Building something from nothing

It's been almost a year since starting a company that lives entirely on the internet.

Not long ago, building a business required a place of business.

You simply could not put a company, its staff and materials nowhere.

For most of modern history, it was the physicality of a thing that made it real.

Then came the dot-com era. To the innovators and dreamers, the internet suddenly passed as a viable “somewhere,” while skeptics still categorized it as “nowhere.”

The barrier to starting a business compressed so rapidly that most fledgling companies in that time were not resilient enough to survive the bubble once it burst.

All that cheap, undisciplined capital did fuel speculation, but it also afforded attractive financing for scores of obscure web projects that would not have otherwise caught oxygen.

Most died. But a few turned into the multi-billion dollar companies that helped shape much of the “nowhere” that is the internet we know today.

I’ve thought about those early dot-com companies a great deal of late because my media startup Opening Bell Daily — which neither has a physical location nor features anything beyond a screen — just launched its first paid product.

It’s called the Best Ideas Club. We’ll send members a research report every week unpacking the single best idea of a world-class investor.

(You can read more about it here.)

Now, paying to access information is not a novel concept. Yet I’ve had a bear of a day wrapping my head around how our web-based company invented and launched a new web-based product for people who, of course, exist in the physical world.

The product is virtual, but it’s nonetheless as real as anything you could put in your hand or throw across a room — real enough to generate buzz, intrigue and revenue.

Only in very recent history has “nowhere” become as tangible as “somewhere.” That shouldn’t be an epiphany for anyone in 2025, but I’ve caught myself wondering about the idea for weeks.

It’s an odd thing to mull over.

No storefront, warehouse or ceilings. There’s a sort of weightlessness to running a business that exists entirely online. If I don’t have my smartphone with me, the only thing I can show off is my business card.

Still, every new newsletter subscriber and product launch serves as a reminder that, even without an anchor to a specific place or physicality, the company is alive and resonant.

There’s a paradox here. Some days the whole operation feels invisible and untethered. Then I remember the work it has taken to earn the trust of thousands of readers.

Maybe that’s a more sturdy measure of success.

Not whether a business takes up space, but whether it creates it for others.

Less focus on whether a business is tangible, but whether it’s undeniable.

Thanks for reading. I’ll talk to you soon.

(If you want to join our Best Ideas Club, secure your spot with this 34% off discounted link.)

Phil Rosen,
Co-founder and editor-in-chief, Opening Bell Daily