Khan Academy
20 years
Day one
Tutored ONE cousin over Yahoo Messenger (2004)
Today
150M+ learners across 190 countries
Compound Effect
Small things. Long time. Big result.
The things that change the world rarely look impressive on day one. That's the trick.
Patagonia
65 years
Day one
Sold hand-forged climbing pitons from a car trunk (1957)
Today
$1B+ revenue, donated the company to fight the climate crisis (2022)
Ben & Jerry's
45 years
Day one
Took a $5 ice-cream making course by mail
Today
Global brand, social activism platform
Spanx
20 years
Day one
Cut the feet off pantyhose for one party outfit
Today
$1B+ shapewear company, founder self-made billionaire
Wikipedia
23 years
Day one
One free encyclopedia article in 2001
Today
60M+ articles in 300+ languages
Notion
10 years
Day one
Pivoted 3 times. Almost shut down. 2 founders + ramen.
Today
$10B valuation, 30M+ users
The maths nobody teaches you
Improving 1% a day = 37× better in a year. Posting 1 thing a week = 52 shots. Talking to 1 user a day = 365 conversations. None of these feel impressive on Tuesday.
Find your starting point