Ideas, tools, and real-world strategies for people building a business on their own terms. No hype. No growth-at-all-costs mindset. Just thoughtful momentum—one step at a time.
Build a business that lets you make a living doing the work you’d do anyway.
Welcome to Niche Navigation—a newsletter for people who want to build a real business that fits their life, not someone else’s playbook.
“What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or else to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thing.” —Phil Knight
That’s the ambition this newsletter is here to support. It’s about navigating uncertainty with curiosity, structure, and intent—building momentum through thoughtful action, not hype.
Each issue shares tools, questions, and examples that help make sense of the journey: from earning insights and testing ideas to designing a business model that reflects your priorities.
Some of the themes we explore:
Earned secrets: noticing what others miss, and testing whether it matters
The Curiosity Flywheel: turning intrinsic motivation into autonomy and income
Paths to traction: from fuzzy idea to real-world momentum
Business model design: work structured around your goals, not someone else’s agenda
Making decisions in uncertainty: moving forward even when the path isn’t obvious
The thinking here is closely connected to ClimbWorks, a membership community I founded for people building their business on their own terms. We call it an Unaccelerator—designed for those who want support, clarity, and progress without giving up ownership or chasing someone else’s definition of success.
If these ideas resonate, please subscribe. This is a space for independent thinkers, quiet builders, and anyone trying to create something meaningful at their own pace.
About me:
I’m Paul. I’ve spent the last two decades helping people design and grow startups—first as co-founder of FastForward, London’s first pre-accelerator, and now through ClimbWorks. I’m most interested in how to convert curiosity into traction, and make autonomy and agency sustainable.
You can find me on LinkedIn or at climb.works.
