Fourteen years
My journey of building a business for fourteen years so far
Joel Gascoigne's blog
Joel Gascoigne's articles
Latest posts
The significance of Bluesky and decentralized social media
We've added Bluesky to Buffer. Read my reflections on the significance of Bluesky as a new social network, and the emergence of decentralized social media.
Build Week at Buffer: What it is and how we’re approaching it
Read all about the idea behind Build Week, what it means, and how we're approaching it.
Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer
We eliminated two of our lower cost-of-living bands in our salary formula at Buffer. Here's my thinking behind this change and our approach to pay overall.
Welcoming Maria Thomas as Buffer’s Chief Product Officer
After speaking to an incredible group of talented folks in product, I’m happy to share that Maria Thomas has joined us as our new Chief Product Officer.
Crafting a support network
Sometime in late 2018, the concept of having a support network clicked for me.
Reflecting on 10 years of building Buffer
Reflecting on 10 years of building Buffer Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Today marks ten years since I launched the first version of Buffer. What started as a landing page to gauge interest, and then a very basic product that I worked on alone, has become so much more. Buffer is now a leading social media management platform and a team of nearly 90 people working remotely…
Buffer's product journey, and our next step to hire a VP of Product
Buffer's product journey, and our next step to hire a VP of Product Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . We've been building Buffer for coming up to ten years now. We’re currently a 90-person fully remote team with over 70,000 paying customers and $20M in annual revenue. We’re proud to be a leader in the space of social media management, and to operate long-term as an independent…
Snowmelt meetings
Snowmelt meetings “When spring comes, snow melts first at the periphery, because that is where it is most exposed” - Andy Grove This quote comes from Andy Grove , Intel’s former CEO, and which I was reminded of in the most recent book I finished reading, Seeing Around Corners by Rita McGrath. The idea is that snow melts first from the edges, at the periphery. This is where the first changes occur…
We’re trying a 4-day workweek for the month of May
We’re trying a 4-day workweek for the month of May Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . For the month of May, Buffer will operate under a 4-day workweek (at full pay) across the whole 89-person team. We’re in a period of time where there’s a layer of added anxiety and stress in all of our lives. At Buffer, we’ve been encouraging taking time off, and relaxing productivity…
Buffer's investor update on COVID-19 impact and approach
Buffer's investor update on COVID-19 impact and approach Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Ever since the world got turned upside down by COVID-19, it’s been “business as unusual” for everyone – Buffer included. I sent this update out to Buffer’s investors one week ago. I hesitated on whether to share it more widely, as I know a lot of companies have been impacted more severely…
My experience with burnout as a startup founder
My experience with burnout as a startup founder Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . In mid-2017, I hit burnout in a really big way and wound up taking a 6-week break to recharge. I want to fully share my story here and include some things I wish I’d done differently in the hope that this can help anyone else experiencing burnout. How it began: A year of change, stress, and loss…
Buffer’s evolution and expansion
Buffer’s evolution and expansion Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote this blog post about the next step in Buffer’s social media journey . I described Buffer’s multi-product vision of the future, which included Reply and Analyze . This idea was such a huge vision and change for us as a company, and it’s taken a few years to fulfill it. But…
Bright & Early Podcast with Brian Rhea
Bright & Early Podcast with Brian Rhea I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Brian Rhea on the Bright & Early podcast. Listen above, and see more details here .
The Heartbeat Podcast with Claire Lew
The Heartbeat Podcast with Claire Lew I recently the pleasure of being interviewed on the Heartbeat Podcast by Claire Lew. Listen above, and check out the full transcript .
