4 personal lessons from the first 3 months as a startup co-founder

We are three months into our startup Hostfully, and the business is beginning to take shape. We have an effective working process for our team — the proof: we have an Alpha product live with a few customers and partners, and we’re beginning to meet with investors to pitch our idea. It is still early, but I feel as though I’ve lived several lifetimes since we started.

When I started this venture, I vowed I would document as much as possible to help others — especially women — who might follow. So instead of writing about this with 20/20 hindsight (and the annoying “I knew it all along” halo), I’m going to try to capture some ‘real time’ insights, in hopes that they will serve as breadcrumbs to our eventual result.

Lesson 1: Experienced team = faster company

I’m so grateful to my team and the lessons they’ve learned from their extensive experience. But sometimes, when you’re in the grind, it’s easy to forget to tap into collective wisdom, especially from folks who are less vocal. Try to make space on calls to bring up specific examples from past experiences, which will help the team more forward faster. We don’t know all the details that we’ve each worked on, but we do need to know when and how to defer when others have lived through mistakes already — then we can avoid those mistakes the 2nd time around.

Lesson 2: “Woman up” to mistakes, then move on

You gotta be open to feedback, and also just moving on.

We have a culture where we are very open and honest with each other about mistakes and annoyances. It can be emotionally exhausting, but it’s 100% worth it. Say sorry when you’ve screwed up, and tell people when you’re feeling frustrated or stressed. Some of our most productive moments were born from open conflict. So just jump in to that lion’s den, and remember, at the end of the day, we’re in this together, and we all want to win.

Lesson 3: Be passionate, but don’t interrupt

Face it, building a startup is a passion play. Friends who are conservative and honest (including my husband!) can tell me about my miserable odds. So you have to love what you’re working on and the mission behind it.

However, this passion can make you a bit overly energetic, because you’re just so damn excited. That’s good. Use that energy. But at the same time, it can also make you impatient, irritable, and not a good listener. Try to take the good part of passion and harness it, and keep those annoying parts at bay.

Lesson 4: Don’t get stuck on any one thing

Being a good innovator means being willing to throw good stuff away for something better.

We are now on version 36 of our pitch deck. We’ve given our pitch to over 100 people. Each time we get feedback, it gets better and better. With each new version, we throw away a good idea in favor of a better one. We don’t sweat it when our original idea/perfect storyline/amazing proof point/ultimate product idea falls down.

Be like my 19-month old Aaron (pictured below). Smile knowing you’re learning, having a blast, and that you’ll build a better one next time.