Dear Friends of MacroMicro,
This year marks the 10th anniversary of MacroMicro.
I’m Rachel Chen, Founder and CEO of MacroMicro.
Even now, it feels a little unreal. In what seems like the blink of an eye, ten years have passed—and we are still here. With this letter, I want to share the story of our journey and the lessons engraved in my heart along the way—a keepsake for this milestone.
If I had to summarize the past ten years in a single sentence, it would be: "Master the trends, but stay true to why we started."
Every year, MacroMicro looks different — but at our core, we’re doing the same thing. In 2015, just as the era of open data was taking flight, Ken and I founded this company on a simple conviction: "Macroeconomics truly matters." We believed that economic data scattered across the globe shouldn’t belong to a select few, but should be intuitive and accessible to everyone. That belief led us to build one visualization after another — to make a complex world easier to understand.
Staying Ahead of Trends, Anchored by Purpose
By 2017, after two years of burning through our savings, we realized that ideals alone were not enough. We needed a sustainable business model.But one thing was clear: we could not build MacroMicro on advertising. The moment data bends to traffic, it stops being neutral. Around the same time, the subscription economy was beginning to take shape. We chose a subscription model as a way to respond to users who were willing to support us directly. As our content expanded and pricing evolved, we made a commitment to our early users — a unified lifetime price, with access to continually expanding services.
It was our way of saying thank you for their trust.
By 2019, we became convinced that education was the most powerful way to amplify our impact. We launched the Macro Online Academy , beginning with the Chinese-speaking market, and chose a slower but deliberate path to help people build true macroeconomic thinking. By 2020, we began hosting the largest Impact Forums in Taiwan, bringing together thousands of participants to discuss the shifts reshaping our shared world. Over time, we’ve seen more people engage with macroeconomics and learn to decode the data. Today, nearly 80% of our new users come from around the world — and more than 80% tell us they are no longer rattled by market noise. They make decisions with conviction, not headlines.
The Next Phase: 3M & Global Strategic Alliances
As we enter the next decade, MacroMicro is evolving into a more comprehensive intelligence platform:
- Our 3M Roadmap: We are building a one-stop decision platform that seamlessly integrates Macro trends, Micro industry financials, and our proprietary MM indices.
- Global Strategic Alliances: Through strategic alliances with global experts and enterprises — including Dun & Bradstreet and Yardeni Research — we are accelerating our international expansion. This momentum has positioned MacroMicro to support decision-making for leading global companies such as TSMC, Futu, and Cisco — and beyond.
- AI Innovation: We are leading the way with tools like MMAI and AI Charting, ensuring that technology serves to clarify, not confuse.
At the same time, our mission has evolved from "Using data to help everyone be responsible for their investment" to "Using data to help everyone be responsible for their decisions." The difference may be only one word, but it reflects a broader ambition. MacroMicro is no longer just for investment; it is for personal development and critical business strategy.
We spent ten years surviving. We spent ten years insisting that macroeconomics matters. And over that decade, we delivered nine consecutive years of growth — across revenue, users, and team size.
Looking back, we may not have chosen the fastest path. But we chose one built to last.
We didn’t expand recklessly or pour millions into advertising, and we didn’t chase massive capital injections early on. Instead, we focused on what truly mattered — building our vision piece by piece, and choosing the long-term path at every pivotal moment.
Over time, this discipline shaped the core beliefs that have defined MacroMicro from the very beginning.
A Culture of Continuous Growth
Growth has always been at the heart of our culture. In the opening pages of our culture handbook, there’s a line we live by: “Growth can heal many things.” Looking back, one thing is clear — every year, we choose to take on new challenges.
Take this year as an example. The team set an ambitious goal: extending our platform beyond macroeconomics into enterprise-level data by integrating financial data from over 5,000 companies — building a truly one-stop, top-down decision platform spanning macroeconomics, industries, and individual stocks. By mid-year, we partnered with Isaiah Research to gain early access to critical semiconductor intelligence. In the second half of the year, we took another major step forward by forming a strategic alliance with Dun & Bradstreet, a global business data company with more than a century of history. Together, leveraging a database of more than 600 million data points, we launched the GlobalView Next-Generation Solution.
At the start of every year, I ask the team one simple question: “What do you want to challenge yourself with this year?” And sometimes, they turn the question back on me—pushing me to keep moving forward as well. Over time, this exchange has become an unspoken tradition between us.
Left: MacroMicro × Dun & Bradstreet GlobalView Next-Generation Solution Launch. ; Right: After-Launch Celebratory Dinner.
