Tiny (formerly Tiny Capital)

In 2013, Andrew Wilkinson and Chris Stavitsky read about Warren Buffett's approach to business and realized they'd been doing things the hard way. Rather than repeatedly starting new ventures that mostly failed—like dropshipping, restaurants, and skincare companies—they could apply Buffett's principle of buying already-working businesses and improving them. Wilkinson had just built MetaLab, a design agency that would eventually generate hundreds of millions in lifetime profits. He and Stavitsky decided to take roughly $4-5 million in profits from MetaLab and start a new vehicle they'd call Tiny to acquire and operate these "wonderful businesses."

The founding thesis was elegant: avoid the chaos and failure rate of starting from zero. Instead, acquire profitable, unglamorous businesses—the kind that had predictable cash flows but were often overlooked by venture capital. Over the next decade, they applied what Wilkinson calls "Buffett's playbook for the internet." They acquired businesses like AeroPress (coffee maker brand), Letterboxd (film social network), and many others, always looking for companies with strong unit economics, loyal customer bases, and room for operational improvement. The company remained bootstrapped and profitable at each stage.

Tiny's success came from disciplined capital allocation and operational expertise. By 2023, before going public, the portfolio companies had grown to generate nearly $250 million in revenue with $40+ million in EBITDA. The earnings compound at roughly 25% annually. Critically, every business in the portfolio is profitable—no cash-burning ventures. Wilkinson's experience running MetaLab and experimenting with failed business models gave him the pattern-recognition ability to spot quality businesses and see where they could be improved. The company also launched a $200 million fund to invest in other companies, with $40 million of its own capital.

In 2023, Tiny went public via reverse merger. The stock initially surged in 2021 during the peak SPAC era, then faced a downward trend, inviting criticism on Twitter from observers who questioned whether Wilkinson's "Warren Buffett of the internet" positioning was real. However, the fundamentals tell a different story: $65 million ARR, $40+ million EBITDA, 30 profitable businesses, and $300+ million in total revenue across all holdings. Wilkinson remains unbothered, pointing out that if this is "failing," most entrepreneurs should sign up for the same problem.