Obsidian：7人团队、零风投的笔记应用，靠卖本地Markdown文件做到约2500万美元年经常性收入

做的是什么生意

Obsidian is a free, local-first Markdown note-taking app with paid add-ons (Sync, Publish, Catalyst) and a plugin ecosystem; revenue comes from optional services and licenses.

启动资金：No external funding: self-funded by the founders and profitable from day one (company statements cited 2026).

起因

In March 2020, University of Waterloo alumni Erica Xu and Shida Li — who had already built the outliner Dynalist — were stuck in quarantine and unhappy with every note app they tried. They wanted speed, offline access, and data that would outlive any company, so they wrote the first beta of Obsidian (first code: January 31, 2020).

经过

The app grew through word of mouth and a plugin ecosystem; super-user Steph Ango joined as CEO. Paid Sync and Publish services funded everything. In August 2023 the team publicly committed to three rules: never grow past 10–12 people, never take VC, and never collect user data.

结果

Still running and scaling as of September 2026 with a team of about seven to nine full-time people (plus a cat), millions of users, and an estimated ~$25M ARR.

可借鉴之处

数据所有权可以成为产品：当用户可以随时离开时，信任就成了护城河，一个微型团队通过为便利而非锁定期收费，收入超过了风投支持的竞争对手。