Reflections from 2025

I promised I’d write a reflections email before the end of the year.

So here it is.

After this, I’m taking the next two weeks fully off.

In today's newsletter:

• My biggest shift as a founder
• What worked for Zmist & Copy in 2025
• What didn't work
• Some lessons and what I'm taking into 2026

The biggest shift I made as a founder this year

Last year I had a baby and still couldn't miss a single client call. This year, I intentionally tried to make my team more independent from me. 

Started small. Skipped one interview. Nothing burned down. Then bigger moves. Had Julia run CEO thought leadership on LinkedIn. Client loved it.

This year, I worked on formalizing roles and letting people own their areas.

I won’t pretend I suddenly became a hands-off founder. I didn’t. I’m still very involved. But I have more free space. The team has grown. People take responsibility without waiting for me to jump in.

It’s not perfect yet. But I’m proud of how far we’ve come.

What worked for Zmist & Copy in 2025 (and what didn’t)

What worked:

• Doubled the number of clients.
• Revenue increased by 62%.
• Worked on 12 big positioning projects. I’m proud of this service. It’s relatively new, and we do it really well.
• Doubled down on what we do best: content strategy, thought leadership, sales copy, case studies.
• Launched Context Engine. Our own approach to creating content that builds a brand in the AI era. This changed how we think about content strategy and noticeably improved our work.
• Leveled up in AI visibility as a growth channel.
• Built internal AI content systems trained on client use cases (and even sold one of these systems to a client, which we now plan to scale).
  
  

What didn’t work

• Published only one new case study. That has to change.
• Still getting 100% of leads through my personal network. 
• Didn’t grow the team much.
• Lost two clients (because I said yes when I should have said no).

The most important lesson I learned as a founder in 2025

Never stop.

Never stop learning.

Never stop studying companies and people who truly crush it.

Never stop improving your service.

Grow emotionally, not just in skills or knowledge. Productize wherever you can (that’s the next frontier for us).

And above all: Keep the best people in the boat.

What I’m taking into 2026

Trust what you’re building. Play the long game.

See you next week

Thanks for reading this newsletter this year! I’m offline for the next two weeks.

See you in 2026.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

‍

Kateryna

P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.

P.P.S. Need help with quality content? Zmistify your content with Zmist & Copy