We spent $3.3M buying out investors: Why and how we did it
We spent $3.3M buying out investors- Why and how we did it Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Last month, Buffer spent $3.3 million – about half of all the cash we had in the bank – to buy out our main venture capital (VC) investors. Starting the conversations, negotiations, and process of this buy out was one of the most important decisions I’ve made in the Buffer journey so…
My morning routine as a remote CEO and why it’s always changing
My morning routine as a remote CEO and why it’s always changing Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Working remotely and having the opportunity to work from home, coffee shops, coworking spaces, or wherever else I might feel the most productive, means that I can design my own mornings because they don’t necessarily need to be spent commuting. I’ve gone through many different…
I am an investor in 9 companies: How and why I started angel investing
I am an investor in 9 companies- How and why I started angel investing A lesser known fact about me is that I have invested in 9 companies. It’s something I’ve not written about yet (other than a quick mention on my /now page ). So here we are. The first investment I made was in Kate Kendall and CloudPeeps . I became an advisor to CloudPeeps fairly organically, having known Kate for many years in…
The next step in Buffer’s social media journey
The next step in Buffer’s social media journey Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . Can you remember where you were seven years ago? I was in my apartment in Birmingham, UK, coding up the very first version of Buffer as a tool to schedule tweets. So much has changed since then: the Buffer product has evolved, the social networks themselves have matured, and social media managers…
5 varieties of remote working in companies
5 varieties of remote working in companies I've recently found myself reflecting a lot on being a distributed team, and the nature of a company where the team works from remote locations to accomplish our work. Scaling remote working has been a challenge as the team has grown. Remote companies are still relatively rare, and therefore all of us who are choosing to have a remote-friendly culture,…
The power of company retreats: Thoughts after the 8th Buffer retreat
The power of company retreats- Thoughts after the 8th Buffer retreat By now we have a fairly long history of doing retreats at Buffer. We’re now a 75 person team , and we just wrapped up our 8th company retreat in Madrid, Spain. Here’s a quick history of retreat locations, timeline and size over time: San Francisco & Lake Tahoe, U.S.A. (August 2013, 8 people) Bangkok & Pattaya City, Thailand…
Change at Buffer: The next phase, and why our co-founder and our CTO are moving on
Change at Buffer- The next phase, and why our co-founder and our CTO are moving on Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . We’ve always done things differently at Buffer. For me, this has always come from a natural desire to question things. Why base your company and team in a single location? Why is it customary to keep salary information private? Why can’t someone exercise during…
From startup to scaleup: What we’re changing as we make the transition
From startup to scaleup- What we’re changing as we make the transition Note: this was originally posted on the Buffer blog . In the past couple of months, I’ve had a number of thoughts around the growth Buffer has experienced in the last year and some interesting challenges and paradoxes that seems to be bringing us. I’ve had a number of conversations with people in the team on this and I recently…
3 reasons you shouldn't outsource your startup, and what to do instead
3 reasons you shouldn't outsource your startup, and what to do instead One of my favorite things to do is to help others who are at an earlier stage of the startup journey. I had a lot of false starts before Buffer. I enjoy sharing my lessons from those failed attempts, and I also enjoy getting my mind back into those early days challenges, now that Buffer is almost 5 years old. In the last week,…
11 cities in 3 months: The highs and lows of digital nomad lifestyle
11 cities in 3 months- The highs and lows of digital nomad lifestyle In December, my friend and co-worker Brian casually mentioned to me that he would love to go traveling and explore Asia. I love Asia. I lived in Japan as a kid for 3.5 years, and I lived in Hong Kong for 6 months in 2012. It was a no brainer for me to jump on the opportunity and travel around Asia with Brian. At Buffer , we’re a…
The dream forms over time
The dream forms over time In my recent travels around Asia , I’ve had the great opportunity to meet a lot of local founders and aspiring entrepreneurs. One of the things that seems to come up many times is that people will ask me “what triggered you to become passionate about company culture and transparency” or “how did you know you wanted to build Buffer to what it is today”. One of the most…
The top reason we haven’t sold our startup