Set the Goal, Hold the Line, Never Compromise
I’ve also kept another habit: every year, I re-examine our direction for the next 5 years. It’s not just about checking whether we’re still on track, but about asking a harder question—does the market still need what we’re building? Once the answer is yes, we move forward with conviction and without compromise.
One of the most common questions in entrepreneurship is, “Is this really possible?” Our response has always been to try—to do it, and see where it leads. From adopting a subscription model early on, producing video courses, and hosting large-scale forums, to interviewing presidential candidates, stepping outside our comfort zone to engage with other industries, and expanding into global markets—many of these choices felt uncertain at the time. Most of the journey was simply moving forward through ambiguity. Even now, looking back, it still feels hard to believe.
That’s why I’ve come to accept—and even welcome—the question, “Is this possible?” In fact, I’ve learned to love it. It reminds me that because it is difficult, few people choose to do it. And because it is difficult, it is worth giving everything we have.
The 3rd Global Macroeconomics Influence Forum (GEIS).
Moving Forward with Trust, Ensuring Every Effort Shines
What has carried me through these ten years is deep gratitude — for my team, and for our users.
To this day, no matter how busy things get, I still personally review every report, write the monthly introductions myself, and stay on the front line sharing my views on the markets. These are things I’ve done since day one — and never stopped. I continue to listen to customer service logs and speak with enterprise clients whenever I can, because I want to truly understand their voices, and the kind of future they hope we are building together.
We have always believed that a subscription model is not simply about delivering a service. It is about earning trust — the kind of trust that allows us to keep growing.
As a leader, I am still learning. And over the years, I’ve realized that my happiest moments are rarely when financial figures reach new highs. They are the moments when our people are seen, and when they take their next step forward.
Whether I’m watching teammates step onto the stage as speakers, lead collaborations with external partners, communicate with the world in different languages, and represent MacroMicro at award ceremonies—or, most recently, watching our engineering team lead cross-department collaboration in our AI learning sessions and share how they apply AI to real problems—these moments remind me why this journey matters.
I’m grateful that everyone at MacroMicro is willing to learn, to try, and to step into unfamiliar territory. Technology will change. Tools will evolve. But it is people — their mindset, curiosity, and ability to learn — that turn technology into real outcomes. I remain convinced that the future value of any company is ultimately defined by its people. And to my team, I want to say this: it is truly an honor to work alongside you.
Every step forward. Every breakthrough — the MacroMicro team.
Back to the Fundamentals
Finally, I want to share a story. Earlier this year, during a panel at a press conference with Dun & Bradstreet, I was asked one question: In the age of AI, what is the one message you would give to businesses?
My answer was simple: “Back to the fundamentals.”
This principle originally guided how we approached investing. Today, I believe it applies just as much to running a company.
There was a moment when the structural changes brought by AI made me genuinely anxious. The world was moving so fast that it felt like one misstep could leave us behind. Then, a friend reminded me: "Rachel, don't forget. Your company's most valuable asset is your customers' trust."
Not long after, we received an email from a major enterprise client. They had asked five different AIs about a complex tariff issue and received five different answers. They turned to us and asked: "Which one is true?"
In that moment, it hit me. In this era, information is no longer scarce. Trustworthy judgment is.
Who can tell what is accurate and what is not? Who earns trust when answers conflict? What remains valuable when everything else changes—and what allows MacroMicro to continue to exist? That is our true value.
MacroMicro’s first Christmas in our new office.
Looking back over these ten years, I still feel that founding MacroMicro has left me with no regrets. I hope it continues to help more people truly understand the meaning behind data—and that everyone who is here now, or who has ever been part of this journey, finds a sense of purpose and fulfillment through it.
Entrepreneurs, I’ve learned, are inherently paradoxical. We must be optimistic enough to believe we can change the world, while worrying every day that the company might not survive tomorrow. As we often remind ourselves in both investing and business: while continuing to innovate, we must also return to the fundamentals. Each year may look different, but at the core, we are always doing the same thing—turning data into insight people can trust.
I still don’t know exactly where MacroMicro will be tomorrow. But at this moment, we are willing to take one more step forward.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Rachel Chen
Founder & CEO, MacroMicro
2025 Annual User Satisfaction Survey
Every year, we collect your feedback to hear your voice. We invite you to take a moment and fill out the 2025 Annual User Satisfaction Survey. Feel free to share any ideas, suggestions, or simply a note to say hi :)
Complete the survey and receive a 14-day free upgrade to MM Max!
2025 MacroMicro Fun Facts
Last but not least, here are some fun facts and milestones we’ve achieved this year!
Dear Friends of MacroMicro,
This year marks the 10th anniversary of MacroMicro.
