The newsletter: only when there is something to say

I open my inbox and count the newsletters I actually read.

I don't need all the fingers on one hand.

The rest arrive on time, I'll give them that. Every month. With their "October updates" and a smiling team photo. I archive them unopened with the same punctuality.

So when I set up mine, I started with what I didn't want to do.

The rule

There's only one:

If I wouldn't tell it to a friend who asks how things are going, it doesn't go out.

That means it goes out roughly once a month. And some months it doesn't.

I'm not embarrassed about that. I'd be more embarrassed to send you something written to fill a gap and keep a streak going. Streaks are for the gym, not for your inbox.

What's inside

The same things I'd tell a friend over a drink.

What we've built and why. What didn't work, which is usually the most interesting part. Where I've changed my mind, which happens more often than I'd like to admit.

Sometimes it's a number that surprised me. Sometimes a mistake that cost me money. Sometimes a decision I still don't know was right.

What's not inside: offers, "10 keys to" lists or motivational quotes over photos of mountains.

Who it's for

People who run, or want to run, a small profitable company. Who haven't raised, or don't want to. Who prefer freedom to size and suspect, like me, that the second doesn't always bring the first.

If that's you, the button at the top of the page is where it starts.

And if one day it stops being interesting, you can unsubscribe in one click. I won't take it personally. I'd rather have one reader fewer than one who archives me unopened.

I already have plenty of those in my own inbox.

And they're me.