The top reason we haven’t sold our startup We’ve been lucky at Buffer to receive a number of acquisition offers along our journey so far. When I mention this to people, a key question that often comes up is “how did you decide not to sell?”. The earliest offer we had for Buffer was not long after we had started, and it felt fairly easy for us to say no, simply because we felt we wanted to see…
Why I don't shield my team from bad news
Why I don't shield my team from bad news I think there's an interesting concept that's prevalent, which I believe could actually be quite dangerous . It's the idea that as a CEO or executive of a company, you need to shield your team from bad news, the risks of a startup, and other negative aspects that are inevitable on the startup journey. One of our core values at Buffer is to Default to…
50 books that transformed my business and my life
50 books that transformed my business and my life As a teenager I had a period of many years where I stopped reading books completely. I even remember a time where I couldn't imagine reading books at all. After I graduated and started to be interested in business and startups, I realized the immense power and knowledge contained within books , and I started reading more and more. Today, I can't…
Why we have a core value of transparency at our startup, and why the reasons don't matter
Why we have a core value of transparency at our startup, and why the reasons don't matter Since the beginning of Buffer, we've always shared all of our learnings and failures. Over time this developed into a more defined goal and principle as part of the values of the company . Since we defined our value of transparency within the culture as "Default to Transparency", we found many things within…
How we're trying to stay innovative as a 3.5 year old startup
How we're trying to stay innovative as a 3.5 year old startup I think I’ve just about got to that point with Buffer where sometimes when I stop to reflect on things I think “wow, we’ve actually been doing this for a while now”. It’s about 3.5 years since I started Buffer as a very simple Minimum Viable Product , and we’re now 23 people and doing over $3m in annual revenue . We still have a lot to…
The different ways of traveling
The different ways of traveling One of the incredible side-effects of doing retreats 3 times a year with my startup is that I get the opportunity to travel and experience completely different cultures. On top of spending a week and a half with the rest of the Buffer team on retreats, in the last two occasions I have made a decision to stay or continue traveling in the same area beyond the end of…
The choices we make when we build startups
The choices we make when we build startups We’ve recently reached the point with Buffer where I’ve started to think about a lot of key higher level choices. As a CEO these can be difficult decisions to make. I’ve been taking time to reflect and luckily I also have an awesome co-founder I regularly bounce these decisions off and an incredible team whom I sometimes get together with and have…
How my co-founder and I structure ourselves as CEO and COO
How my co-founder and I structure ourselves as CEO and COO For the first two years of Buffer we didn’t use C-level titles . In February last year it started to make much more sense for me to use the CEO title, and soon after Leo became CMO. We had grown up a little and were not just a bunch of people hacking on a product. There was a little more structure and it was helpful on the inside and from…
The quiet pivot
The quiet pivot In the last 6 months, we’ve quietly shifted the direction of Buffer. Our adjustment is now almost complete and we’re charging ahead with our new vision. It’s interesting to reflect on how we came to realize that a change was needed, and how we went about finding our new path. The original vision The earliest idea of where we wanted to take Buffer was that we aimed to be a sharing…
The Yin and Yang of a great co-founder relationship
The Yin and Yang of a great co-founder relationship I’ve always found it interesting to think about co-founder relationships. I’ve been in a few myself, some which were not completely successful and then more recently working with Leo for the last 3 years has been an absolute joy. It’s fascinating to me how co-founders need to be different in many ways and at the same time have shared values they…
Why we go on international retreats 3 times a year with our startup
Why we go on international retreats 3 times a year with our startup One of the most exciting parts of the culture we’ve developed at Buffer for me is our international retreats. It’s also potentially something we’ve not shared that much about and can be misunderstood, so I wanted to write a little about why we choose to do retreats. Three times a year we gather the whole company together. The last…
4 short stories of our attempts to be lean at our startup
4 short stories of our attempts to be lean at our startup It’s no secret that I’ve personally been hugely impacted by Eric Ries’ work and the Lean Startup movement. Buffer would not be where it is today without his writings and videos opening my mind to a different way of approaching a startup. For me, lean is completely about building and approaching things in a way which minimizes the amount of…
What it's really like to grow a team when you're focused on culture-fit
