Basecamp

Basecamp has operated with voluntary caloric restriction for 25 years. The company maintains 50-60 employees while serving millions of customers and generating an estimated $50-100 million in annual revenue - $300,000+ per employee, far exceeding industry benchmarks. Zero venture capital, no sales team, no office (remote-first since founding in 1999), and a 4-day summer workweek. Founders Jason Fried and DHH rejected over 100 VC investment offers. This isn't accidental; it's strategy.

Restriction enables differentiation that growth prevents. The seasonal 4-day workweek (32 hours May-October, 40 hours November-April) aligns with biological productivity rhythms, contributing to exceptional retention (<5% turnover versus 13% industry average) and satisfaction (92 NPS). The 'calm company' culture - no overtime, reasonable hours, sustainable pace - gets reinforced every quarter for over a decade, fighting signal decay. By rejecting VC, Basecamp avoided the hypergrowth pressures that force companies into porous hiring, feature bloat, and market chasing. They could be 10× larger with venture funding but ceded the enterprise market to Asana and Monday. The trade-off: 68 consecutive profitable quarters, founder control, and targeting customers tired of VC chaos who value stability over features.

The lesson: restriction extends organizational lifespan. Companies optimizing for scale compress time - grow fast, exit, move on. Basecamp optimized for decades of sustainable profitability. Most software companies die within 10 years; Basecamp has been profitable for 25. The constraint isn't weakness - it's discipline that creates space for quality, retention, and longevity. You can scale to unicorn status or compound quietly for decades. Very few can do both.