I’m Rachel Chen, Founder and CEO of MacroMicro.
Even now, it feels a little unreal. In what seems like the blink of an eye, ten years have passed—and we are still here. With this letter, I want to share the story of our journey and the lessons engraved in my heart along the way—a keepsake for this milestone.
If I had to summarize the past ten years in a single sentence, it would be: "Master the trends, but stay true to why we started."
Every year, MacroMicro looks different — but at our core, we’re doing the same thing. In 2015, just as the era of open data was taking flight, Ken and I founded this company on a simple conviction: "Macroeconomics truly matters." We believed that economic data scattered across the globe shouldn’t belong to a select few, but should be intuitive and accessible to everyone. That belief led us to build one visualization after another — to make a complex world easier to understand.
Staying Ahead of Trends, Anchored by Purpose
By 2017, after two years of burning through our savings, we realized that ideals alone were not enough. We needed a sustainable business model.But one thing was clear: we could not build MacroMicro on advertising. The moment data bends to traffic, it stops being neutral. Around the same time, the subscription economy was beginning to take shape. We chose a subscription model as a way to respond to users who were willing to support us directly. As our content expanded and pricing evolved, we made a commitment to our early users — a unified lifetime price, with access to continually expanding services.
It was our way of saying thank you for their trust.
By 2019, we became convinced that education was the most powerful way to amplify our impact. We launched the Macro Online Academy , beginning with the Chinese-speaking market, and chose a slower but deliberate path to help people build true macroeconomic thinking. By 2020, we began hosting the largest Impact Forums in Taiwan, bringing together thousands of participants to discuss the shifts reshaping our shared world. Over time, we’ve seen more people engage with macroeconomics and learn to decode the data. Today, nearly 80% of our new users come from around the world — and more than 80% tell us they are no longer rattled by market noise. They make decisions with conviction, not headlines.
The Next Phase: 3M & Global Strategic Alliances
As we enter the next decade, MacroMicro is evolving into a more comprehensive intelligence platform:
- Our 3M Roadmap: We are building a one-stop decision platform that seamlessly integrates Macro trends, Micro industry financials, and our proprietary MM indices.
- Global Strategic Alliances: Through strategic alliances with global experts and enterprises — including Dun & Bradstreet and Yardeni Research — we are accelerating our international expansion. This momentum has positioned MacroMicro to support decision-making for leading global companies such as TSMC, Futu, and Cisco — and beyond.
- AI Innovation: We are leading the way with tools like MMAI and AI Charting, ensuring that technology serves to clarify, not confuse.
At the same time, our mission has evolved from "Using data to help everyone be responsible for their investment" to "Using data to help everyone be responsible for their decisions." The difference may be only one word, but it reflects a broader ambition. MacroMicro is no longer just for investment; it is for personal development and critical business strategy.
We spent ten years surviving. We spent ten years insisting that macroeconomics matters. And over that decade, we delivered nine consecutive years of growth — across revenue, users, and team size.
Looking back, we may not have chosen the fastest path. But we chose one built to last.
We didn’t expand recklessly or pour millions into advertising, and we didn’t chase massive capital injections early on. Instead, we focused on what truly mattered — building our vision piece by piece, and choosing the long-term path at every pivotal moment.
Over time, this discipline shaped the core beliefs that have defined MacroMicro from the very beginning.
A Culture of Continuous Growth
Growth has always been at the heart of our culture. In the opening pages of our culture handbook, there’s a line we live by: “Growth can heal many things.” Looking back, one thing is clear — every year, we choose to take on new challenges.
Take this year as an example. The team set an ambitious goal: extending our platform beyond macroeconomics into enterprise-level data by integrating financial data from over 5,000 companies — building a truly one-stop, top-down decision platform spanning macroeconomics, industries, and individual stocks. By mid-year, we partnered with Isaiah Research to gain early access to critical semiconductor intelligence. In the second half of the year, we took another major step forward by forming a strategic alliance with Dun & Bradstreet, a global business data company with more than a century of history. Together, leveraging a database of more than 600 million data points, we launched the GlobalView Next-Generation Solution.
At the start of every year, I ask the team one simple question: “What do you want to challenge yourself with this year?” And sometimes, they turn the question back on me—pushing me to keep moving forward as well. Over time, this exchange has become an unspoken tradition between us.
Left: MacroMicro × Dun & Bradstreet GlobalView Next-Generation Solution Launch. ; Right: After-Launch Celebratory Dinner.
Set the Goal, Hold the Line, Never Compromise
I’ve also kept another habit: every year, I re-examine our direction for the next 5 years. It’s not just about checking whether we’re still on track, but about asking a harder question—does the market still need what we’re building? Once the answer is yes, we move forward with conviction and without compromise.
