The global pandemic changed nearly everything about our lives—workplaces were closed, industries were turned upside down, and millions were forced to rethink what “career” means. But from this chaos emerged a kind of renaissance.
In basements, spare bedrooms, and yes, garages around the world, a new wave of tech startups was quietly developing. Unlike the venture-funded, unicorn-chasing giants of the past decade, these post-pandemic startups are lean, agile and laser-focused. More importantly, they are showing that you do not have to be in Silicon Valley, or even a physical office, to innovate.
A Return to Roots
Startups birthed in the post-COVID world tend to be self-funded or bootstrapped, and most started by unemployed tech workers, recent graduates, or people leaving the traditional workforce to seek their own startup dreams. Many of these founders know that they do not have much in monetary resources but what they lack in capital, they make up for in resourcefulness: building minimum viable products fast, focusing on real user pain points, and scaling with intent—not just ambition.
Readwise is one example, started as a side project to help users resurface highlights from their Kindle ebooks. All bootstrapped by just two founders and in no time, Readwise has become one of the most popular tools among digital note-takers thanks to its simplicity, focus on a narrow area, and integration into the tools they already use like Notion and Obsidian.
Not to mention the Fathom example; the Zoom integration that can transcribe and summarize meetings in real-time. Again, Fathom was not made with big funding or a large seed round from a hefty accelerator, it began with a small group of founders creating a solution to a perceived need after the move to remote work that built a laser-focused tool that users won over because of its clear utility.
Small Teams, Big Impact
What sets these startups apart isn’t necessarily what they’re building but it’s how they’re doing it. They rollout extremely small teams, often only 2–5 people. They automate what they can or outsource when possible, and they prioritize profits over funding.
The existence of no-code and low-code tools has also helped. Bots like Bubble, Webflow, or Zapier enables teams to unleash complicated applications without a dozen developers. And with open-source frameworks, API-based services, and cloud infrastructure all being more easily obtained it makes sense that the lean startup model is not merely back but thriving.
Reinventing the Obvious: Insights from Online Casinos
But lean innovation doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel. One of the more spectacular examples of adopting this approach comes from the world of online casinos. This is a market that shows you don’t always need a radical idea to run a successful venture. Sometimes you can innovate just by taking a physical experience and digitizing it.
Think about it: casinos have existed for centuries. But online platforms have transformed the experience, not by changing the games themselves, but by reimagining the delivery. The ability to access games instantly, at any time, from any device, is a logistical leap. And features like free slots with no download provide something brick-and-mortar casinos never could: a risk-free way to explore games before investing real money.
These platforms considered the modern user expectation of efficiency—speed, convenience, and mobility—and built the modern casino around it. Add more value with a localized experience, personalized game recommendations, and fluid payment setups and you can understand the gainful position of the digital casino model.
It’s simply about utilizing available tools in intelligent ways to digitize, democratize, and optimize an old model.
A More Sustainable Future for Tech
The return of the garage startup signals something deeper: a reset in how we think about building businesses. The pre-pandemic startup world often glorified rapid growth, aggressive fundraising, and eventual exit. Now, there’s a growing appreciation for sustainability, independence, and community-driven development.
Startups like Plausible Analytics (a privacy-first alternative to Google Analytics) or Buttondown (a minimalist newsletter tool) are profitable, ethical, and still run by small teams. They prove that you don’t need 100 employees or millions in capital to build a great product. You just need focus, clarity, and a willingness to listen to your users.
In many ways, this new wave of entrepreneurs is closer to artisans than executives. They take pride in building thoughtfully, in owning their tools, and in creating long-term value, not just valuations.
