Tactical insights for first-time founders to outsmart the burn, the churn & the breakdown.

Hey Founder,

Ever look at another company and think, “How the hell are they scaling so smoothly?”

Same. For years, I thought there had to be a cheat code.

Turns out, there is, just not the kind you think.

It’s the flywheel, the quiet engine behind Amazon, Netflix, Canva… the reason their growth feels effortless.

It’s not a funnel. Not a one-time campaign.

It’s a loop where every win fuels the next. Product → marketing → ops → hiring → back to product.

Over and over again.

Today’s issue breaks down how to build that loop inside your business, so growth stops feeling like a push and starts feeling like momentum.

Ready? Let’s spin the wheel.

Picture this: a loop so tight that every win fuels the next, until momentum takes over and growth starts running on glide, not grit.

Amazon nailed it back in 2001. That messy sketch from Jeff Bezos? Not a doodle, an empire in motion.

More selection → more customers → more data → better recommendations → more sellers → even more selection.

Each spin made the next one easier, until Borders never stood a chance.

Netflix runs the same play: Great content → more subscribers → richer data → smarter recommendations → stickier users.

Then they drop a Beyoncé doc and the loop goes wild again.

“Okay, Mariya, sounds cool in theory, but why do I need a flywheel?”

Because it gives you what every founder is chasing: stability, predictability, and growth that compounds instead of burns you out.

Most founders obsess over funnels (ads, launches, email drips) and still wonder why growth feels like pushing a boulder uphill.

Funnels end. Flywheels compound.

Funnels chase the next customer.

Flywheels turn every customer into the next growth loop: referrals, content, retention, brand gravity.

That’s how Atlassian scaled without a sales team.

That’s how Canva grew from a design tool into a movement.

That’s how ChatGPT hit 100M users.

Most people think flywheels live in marketing decks or product launches. They don’t. 

The best ones hum quietly inside your ops, your content, your community, the parts of your business that already work, just not together yet.

Take Glossier. Emily Weiss didn’t spend millions on ads. She started with a blog, Into The Gloss, where real people shared routines, stories, and raw feedback.

That community became her R&D team, content sparked community, community shaped products. products fueled even deeper loyalty. Every loop made the next easier.

Her audience wasn’t just watching the brand grow, they were building it.

Same story with Notion. Templates weren’t a growth tactic, they were a flywheel in disguise. One person shares a template → someone customizes it → they share theirs → new users join. Each loop spins faster until growth feels inevitable.

Flywheels don’t announce themselves. They compound quietly, until suddenly, they look like momentum you could never buy.

1. Map Your Wheel

Don’t invent, observe. Your flywheel already exists in the flow that naturally repeats. Sketch the 3–5 steps that feed each other.

2. Kill Friction, Fast

Every slowdown kills compounding.

List the exact points where customers stall: pricing confusion, clunky onboarding, slow replies.

Atlassian treated handoffs like code bugs. Shopify killed setup friction so hard you could launch a store before finishing your coffee.

Erase one friction point per week. Small deletions create speed.

3. Add Force Where It Counts

Once the loop flows, give it a push. Fresh content, referral nudges, smarter upsells, new partnerships, these are your accelerators.

Zoom’s free calls were pure flywheel fuel: no marketing, just usage driving word-of-mouth velocity.

4. Assign Ownership

Unowned loops die. Give each stage a clear owner: marketing, product, support.

If you’re solo, wear each hat intentionally. Know when you’re the marketer and when you’re the operator.

Every turn of the wheel needs a driver.

5. Measure Spins, Not Spikes

Leads and likes are noise. The real metric: how much of your growth comes from flywheel motion: referrals, upgrades, repeat buys.

That percentage is your health score. The higher it gets, the less you rely on hustle.

Make the first step effortless, document every repeatable win, and let momentum take over.

Inbox Gem:

If we were chatting over coffee, I’d say: not yet.

Profit sharing works when profits are predictable, not fragile.

Here’s the quick playbook:

1. Wait for stability: Hold off until your net profit margin (after tax) stays above 40–50% for at least two years.

2. Set a clear pool: When ready, dedicate 10–30% of annual net profit to W2 employees with 1+ year tenure. Tier it by role, leaders earn more, everyone shares upside.

3. Bridge with bonuses: Until then, use quarterly performance bonuses tied to company KPIs and team goals.

The truth: Profit sharing isn’t a morale hack.

It’s what you earn after building financial muscle.

Send it my way, just hit reply.

This week’s finds worth your time:

Before you go…

At first, you push the wheel.

If you’ve built it right, one day, it starts pulling you.

That’s the moment growth stops being a chase and becomes momentum.

Even one working loop, a user inviting teammates, a buyer coming back unprompted, is a moat. Protect it. Refine it. Spin it faster.

See you next Thursday,

— Mariya

Hit reply and let me know. I read every single one (for real).

Hey, I’m Mariya, a startup CFO and founder of FounderFirst. After 10 years working alongside founders at early and growth-stage startups, I know how tough it is to make the right calls when resources are tight and the stakes are high. I started this newsletter to share the practical playbook I wish every founder had from day one, packed with lessons I’ve learned (and mistakes I’ve made) helping teams scale.

Mariya Valeva

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