What it's really like to grow a team when you're focused on culture-fit It’s often interesting to look back and think about how much I’ve learned in the past year or two. Especially areas where I almost had no understanding at all. Company culture is one of those areas. Sure, I had come across the term and I even took an organizational behavior course while studying, but it only really became real…
Firing myself, again
Firing myself, again I've written in the past about how I see the role of a CEO to be one where you are repeatedly firing yourself. Joe Kraus brought my attention to thinking about the role in this way, and it has been an incredibly powerful mindset as Buffer has grown. It's been fascinating to see how this idea of firing yourself has been reflected not only in the evolution of my role, but also…
How we handle team emails at our startup: Defaulting to transparency
How we handle team emails at our startup- Defaulting to transparency It’s an exciting time for Buffer. Toby Osbourn just joined and we’re now 16 people. Toby joined us as a Backend Hacker , and he’s been a joy to work with so far. Within just a few days we can all feel his impact. In the first few days, Toby has been fantastic with asking questions and learning about the Buffer culture . One thing…
Two simple changes that helped increase my happiness and improve my sleep
Two simple changes that helped increase my happiness and improve my sleep Three of our key values at Buffer are “Always choose positivity and happiness”, “Have a focus on self-improvement” and “Live smarter, not harder”. As a result of these particular values, in the last few months I have tried to be quite deliberate about living as fully to the values as I can. Specifically, it has meant finding…
What no one talks about when building a team: Letting people go
What no one talks about when building a team- Letting people go One of the things I enjoy most about building a company is to focus on culture, and to think about how we can create a team which is a joy to be part of. A large part of this is creating a set of values and trying to gather people who feel at home amongst each other. As part of this focus on culture, we have done quite a few things…
The joys and benefits of working as a distributed team
The joys and benefits of working as a distributed team Buffer is a fully distributed team. It’s a decision I had to make at the end of 2012, and it’s interesting to reflect on that decision now. I am happy to report that I am in love with the choice we made to be distributed all across the world. How Buffer is set up When I say we’re a distributed team, I mean that we’re literally spread across…
6 suggestions for an aspiring founder
6 suggestions for an aspiring founder This article is inspired by Startup Edition in response to “What advice would you give young entrepreneurs?” I feel incredibly lucky that I managed to jump on board the path of building a startup. Having hit upon a product that solved a key pain for many people, Buffer has grown rather fast. We now have over 850,000 users and the team is 12 people. When I…
Coaching and feedback within startups
Coaching and feedback within startups I’ve written in the past about the evolution of our culture at Buffer . One of the things we started to do at around 6-7 people as part of the culture is that everyone has a 1:1 session with either myself or their team lead at least every 2 weeks. On top of that, I personally have a 1:1 session with Leo , Carolyn and Sunil ( the c-suite ) every single week.…
Questions I ask myself about working as distributed team
Questions I ask myself about working as distributed team As a CEO I often ponder how I can help the team be as productive and happy as possible. As part of our decision to be a distributed team at Buffer , there have been a number of amazing advantages this has brought as well as it making a fun team to be part of due to the many different cultures and locations of team members. Recently I’ve seen…
Experimenting with a 7 day work week
Experimenting with a 7 day work week For the first two weeks of last month, I religiously tried to follow a new routine I created for myself: a 7 day work week routine. The idea was quite simple: I would work 7 days a week, rest 7 days a week, go to the gym 7 days a week, reflect 7 days a week. This was less about working lots, much more about feeling fulfilled every day, feeling stretched during…
Ratio thinking
Ratio thinking Something I’ve found difficult to completely embrace, but which understanding has been super important, is the idea that there is a ratio for everything . I’ve started to call this Ratio Thinking, and I’ve found myself describing this to quite a number of people recently. The law of averages I think we all understand that we might not get a 100% success rate on everything we do . In…
Dreams come true
Dreams come true Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. - Henry David Thoreau I can distinctly remember that for the month of December in 2010, and for much of January 2011, I did a lot of dreaming. Back then, as I do now, I had a daily ritual of going for an evening walk before sleeping so that I could disengage from the day. I had discovered this helped me…