Following 9 straight years of growth, Buffer experienced the largest decline in the company’s history. In this candid talk, Buffer’s Founder and CEO, Joel Gascoigne, shares the story of Buffer’s multi-year decline, where Buffer’s ARR dropped 20% over 4 years to $17.1M. Even in this nerve-wracking situation, Joel persisted in leading Buffer to new all-time highs, and Buffer’s ARR now sits at $22.3M. A story 5 years in the making, Joel will share his journey navigating Buffer’s decline and the monumental effort it took to turn it around.
In this talk, Joel will cover:
- Missteps and early warning signs of an emerging plateau
- What it feels like to be in free fall
- Going inward to rediscover purpose and seek a new path
- Steering in a new direction during a decline
- Strengthening culture in the midst of a turnaround
- Achieving all-time-highs our own way
- Embracing differentiation to thrive long-term
Joel Gascoigne
Joel Gascoigne is the Founder CEO of Buffer, which he founded in November 2010. Buffer is a social media toolkit serving over 70,000 creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Today, Buffer is a profitable, remote-first company with a distributed team of over 70 people across 22 countries.
Joel was born and raised in Sheffield, England. He loves to travel and has spent time living in Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, and both coasts of the U.S. He now lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife and two sons. They love to ski, surf, mountain bike, and hike. Joel has spoken at BoS previously on the topic of transparency and growing a business without compromising your principles.