Welcome to The Flywheel 🎡

A fun, thoughtful analysis of the world's most interesting companies, every other Tuesday.

The Flywheel: A witty, approachable, and informative dive into the most interesting companies in the world.

A free, periodic newsletter that puts you in the conversation. Learn what makes the difference between a company thriving and stagnating.

• Over 5,000 top investors, thinkers, and entrepreneurs receive The Flywheel every other week.

• Each article is a deep dive into one company.

• The topic is chosen, researched, and written by Jake Singer, an ex-Amazon Product Manager who loves thinking about flywheels.

• Featuring: hand drawn flywheel diagrams.

Elizabeth Yin @dunkhippo33

Another great post by Jake Singer! Flywheel continues to be one of my favorite new newsletters. Subscribe if you haven't already - he dissects companies really well!

Jake Singer @jakesing_

Since there’s not much going on today, figured I’d drop a new Flywheel! This one is about @zillow and their massive pivot towards instant offers. Take a few minutes to distract yourself from the election and check it out 👇🏼👇🏼 https://t.co/uQwfDWuEmx

Subscribe now! It’s 100% free, and it’s super easy to unsubscribe if it’s not for you.

About The Flywheel

The Flywheel started in August 2020 when Jake was leaving his job at Amazon. While there, he became drawn (no pun intended) to the concept of the flywheel, which is used internally to describe the components that lead to increasing, accelerating growth. The canonical Amazon flywheel looks like this:

Jake realized that the same framework could be applied to other companies, and he was riding his Peloton a lot in those days. Thus, The Flywheel’s first post was born.

Leo Polovets @lpolovets

This new substack on business model flywheels looks cool. theflywheel.substack.com

Zoe Scaman @zoescaman

@NickChilds I guess it depends on how they approach their content strategy - if they turn their trainers into celebs, build fandoms, it becomes far more sticky. This is a good piece on the potential of that.

theflywheel.substack.comPeloton’s Food Network Opportunity - The FlywheelWhy Peloton should be more focused on turning their instructors into stars and their users into fans.

Since then he’s written posts about Stitch Fix, Zillow, DoorDash, Lululemon, and Zoom.

Elizabeth Yin @dunkhippo33

I loved this -- most ppl think SFIX is a clothing co. But its moat is in processing data to make better recommendations over time. Eventually even recommendations that go beyond clothing. How do you think about honing your moat to give you edge?

theflywheel.substack.comStitch Fix’s Long Thread - The FlywheelWhy Stitch Fix might be an overnight success, decades in the making.

Packy McCormick @packyM

Another excellent Flywheels from @jakesing_ on one of my favorite subjects: $Z v $IPOB in iBuying. "The main trouble for Zillow is that the iBuying flywheel—from what I can tell—doesn’t really feed back into the main flywheel."

theflywheel.substack.comZillow and the Innovator’s Dilemma - The FlywheelWhy Zillow was willing to blow up a perfectly fine flywheel for a much more complex and risky one.

Kushaan Shah @kushaanshah

I've long been skeptical of brand equity within food delivery, just given the number of players in that market. @jakesing_ articulates my concerns beautifully in this really great piece about the DoorDash flywheel:

theflywheel.substack.comDoorDash Delivers a Fairy-Tale Flywheel - The FlywheelWhy DoorDash’s self-proclaimed flywheel is overly optimistic as we head into The Great Restaurant Renaissance.

What is a Flywheel?

In a simple graphic, a flywheel explains the success formula for a company or system. As X increases, it leads to more of Y, which in turn increases Z. As Z increases it flows back to X and the cycle begins anew. I believe that behind every successful company is a flywheel that is well understood—at least internally.

A company’s flywheel explains why it becomes easier to run a business as it continues to operate. Like compounding interest, investments in one area of the business flow through to every other area of the business. These set off a series of accumulating advantages that the company enjoys over time. A company that understands its own flywheel can identify where the wheel is spinning smoothly, and where a little bit of grease might come in handy.

Audience Love

The Flywheel is read by top investors and entrepreneurs. Just a selection of some of the twitter love:

Leo Polovets @lpolovets

This new substack on business model flywheels looks cool. theflywheel.substack.com

David Booth @david__booth

I do love a good flywheel. @jakesing_ writes an entire newsletter about them. Honored he took the time to analyze the many interlocking parts of the @beondeck ecosystem — and how to think about what we're building here. This is an amazing read!

Jake Singer @jakesing_

There's a lot of buzz about @beondeck in tech twitter, but what's one more voice adding to the pile? Just published the latest Flywheel where I look at why business school is disruptable, and why I believe On Deck is the one who's going to do it. A brief thread👇👇 https://t.co/JrtD6TOobE

Turner Novak @TurnerNovak

The Stitch Fix Flywheel by @jakesing_

theflywheel.substack.comStitch Fix’s Long Thread - The FlywheelWhy Stitch Fix might be an overnight success, decades in the making.

Packy McCormick @packyM

Another excellent Flywheels from @jakesing_ on one of my favorite subjects: $Z v $IPOB in iBuying. "The main trouble for Zillow is that the iBuying flywheel—from what I can tell—doesn’t really feed back into the main flywheel."

theflywheel.substack.comZillow and the Innovator’s Dilemma - The FlywheelWhy Zillow was willing to blow up a perfectly fine flywheel for a much more complex and risky one.

Mike Duboe @mduboe

👌on SFIX compounding effects @jakesing_ Moving our growth obj fxn from new clients -> successful fixes (retentive high-value clients) was impactful Simple in concept, difficult in practice given long feedback loops. Predictive modeling of client value was key, improved w scale

Jake Singer @jakesing_

When I first tried @stitchfix my stylist picks weren't very good, which made me not want to put in the work to help them improve my recs. Chicken and egg. It made me wonder whether the company was doomed to failure or had a path for success. A brief thread 👇🏼👇🏼 https://t.co/5IyzO6Q6t9

Sar Haribhakti @sarthakgh

Good interview w @david__booth @eriktorenberg on the thinking behind On Deck theflywheel.substack.com/p/interview-er… "If what we want is the very best people to do On Deck, we don’t want to force anybody to give us equity or any other thing that will adversely cause them to self-select out."

theflywheel.substack.comThe Flywheel - Interview with David Booth and Erik Torenberg - On Deck Follow UpI sat down with On Deck’s leadership to chat about their past, present, and future.