How Calm became a $2B business

Plus, Rand Fishkin on the best way to build a business ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  April 11th, 2022 The Memo | Issue #85 Sometimes, the best way to drive your business forward is to do things differently. Differently than your competitors, differently than you have so far… There are big rewards to reap for those willing to try a different path. Will you make the jump? Now, let’s dive in... Mentoring Young Workers When You’re Both Remote “Mentorship and training are not things that happen passively; they are actions to be done deliberately, thoughtfully, and consistently, with the intention of fostering and retaining talent.” The shift to remote work has been in progress for a while, but there’s no denying the recent pandemic accelerated things. With a new work normal setting in for a large swath of the workforce, a lot needs to change around how we hire, train, and lead. If you ask Ed Zitron—CEO of EZPR and writer on all things tech and culture—change has been needed for a long time. In this article, Ed gets real about his own experience as a young worker. He shares a ton of data around the failures in [the way we mentor young workers today]( and outlines 3 key tips to help better mentor and lead from afar. Related: [The Scalable Hiring Process]( The Best Way to Build a Business “It's an intentional design of focusing on a small number of the things that we think are most important for the business so that we can minimize essentially the time investment required and maximize the quality of work that we do in the limited time that we give the business.” Every company should aim to be a unicorn, right? Much of the way we gauge entrepreneurial success today centers around raising money, speeding toward an IPO, and onboarding tons of customers—even if that comes at a loss. Serial founder and author of Lost and Founder Rand Fishkin thinks otherwise. In this episode of the Get More Done podcast, Rand talks about how he’s doing things differently with his second company, SparkToro. We love this episode because Rand highlights the fundamental differences in SparkToro’s philosophy of slow and steady growth and makes a compelling argument that [it’s the best way to build a business](. Related: [Why growth isn’t always a good thing]( Jimmy Daly On the First 2 Years of Superpath “An exit is a byproduct of success, not an end goal. [...] I think of an exit as purely hypothetical. It could happen, but it's not a success or a failure. It's just about what feels right. For now, it's all about profitability and sustainability.” It’s easy to look at big, successful companies and learn from their journey—we share resources to help you do that all the time. But there’s also a ton of value in hearing from founders and entrepreneurs who are still in the trenches, nurturing along young ventures. That’s why we love this essay from Jimmy Daly, founder of Superpath. In the essay, Jimmy takes an FAQ-style approach to sharing [the journey of Superpath so far](. At only 2 years old, the company still has a ways to go, but Jimmy already has a ton of insight on launching a company, finding traction, raising money (or not), and other advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Related: [How to beat impostor syndrome]( How Calm Became a $2B Business “Calm’s content has a distributional advantage: users seek it out specifically when they want to step back, breathe, relax, or get ready for sleep. Per @csavage, you win by owning a place in your customers’ attention where nothing else exists.” When Calm launched, it was a mindful meditation app—and very few people were looking to invest big money in what was thought to be a small market. Fast forward a few years and the app is a $2 billion business and the top health app by consumer spend across the globe. How? Jan-Erik Asplund’s Twitter thread takes a deep dive into answering that question. Jan-Erik highlights some of the key pivots and learnings that helped [power Calm to $500 million a year in revenue]( including: - Focusing on sleep - Avoiding competitors like Netflix and YouTube - Celebrity partnerships Related: [Who’s your real ideal customer?]( One last thing... How can your business do things differently from the pack? - The Scalable Team We hope you enjoyed this week’s issue. If you did, could you do us a favor and share it with 3 friends and colleagues? It would mean the world to us. Thanks. :) Share The Memo Step 1: Click the button below Step 2: Share the Memo with friends Step 3: Earn Rewards Refer 3 friends and get listed on our site as a "Founding Subscriber," plus some mystery gifts we know you'll love... :) [Share The Memo]( What is The Memo (a.k.a. the thing you’re reading right now)? Every week, my partners and I send an email memo to our internal executive leaders (the people running our companies) sharing news and insights we believe they should know. Sometimes it's an interesting article...sometimes it's a new thought or idea...but it's always something timely, tactical, and actionable. Now, you can get the same memo... and you don't even have to sell us your company. 🙂 What is The Scalable Company? The Scalable Company is a collective of founders and entrepreneurs who have no idea what they’re doing, and are willing to admit it. You can read our “Accidental Entrepreneur Manifesto” [here]( and peruse our internal “wiki” of resources and best practices [here](.  Sent to: {EMAIL} The Scalable Company, 4330 Gaines Ranch Loop, Ste 120, Austin, Texas 78735, United States Don't want future emails? [Unsubscribe](