F2F #45: Calm entrepreneurship

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on LinkedIn about calm entrepreneurship and it's gone viral.

I wanted to share it here with you, in case you haven't seen it, while I prepare the next issues of F2F that will be written by friends of mine while I am away changing diapers left, right and center.

Entrepreneurship can be calm. Build the company around your life, not your life around the company. The “crazy or bust” narrative is dated. And dangerous.

Not talking about the 40-hour weeks > 80-hour heroics. I'm way past beyond that.

Deep work during the day, zero guilt logging off at night and holidays.

Basecamp proved it’s possible. We, at MarsBased, are confirming it.

Sustainable > explosive. Profits beat vanity metrics. A calm business funds itself, buys optionality, and avoids hamster-wheel fund-raising.

If you raise money, pick investors aligned with calm values (revenue-based, founder-friendly terms). Calm Company Fund was a great blueprint, too bad they're on hold right now!

Replace “grind” culture with trust + delegation. When everyone’s a firefighter, no one has time to build fire-proof systems... or, as I like to put it "if all you do is putting out fires, you won't have water for your garden".

Stop glorifying the ramen years. Pay yourself a fair salary early. Stress makes terrible strategy; calm cash flow makes clear decisions and cushions market swings.

Sleep is a competitive advantage. Creativity needs REM, not coffee-fueled all-nighters. Your best ideas arrive after and during rest.

Holidays are sacred. Out-of-office means out. A real business survives while founders hike, surf, or play guitar. That’s resilience.

The best businesspeople I know spend their days surfing, playing gold and spending time with their families.

Sure, they probably grinded for many years but always strategically and not consistently.

Celebrate small, compounding wins: one delighted customer, one smoother process, one reclaimed evening with family.

Calm compounds. Calm makes storms vanish faster.

Let’s normalise calm entrepreneurship. If you’re building a lifestyle business without burnout, share your story with me! let’s start a calmer trend and maybe I can feature you on the MarsBased podcast!