In 2020, after 9 straight years of growth, Buffer declined 4.96%. We would go on to decline a total of 20% over 4 years. How does it feel as a founder to go through this experience? Here are some of my journal entries from the initial stages of the decline:

January 13th, 2020
"We're starting off with a decline, and this is concerning."

January 30th, 2020
"I'm feeling a lot of anxiety right now. Our growth is stalling."

April 12, 2020
"I'm just checking the metrics, and they look a lot worse than they did a week ago, or even just a few days ago."
"March ended in a 1.41% drop in MRR. We could be close to a 3% drop for April, which is drastic."

April 13, 2020
"I'm feeling deflated, off, and heavy right now. It's been a long day, and the numbers have started to take a turn for the worse in the past week."

2020 was hard, but in 2021 and 2022 we would go on to see even sharper declines of 6.39% and 7.75%. It was excruciating. I went through deep questioning, reflection on the journey so far, and where I wanted to take Buffer. Ultimately, we were able to pull through as a team and get back to a place of growth, profitability and new all-time-high revenue.

Having been through this rollercoaster journey of growth, stalling and decline, and finding our way back to growth again, I've been starting to dedicate some time to reflect on the whole experience.

Stay tuned for more content from me as I go through journal entries, strategy docs, metrics, and more to craft the story of losing our way, losing revenue, and rediscovering our why and growth once again.

Want to hear me speak about the journey? I'll be sharing all the details in my talk at Business of Software USA in Raleigh, NC in a few weeks. Join me alongside some incredible speakers and a very special community of folks who appreciate what it takes to build real, human-centered businesses. See the link in the comments for the full details of my talk and the event.