Frequently Asked Questions

A free, public board of one-person companies and a community where solo founders swap ideas and cheer each other on. The headline is the race to the first billion-dollar one-person company; the real work happens at the milestones on the way.

No. Entering is free and there are no cash prizes. The rewards are recognition: badges, the board, the weekly featured-founder press release, our stories and the yearly Vibesies awards.

One human owner who does the work, and nobody else working for the company full-time, whether on payroll or as a contractor. Freelancers hired for a particular job are fine, and software and AI agents are encouraged.

Yes. Companies with no revenue yet sit on the starting line, and your first revenue earns your first milestone.

The first 100 companies to enter carry a numbered Founding entrant badge for good.

A company valued at $1 billion by our yardstick, four times yearly revenue: about $250 million a year, while still a company of one. We will verify it before anyone celebrates.

In a Facebook Group for owners and a Discord server for builders, plus the updates and stories on this site. The same house rules apply everywhere: be generous, celebrate others, honest numbers, no pitching.

From your dashboard, under Share a story. We read every one and help the best become Stories on the site, always with your approval before anything is published.

From your dashboard you can post up to four short updates a month about what you shipped, learned or need help with. Each company page also has a Share button, so you can send it to friends and customers or post it on social media with its own picture card.

No. PrivateChief presents and pays for The Vibesies, but you never need it to take part, and it does not change your range. Companies that run on it get a badge and can be verified free from their PrivateChief Books.

A Chief of Staff for small businesses: it keeps the books, sorts the inbox, runs the calendar, looks after customers and helps with marketing, and briefs the owner every morning. See privatechief.com/business.

Each week we choose one founder with an interesting story and ask whether we may feature them. If they say yes, they give us a quote, we write the release, and they approve every word before it is published on The Vibesies and sent to journalists who cover founders and small business.

Enter, keep your company page interesting and post the odd update. You can tick "I would like to be considered" on your dashboard. Nobody is featured, or asked, twice.

That we have seen evidence for your range. Every figure starts as self-reported, and we trust founders to be honest; a Verified badge shows other founders and journalists that we checked. Only the badge is published, never the figures.

If your company runs on PrivateChief, it is free: you let us look at the revenue totals in your PrivateChief Books for the last three months. For any other company, an independent review of statements you send us is opening soon.

A year, as long as you stay in the range we checked. If you move to a different range, the badge comes off until we check the new one.

Never. You enter your average monthly revenue privately. The board shows only the range your company's value falls in, such as "$100K – $250K". The ranges are deliberately wide.

The same simple way for everyone: your monthly revenue times 12 gives a year, and four times that is your value. It is not an appraisal, just a fair yardstick so that every company can be compared the same way.

Everything customers pay you in a typical month, however they pay: card payments, bank transfers, PayPal, invoices. Use an average of the last three months if your months vary.

Each time your company moves into a higher range for the first time, you earn a milestone badge and the community gets to cheer it. Badges stay even if a later month is quieter.

Yes, any time from your dashboard. Update your average monthly revenue whenever it changes and your range moves with it; your exact figure is still never shown. If you reach a higher range for the first time, you earn a new milestone.