One of the most common questions in entrepreneurship is, “Is this really possible?” Our response has always been to try—to do it, and see where it leads. From adopting a subscription model early on, producing video courses, and hosting large-scale forums, to interviewing presidential candidates, stepping outside our comfort zone to engage with other industries, and expanding into global markets—many of these choices felt uncertain at the time. Most of the journey was simply moving forward through ambiguity. Even now, looking back, it still feels hard to believe.
That’s why I’ve come to accept—and even welcome—the question, “Is this possible?” In fact, I’ve learned to love it. It reminds me that because it is difficult, few people choose to do it. And because it is difficult, it is worth giving everything we have.
The 3rd Global Macroeconomics Influence Forum (GEIS).
Moving Forward with Trust, Ensuring Every Effort Shines
What has carried me through these ten years is deep gratitude — for my team, and for our users.
To this day, no matter how busy things get, I still personally review every report, write the monthly introductions myself, and stay on the front line sharing my views on the markets. These are things I’ve done since day one — and never stopped. I continue to listen to customer service logs and speak with enterprise clients whenever I can, because I want to truly understand their voices, and the kind of future they hope we are building together.
We have always believed that a subscription model is not simply about delivering a service. It is about earning trust — the kind of trust that allows us to keep growing.
As a leader, I am still learning. And over the years, I’ve realized that my happiest moments are rarely when financial figures reach new highs. They are the moments when our people are seen, and when they take their next step forward.
Whether I’m watching teammates step onto the stage as speakers, lead collaborations with external partners, communicate with the world in different languages, and represent MacroMicro at award ceremonies—or, most recently, watching our engineering team lead cross-department collaboration in our AI learning sessions and share how they apply AI to real problems—these moments remind me why this journey matters.
I’m grateful that everyone at MacroMicro is willing to learn, to try, and to step into unfamiliar territory. Technology will change. Tools will evolve. But it is people — their mindset, curiosity, and ability to learn — that turn technology into real outcomes. I remain convinced that the future value of any company is ultimately defined by its people. And to my team, I want to say this: it is truly an honor to work alongside you.
Every step forward. Every breakthrough — the MacroMicro team.
Back to the Fundamentals
Finally, I want to share a story. Earlier this year, during a panel at a press conference with Dun & Bradstreet, I was asked one question: In the age of AI, what is the one message you would give to businesses?
My answer was simple: “Back to the fundamentals.”
This principle originally guided how we approached investing. Today, I believe it applies just as much to running a company.
There was a moment when the structural changes brought by AI made me genuinely anxious. The world was moving so fast that it felt like one misstep could leave us behind. Then, a friend reminded me: "Rachel, don't forget. Your company's most valuable asset is your customers' trust."
Not long after, we received an email from a major enterprise client. They had asked five different AIs about a complex tariff issue and received five different answers. They turned to us and asked: "Which one is true?"
In that moment, it hit me. In this era, information is no longer scarce. Trustworthy judgment is.
Who can tell what is accurate and what is not? Who earns trust when answers conflict? What remains valuable when everything else changes—and what allows MacroMicro to continue to exist? That is our true value.
MacroMicro’s first Christmas in our new office.
Looking back over these ten years, I still feel that founding MacroMicro has left me with no regrets. I hope it continues to help more people truly understand the meaning behind data—and that everyone who is here now, or who has ever been part of this journey, finds a sense of purpose and fulfillment through it.
Entrepreneurs, I’ve learned, are inherently paradoxical. We must be optimistic enough to believe we can change the world, while worrying every day that the company might not survive tomorrow. As we often remind ourselves in both investing and business: while continuing to innovate, we must also return to the fundamentals. Each year may look different, but at the core, we are always doing the same thing—turning data into insight people can trust.
I still don’t know exactly where MacroMicro will be tomorrow. But at this moment, we are willing to take one more step forward.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Rachel Chen
Founder & CEO, MacroMicro
2025 Annual User Satisfaction Survey
Every year, we collect your feedback to hear your voice. We invite you to take a moment and fill out the 2025 Annual User Satisfaction Survey. Feel free to share any ideas, suggestions, or simply a note to say hi :)
Complete the survey and receive a 14-day free upgrade to MM Max!
2025 MacroMicro Fun Facts
Last but not least, here are some fun facts and milestones we’ve achieved this year!
Big Tech earnings week is here! Stay ahead with MacroMicro’s Economic Calendar — track CPI, GDP, and key earnings like Apple & Google all in one place. Check it out »
