is the founder of 6A East Partners, a research and advisory firm asking the question: What is the future of companies? He still cringes at his early LinkedIn posts and loves making content each and everyday, despite the protestations of his beloved wife, Fabiola, at times.