About Small Start

Small Start is a Japanese case-study media covering the real numbers of solo founders, side businesses and small teams — both businesses that are profitably operating and businesses that have been sold (exits).

The site is run by a handful of volunteers. None of us do this full time; we write, check figures and fix the site around other jobs. We are not a company, so we do not publish the names or CVs of individual writers. Write to [email protected] and it reaches us.

How an article gets made: we look for public information, and only consider a business if its monthly revenue or sale price is stated as an actual figure. We then go to the source itself to confirm each number, and anything we cannot confirm does not go in. Amounts, team structure and acquisition channels are recorded as structured fields on each article, and the aggregate figures on the data page are calculated from those fields. The English, Chinese and Korean editions are translated from the Japanese original and inherit its numbers and classifications.

We are equally clear about what we leave out: businesses whose sources we cannot reach, businesses that have not published a figure, and one-off windfalls rather than continuing operations. Whether a case runs, and how its numbers are handled, is decided by a person.

We do not conduct interviews. Articles summarize information the founders themselves made public (blogs, social media, podcasts, marketplace listings) and reporting published by news outlets and trade media. Each source is labelled "Founder" or "Reported" so you can tell which is which, and every article links out to its sources. All figures are as of the cited sources.

Quotation is kept to the minimum needed; facts are rewritten in our own words. We do not republish articles in full, copy charts or photographs, imitate another outlet’s structure, use figures locked behind paywalls, or take from sources whose terms forbid reuse. Rights in the cited works remain with their owners — if a rights holder contacts us, we will correct or remove the material promptly.

Scope: individuals and teams up to roughly 10 people, bootstrapped or funded. We do not cover large VC-backed startups.

This site displays affiliate advertising, including the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Small Start earns from qualifying purchases. Using an affiliate link never costs you more, and advertising revenue never affects which cases we cover or how we assess them.

Corrections policy: responsibility for articles lies with the editorial team as a whole rather than any named individual. When an error in a figure or fact comes to light, we re-check it against the sources, correct the article and display the updated date on it. Corrections that affect an article’s conclusion — an order of magnitude, a business’s status — are noted visibly in the body. When something significant happens to a covered business later (a sale, a closure, new figures), we update the existing article rather than writing a second one.

For removal or correction requests regarding content about you, contact [email protected] and we will respond promptly.