Sometimes we get an opportunity to reset, reorganize and push ahead. Timing, funding, team: all the pitons that slow the start-up climb up the cliff. And sometimes, the climb isn’t the one you set out on and it would be quicker to start again using lessons learned, than to try to pivot from the current position.
Time flies when you’re having fun! Timing and context were not on our side when we started and it took much longer than every anticipated. We owe much to our users, and customers who were patient and took the time to share their problems and insights and discoveries with us. It took reaching a few milestones this year for me to realize that what we’ve learned and built is better delivered in a different context and channel. While our current accounting tools focus helped us figure out the puzzle, it has also shown me routes we’d be better off taking.
It’s been an amazing journey, full of firsts for me, both good and bad. Despite being bootstrapped, it’s been an addictive, experience-rich few years for me, filled with hope, new learnings and entwined with a fair amount of disappointment. Delving deep into a complex problem and creating something new and difficult has been intoxicating. But it’s also blurred the lines between determination and obsession. And every day has been a battle between the belief that ‘deeper mining yields the node’ versus the ‘find fast or fail fast’ philosophy. We’ve met some amazing people along the way, and being part of the Seedcamp family has been fantastic.
Of course, in taking the leap we made our share of mistakes (avoidable and unavoidable). I’ll summarize these and provide some detail of our story in further posts for anyone interested. Any start-ups that I’ve mentored through Startupbootcamp Fintech will know some of this story, as well the really amazing advisors and mentors (to me) who have taken the time to help me navigate the intertwining of personal and business strategy.
At the very least, writing all this down allows me to summarize my experience and get some closure on this chapter. And hopefully, chronicling our journey might just stop me (and perhaps others) from repeating the same mistakes!