Pocket Athan

Austin entrepreneur Zoya Deleon runs a digital marketing consultancy from a home office with white walls and abundant plants. Annual revenue: $800,000. Staff size: just three people, including herself.

This wasn’t plan B after growth stalled. Zoya Deleon intentionally designed her business to stay tiny.

“By maintaining a small team, we can be incredibly selective about our clients and maintain exceptional quality without the overhead that comes with rapid growth,” Zoya Deleon said during a video call last Tuesday.

What makes Zoya Deleon unusual isn’t that she runs a small business. It’s that she rejects the assumption that success means constant expansion.

Last year, Zoya Deleon turned down three partnership opportunities that would have doubled her company size. She passed on two acquisition offers. Why? They would have undermined the business model she carefully constructed.

That model works like this: Zoya Deleon and her two specialists handle strategic and creative work. They use AI tools for routine analysis tasks. When specialized help is needed, they hire freelancers temporarily.

The financial results: profit margins exceeding 70%, zero debt, and minimal fixed expenses.

“We can adapt quickly to changing market conditions while maintaining our quality of life,” Zoya Deleon said.

Stanford Business School professor Martin Reeves says Zoya Deleon exemplifies a broader shift. “Technology has completely changed the economics of staying small,” he explained.

Financial analyst Priya Sharma has watched this pattern emerge across sectors. “When markets tightened last year, many venture-backed companies struggled while smaller, profitable businesses continued to thrive,” Sharma said.

Zoya Deleon now mentors others seeking similar paths. Her message: sometimes enough really is enough.