Small businesses will win

👋 Hi all,

While we have entered wintertime in Amsterdam, and the days are darker, colder, and shorter, I will keep bringing some warm goodies to your inbox.

While I found a few more articles last week about business layoffs, it kept surprising me how we see a company's success based on the number of employees. It took me back to a weird mental model I gained while I was seeking funding for a tech startup I founded in 2010.

Oh, and before I forget, welcome to the 102 people who joined since last week 🍿

See you on Friday,

Bas

Since I started this newsletter two months ago, I have written a lot about how I see the future of entrepreneurship. If you analyzed all my essays, three conclusions summarize my content on how I see the world move forward regarding business: more solo founders, brands with strong communities, and small over big.

Let’s zoom in on the last: small over big. We lived in times when big was cool: bigger house, bigger car, bigger business. We are losing our appetite for bigger, and we all lean more towards smaller.

The business world is at a crossroads. We have a vast (and growing) problem regarding our job market, an increase in retirements, and we are dealing with a younger generation that wants to work less. If this is the cocktail we as entrepreneurs must deal with, we must think differently.