Buffer shows how transparency really works

So yesterday I was chatting with a founder who was bragging about how they're "building in public" because they tweet about their revenue once a quarter.

I nearly spat out my ₹280 coffee.

Everyone talks a big game about transparency these days. It's the buzzword that launched a thousand Twitter threads. But while everyone's busy crafting the perfect "authentic" post about their journey, Buffer has been quietly revolutionizing what business transparency actually means since 2013.

Just for the record, I'm in no way affiliated with Buffer and I've just been a happy customer for quite some time now.

Back when I started Stupidpreneur, I was really nervous about sharing our numbers, and honestly, I still feel that way sometimes.

What if people thought we were too small? Too unprofitable? But here's Buffer, casually dropping that they make $1.9M in monthly recurring revenue, have 194,011 active users, and their CEO makes $301,860 a year.

What fascinates me most isn't just the salary transparency (though seeing their $160K average salary is eye-opening). It's how deeply transparency is into their entire DNA.

Their product roadmap? Public.
Their revenue allocation? 73% to salaries with zero profit.
Customer support metrics? Yep, those too — first replies in 2 hours with 91.5% satisfaction.

And they're not just open about business metrics. They've built a genuinely human workplace — running a global team on a four-day workweek, offering $3K yearly per child as a dependent grant, and actually paying candidates for trial workdays.

They even encourage side projects, with team members running their own businesses or writing books.

What I've learned watching Buffer is that real transparency isn't a marketing tactic — it's a complete operating system.

It's not about selectively sharing wins; it's about building systems where everyone sees everything – the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable.

The next time you're deciding how open to be with your team or customers, ask yourself: am I being transparent because it's trendy, or because it makes us better?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you experimented with more transparency in your business?

Until tomorrow,
— Shashank

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