This Company Raised Almost No Funding, Yet It's the Most Profitable Among Its Peers

Deep Thoughts on AI and Aspirations —— ByteDance Deep Thinking Circle

In the startup world, the default playbook is: raise funding, burn cash, grab users, scale fast. But one company took a completely different path: it raised almost no funding, only a small seed round, yet became the most profitable among its peers, consistently turning a profit.

What it built was a tool that helps users connect various applications and automate workflows. This case is worth pondering because it slaps the mainstream “burn money to grab users” narrative in the face. It demonstrates something quite simple: the essence of business isn’t being seen by many people, it’s being truly needed by many people.

You Don’t Need 1000 Users—First Serve the First 10 Wholeheartedly

The company’s earliest users weren’t acquired through paid advertising—they were gained one by one through conversations with the founder.

The founder used to hang out in various tool community forums. Whenever someone complained “it would be great if this tool could connect with that tool,” he would reply: “You can actually do it this way.” One reply at a time, one user at a time, talking to the 10th, the 20th.

This seemingly clumsy approach persisted for eight full months before the first user proactively reached out. But what it earned wasn’t cold numbers—it was real users willing to pay, users who were well served.

This reveals a counterintuitive insight: early on, you don’t need many users—you need a small number of well-served users. These 10 users who were treated seriously become your best source of word-of-mouth.

Customer Success Is Everyone’s Job

Many companies think in the early days: “Once we have money, we’ll build a dedicated customer success team.” This company did the opposite: early on, there was no dedicated team. Instead, everyone in the company—engineers, finance, even admin—took on the responsibility of “helping customers solve problems.”

The benefit of doing this: everyone directly experiences where users get stuck, and the direction for product improvement naturally emerges. Moreover, this “everyone understands users” culture persists and becomes the company’s most solid moat.

The logic behind this: customer success isn’t a late-stage cost, it’s an early-stage growth lever. When you serve users well, they stay and recommend you—cheaper than buying traffic.

Treat Your Product as a Brand

The company had another practice worth learning: from very early on, it treated the product as a brand, not just a tool to sell.

It consistently created content, built community, and conveyed its philosophy, so users weren’t just “using a tool” but “embracing a way of doing things.” When users don’t just buy your tool but identify with your philosophy, they stay and recommend you. This kind of connection is harder to replace than “the tool works well.”

In one sentence: tools may be sharp, but what truly makes people stay is the philosophy.

Also Recognize Its Applicable Conditions

Don’t rush to treat this as a universal formula. It has several prerequisites.

First, this approach is best suited for early-stage, tool-type products that build trust through service. With few early users, building trust through service is feasible; after scaling, this approach needs to evolve.

Second, the premise is that the product actually solves problems. If the product itself doesn’t work, no amount of good service will retain people.

Third, it doesn’t reject growth—it emphasizes the sequence of growth: first serve a small group well, make the product truly needed, then scale. It’s not about not growing big, it’s about building a solid foundation before scaling.

Putting It into Action

My take is, rather than fixating on “how to quickly get many users,” ask yourself this question: Has my product truly served the first batch of users well?

Get this question right, and users will stay and recommend you—growth will come naturally. Get it wrong, and no amount of advertising spend will matter.

Key Points: The essence of business is being truly needed, not being seen by many; early on you don’t need 1000 users, you need to serve the first 10 well; customer success is everyone’s job and an early-stage lever; treat your product as a brand; this approach suits early-stage tool-type products—it’s not about not growing big but building a solid foundation first.