Thursday, November 5, 2026
In today's issue
The news: Twice as many solo founders hit $1 million, but the median start fell
The Quiet Solution: Todoist: a free task list for a one-person shop
Advantage Introverts: Jason Fried on why work does not happen at work
Try this: A 10-minute brain dump
Running a business alone sounds like the introvert dream until you notice who does all the jobs. Sales, support, money, the work itself. It all sits in one head, and that head gets crowded.
Today: new numbers on how solo founders are really doing, a free place to empty that crowded head, and a talk on why real work keeps getting interrupted.
Quiet Win: the news
Solo millionaires doubled, but the typical start got harder.
IBTimes reported (Nov. 2) that, according to Stripe, the number of solopreneurs earning more than $1 million more than doubled between 2023 and 2025. Solo founders made up 63% of the C corporations formed through Stripe Atlas so far in the second quarter of 2026, a record. But median revenue in the first six months for solo founded Atlas startups fell 23% in 2025, while the top 10% grew 19%.
Going solo is getting more common, not easier. The founders pulling ahead in the story don't do more themselves. They hand the repeat work to systems and keep their own attention for the part only they can do.
The Quiet Solution
Todoist
When you're the whole company, nobody reminds you of anything. The follow up you promised a buyer, the invoice, the product idea from the shower. It all lives in your head until it slips out, and you end up spending your quiet hours trying to remember instead of building.
Todoist is a private task list. You type a task in plain words like "send refund Friday," it files the date for you, and it reminds you when it's due. No team, no standup, no one watching your list. Just you and a clear next step.
Free tier: the Beginner plan is $0 with 5 personal projects, task reminders, and list and board layouts. Pro is $5 a month billed yearly if you ever need more (checked on todoist.com/pricing today). Not an affiliate link.
Advantage Introverts
Why work doesn't happen at work | Jason Fried
Jason Fried · TED · 17 min
Jason Fried, cofounder of the software company 37signals, makes a case most quiet people already feel in their bones: the office isn't a good place to get work done. In this TEDxMidwest talk he lays out the main problems, which he calls the M&Ms, and offers three suggestions to make work work.
If you've ever done your best thinking alone, early, with the door closed, this talk will feel like permission. Long stretches of uninterrupted time aren't a quirk you need to fix. They're how good work gets made.
Your need for quiet isn't a weakness in a one-person business. It's the engine.
Try this today (10 minutes)
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write down every business task, promise and idea that's currently living in your head, one line each, no sorting. When the timer ends, circle the one task that would move your business forward most this week and put a day next to it. If you set up Todoist, type that one in first.
Hit reply
What's the one task you keep carrying in your head instead of writing down? Reply with it. Naming it is half the work.
Quietly sovereign,
Sterling
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