Why I'm Posting Less Content in 2026

Published on

January 20, 2026

Contributors:

Matthew Gira

Download the free Bootstrapped Report

The data behind 64 founders who built their businesses to $250k+

Woohoo! Thanks for downloading.
Check your inbox please :)

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Try again!

2025 was a big year for me. I knew some big decisions for me could be on the way and those came to fruition.

But it was also kind of a "meh" year, especially around The Quarter. I definitely tried to do too much with it. Whoops lol

Here's what I was expecting in 2025, what actually happened, and what's coming in 2026!

My Goals for 2025

‍

I had three big goals:

10,000 subscribers
- 10,000 YouTube subscribers
- 10,000 newsletter subscribers
26 deep dives (one every other week)
$20k+ in revenue

The deep dives were working well in 2024, so I thought maybe one would take off on YouTube and create a snowball effect.

That didn't happen.

Midway through the year, I stopped posting video content and switched to written deep dives only, largely because I was making some big life decisions, more on that in a little bit!

What Actually Happened

‍

YouTube: 3,400 → 3,900 subscribers (not bad for basically stopping videos for six months)
Newsletter: 849 → 1,272 subscribers (plus people actually started replying!)
Deep dives: 16 published (down from the goal of 26)
Revenue: ~$5k (all from affiliate links)

The newsletter growth was my favorite part. People started replying and engaging, which hadn't happened before.

For the deep dives, I shifted to mostly written pieces with video clips embedded. The full YouTube videos are too much of a lift for me with a full-time job and starting to make some life moves. YouTube is still a long-term play for me, but it's on cruise control for now.

The $5k in affiliate revenue means the software I use is paid for. That's pretty cool.

The strategies I expected to use for 2025

The Bootstrapped Report cover featuring Matt Gira asking 'It took how long?' with subtitle: The data behind 64 founders who built their businesses to $250k+ in annual revenue without venture capital

‍

One strategy I expected to use was to create one amazing lead magnet. I accomplished that strategy out of the gate for 2025.

I launched the Bootstrapped Report last January to be a great lead magnet and a great resource for founders. It’s helped me have something to talk about whenever I get asked to do a workshop or an interview and gave me a lot more context about how bootstrapped businesses are built from $0 to $250k.

I learned a lot from it and I think a lot of other founders did too.

Now, I expected to also use the concept of borrowing audiences where I would do newsletter swaps, go do more podcast interviews and just be more collaborative with other creators.

I did that a little but, but didn’t do it as much as I would have liked.

Pivoting to another experiment: LinkedIn

LinkedIn analytics dashboard showing content posted every workday from August 4th to December 12th, 2025, with 154,955 impressions and 40,897 members reached

With a big life decision being made, I ended up making the pivot to focus on LinkedIn in August. I wanted to post every work day from August 4th to at least December 1st to see if posting that much would have an impact on newsletter subscribers and audience growth in general.

The results: 154,000 impressions, reached over 40,000 people, and over 70 new email subscribers.

Not bad. Especially since the effort wasn’t enormous. It was still a lot, but not like what I was doing with my YouTube content.

The Big Decision

Two photos side by side: Matt speaking on stage at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale, and Matt standing outside Bamboo's new Grand Rapids location storefront

‍

In June, I decided it was time to start making my way back to the Midwest and leave my role at Yale where I led student entrepreneurship.

In pretty much perfect timing, I ended up going back to a city I never thought I’d ever go back to: Grand Rapids, MI where I joined Bamboo full-time to lead their new Grand Rapids location.

Bamboo has coworking spaces to help incubate startups, creators, and small businesses. Historically, Bamboo has always been on the east side of Michigan, but in May 2025, they announced they purchased the old UICA building.

This may sound familiar as I did a deep dive on them back in September!

Joining the Bamboo team has been great and aligns wonderfully with what’s going on with The Quarter. The Quarter will keep on going.

Being back in the Midwest with friends and family has been fun and I now have the space to do what I want with The Quarter.

2026: "Bootstrapped" to "Revenue-First"

I'm shifting from "bootstrapped" language to "revenue-first" language.

“Bootstrapped” isn’t as defined as we all think it is sometimes.

For example, Kit lets customers buy stock from employees every couple years. Some say that means they're not bootstrapped anymore, even though I'd still consider them bootstrapped.

Plus, if you're new to entrepreneurship, "bootstrapped" means nothing to you. It doesn’t make sense without someone explaining it to you.

The mission stays the same: helping founders build companies from $0 to $250k. Ultimately, to help founders and communities be healthier. Founders can have more socio-economic movement and better lives generally and communities are healthier with founders solving real problems and more vibrancy.

If you decide to raise money after $250k, great. You'll have leverage, you'll understand your business, and you'll have a better understanding if being venture-backed is something you actually want.

But I don't think most founders will raise at that point. I think they'll say "we're actually good" and keep going.

The 2026 Plan

2026 strategic plan showing three phases: Revenue-first vs. bootstrapped to $250k, Q1-Q2 launch of local chapter network with goal of 3 chapters by EOY, and Q3-Q4 launch of paid community platform with goal of 50 members by EOY

I'm breaking the year into two parts:

Q1-Q2: Local Chapter Network

Less new content from me online. I'll do at least one new deep dive or piece per month until June, but the focus is getting people together in person.

Starting in Grand Rapids at Bamboo: every Thursday at 7:30 AM, founders meet in groups of 3-5 to work through challenges. How to grow, how to solve problems, all of it.

The power is in getting founders in the same room so they don't feel alone and can solve things faster. Someone next to you might've solved that exact problem two months ago.

Goal: three chapters by end of year to create a network across the country (maybe the world).

Q3-Q4: Paid Community Platform

After building local chapters, I'll launch a paid online community platform to connect them all.

It'll be affordable with different tiers, helping chapters connect online for mentorship and deeper support beyond Thursday mornings.

Goal: 50 members by end of the year.

Going Back to My Roots

This means I'll be quieter online in 2026. Still doing the newsletter and LinkedIn posts, but less YouTube content.

I'm going back to my grassroots approach: building community and ecosystems in person.

Join Me in Person!

The Quarter Mornings event registration page showing details for Wednesday, February 4th at 7:30-8:30 AM at Bamboo Grand Rapids, describing a weekly peer group for founders building from $0 to $250k

If you're in Grand Rapids, sign up for The Quarter Mornings. Thursdays at 7:30 AM at Bamboo.

Totally free. Coffee and snacks provided.

Come meet other founders going from zero to $250k in annual revenue.