One of my favorite side effects of AI is that it's making the web much more open again. For over a decade we've seen platforms increasingly become walled gardens. AI has created pressure for interoperability and we're finally seeing open standards and APIs being embraced again.

I've been practicing Japanese again (I lived there as a kid and picked it up again during university, but have lost a lot of it since). I've found out a formula I'm enjoying: daily flash cards (WaniKani is awesome) combined with a show in Japanese with English subtitles I watch a few nights a week.

We've recently shifted our AI strategy at Buffer. Rather than packing AI features into the product, our focus is making Buffer great to use with AI. It's about flexibility, interoperability and extensibility. We're making Buffer delightful to use and build upon.

The more comfortable you feel sharing your strategy openly, the stronger it likely is. If you feel worried about competitors knowing your strategy, it's probably weak.

Testing out @j4ck.xyz’s Buffer menu bar app! Built with the new Buffer API 😄 github.com/j4ckxyz/Buff...

pushed the first version of Buffer Mac to GitHub :) - tangled coming soon 👀 github.com/j4ckxyz/Buff... working on a better app icon + versioning system right now! #bufferAPI

WIP menu bar app for the Mac which lets you instantly post to your configured social profiles via @buffer.com with the new #BufferAPI! gonna fix some annoying last things, then i'll release it on GitHub + Tangled :)

Buffer's API is here. Whether you want to build workflows and agents for your social, build social sharing into your product, or a tool on top of the Buffer platform and userbase, we've got you covered.

Within 6 to 12 months, every software product will need an API, MCP, and CLI. More and more, people expect to be able to interact with your product through automation, AI and agents. Historically, platform was a later stage play. Going forward, you won't thrive in this new world without a platform.

Today we crossed $25M in ARR at Buffer, a significant milestone for us 🎉 This one has extra meaning for me because now that we're above $25M we're closer to $30M than we are to $20M. This comes after spending literally ~8 years around that $20M number.

For transparency to be a genuine value of an organization, it cannot simply be something you join and benefit from. It requires active participation and contribution. This should stretch everyone. It should feel a little uncomfortable because transparency is not easy, but the benefits are real.

People see growth and profitability as a tradeoff: when you dial one up, you turn the dial down on the other. In my experience, the times we've grown the fastest have also been the times we've been the most profitable.

A healthy freemium base is a growth savings account. Every month a portion upgrades. Remove the free plan and you get a one-time cash-out that looks like growth, but you're really just stealing from your future.

I feel like there needs to be an iOS ssh client that has voice-first input. I'd love to keep my Claude Code sessions going via mobile just by talking. Does this exist yet?

I send a regular newsletter with my recent posts, links I've saved, highlights from what I'm reading, the latest Buffer news, and something that's been on my mind. I sent my latest edition a couple of days ago, take a read here and subscribe: joel.is/newsletter/m...

Don't backfill by default

March 13, 2026

joel.is

Michael Porter's productivity frontier concept is playing out in real-time. We have 1-2 years where the frontier is getting pushed out by AI before it settles. We get to decide: wait for best practices to emerge, or engage in rebuilding? At Buffer we're choosing to be in the mess of the frontier.

I'm happy to share that the brand new Buffer API is in Public Beta 🎉 Use it for personal automations or to create enhancements to Buffer. It works via MCP, with n8n, or build with it using Claude Code / Codex. Note: this is a beta with limited functionality exposed. Much more to come!

Something I've been having fun with recently: I've been building custom AI agents that help me with my GTD weekly reviews and my time blocking my days. I already had my GTD productivity system pretty well documented in Obsidian, and I had Claude Code create agents based on the documentation.

I'm delighted to share that 2025 was one of Buffer's strongest years in our 15-year history. Key results for the year: - $23.4M Annual Run Rate (+20%) - 69,764 Paying Customers (+22%) - 195,928 Monthly Active Users (+19%) - $2.51M Net Income (+1,142%)

A pattern I've noticed as a CEO is that people will sometimes try to save me time by presenting just the specific question or items they're hoping to get sign off on. 🧵 A few thoughts on this:

Buffer just turned 15 years old! And we're fortunate to be closing out our best year in the past 7. We have 69,000 customers, a $23M annual run rate, and will achieve over $2M in profit in 2025. To mark 15 years of Buffer, here are 15 of the key lessons I've leaned first hand as a founder CEO:

Today we're launching Community, which we've built to help you to stay on top of comments and replies across all your social channels. Available now on all Buffer plans, including our free plan.

Buffer is largely known as a social media scheduling tool. For publishing posts. And we do a great job of that. But for years now, I've known that posting is only part of the equation. We've been working hard on something new. Coming this Wednesday, November 12.

“When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically, people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work.” – Charles Duhigg

This is one of my favorite charts at Buffer right now. It's the chart of our number of paying customers. It might look like we've just experienced awful churn, but that's not what it is. Those drops are when we proactively cancelled subscriptions for some of our inactive customers.

Yesterday I sent the Buffer shareholder update with August results to ~80 alumni and investors. August 2025 key metrics: - MRR: $1,854,462 (+0.88%) - ARR: $22,253,545 (+0.88%) - Customers: 65,815 (+0.69%) - MAU: 185,129 (-3.33%) - ARPU: $28.17 (+0.18%) - Net Income: $296,544.16 (+9.37%)

A great strategy should lead to strong differentiation and lasting results. Ensuring the strategy and culture are aligned can enhance execution and enable you to create something really special.

A fun fact to share from Buffer's July financials: our net profit for July 2025 was $271K, which is more than our total profit for the whole of 2024 (and in fact any year since 2020). I can wholeheartedly say we achieved this by getting hyper-focused on serving customers 🚀

If as a founder of a growing company you’re not working with a coach (even better, a therapist too), you’re most likely not uncovering your own flaws and ingrained issues that will ultimately hold back the business sooner or later.

There are a few beliefs I've followed as I've built Buffer. One of them is that as I attain personal freedoms through the success of Buffer, I aim to extend those same freedoms to the team. Here are a few examples 🧵 ⬇️