2014 was a big year for us at Drifty, creators of the popular open source mobile development SDK Ionic. We raised $1M, grew the team from 6 to 15, enabled developers to build over 320,000 new mobile apps, and had plenty of challenges and opportunities along the way.
Here is a list of what we learned this year.
1. CEO is a job
This sounds obvious, but because CEO is a position with such perverted responsibility, it’s easy to forget that it’s a job rather than an identity.
I just realized that as a programmer, I didn’t worry about every line of code I wrote that day when I came home. As a CEO, I’ve stopped worrying about every decision I made at work that day when I get home. It’s just not healthy.
The CEO has many interpersonal responsibilities which can often feel just that: personal. I try to remind myself that such responsibilities are the nature of the position and all you can do is try your best to manage all of the competing interests and ultimately do what is best for the company. It’s nothing to take personally.
2. There’s a fine line between caring and desperation
In 2014 I found the more I cared about something external and agonized over it, the worse the outcome was.
For example, I had a fairly rough time fundraising in the fall. When I stopped caring things started to come together. It was kind of hilarious actually.
I think at the core of this lesson is just being confident about what you have, and remembering that in startups a lot of things like fundraising don’t always have rational approaches. The dating analogy is near-perfect.
The more you really want something, the harder it will be to not appear desperate and sabotage yourself.
3. Traveling is insidious
In 2014 I traveled way too much. I realized travel is largely a waste of time and money. And perhaps even worse, it’s a waste of energy and creativity.
My plan in 2015 is to say no to most travel engagements unless they reach a threshold: not the first meeting with a specific investor (so I’m going to avoid the in-person cold investor pitch), crucial customer or partner meeting, board meeting, acquisition meeting, or vacation.
Almost everything else can be done over a hangout for much more efficient use of time, money, and energy, or done better by someone else on the team. Travel kind of goes with #2 in that the more you want something the more willing you are to jump on a plane. I will try to check myself to see whether I’m being desperate or smart about it.
4. People are everything
Obvious, perhaps, but I’ve changed how I look at people and their role in helping me do my job better, and also how I can better help them. So many people helped me and Drifty in 2014 that I never expected to, and I’m not going to forget that.
I think there’s a tendency in business circles to create class structures based on the status of one’s startup. For example, someone that just raised a $5M Series A might ignore or avoid the advice or ideas of someone that just got into an incubator.
In reality, luck and inertia can explain more about startup successes than the skills of a founder. And once you hit a milestone like raising $1M+, you realize that it had little to do with some perfect plan you were executing perfectly.
In 2015 I’m not going to let our increasing “status” as a startup fool me into thinking I’ve somehow got it all figured out.
5. “Hustle” is bullshit
The culture of “hustle” says that in lieu of insight, we must work harder and longer.
As a programmer, I’m wired to believe there are exponentially better ways to do something. Time complexity is real given our limited amount of it. Brute force works for some problems, but does not scale.
Instead, I want to be smarter about how we build systems and processes so that we create a strong balance between mastery, effort, satisfaction, and ultimately success. Hustle optimizes for effort in the short term which upsets the balance needed for long term success.
6. “Fun” is good business
When my co-founder Ben and I started Drifty, we had tons of fun. We were bootstrapping a software company, building cool software, and doing it all our way.
We worried about raising money and bringing other people into the company lest it stop being fun to work on. So we didn’t do it for a long time.
It’s 2015 now and we are having more fun than we’ve ever had, and I’ve realized that making sure you are having fun isn’t just idealism that breaks down in the face of capitalism: it’s good business.
If I’m ever not having fun something is seriously wrong with the company. I will never let anyone stop Drifty from being fun (even myself!). And if that happens I will work hard to fix it as soon as possible.
Fun to me is making customers happy; working on hard problems and building novel solutions; growing; having amazing relationships with employees, investors, and partners; building mastery; and having autonomy.
All crucial things for the business.
7. Wealth isn’t just money
We had some acquisition interest this year that we seriously considered. At the end of the day I realized that we were already so wealthy: we had a great company with great people on board, a wonderful product that millions discovered and supported in 2014 alone, we were making a positive impact on the burgeoning startup city of Madison, and so many exciting ideas we were impatient to start working on.
I won’t lie: I let myself fantasize a bit about the monetary gains of an exit, but I realized that none of that would make me any happier than I already had the capacity for.
We have so many things to learn and to master in 2015, and doing it with balance and getting better every day would be far more rewarding than a quick flip. We want to build a great company that lasts and do it our way.
8. Competitive threat is transient
Competitors always seem to have a way of hitting you at low times in the company, or in the middle of a release cycle when you’re heads down.
We realized that competitors can one up us in the short term, but will have a damn hard time keeping up with us in the long term. The way you lose is you stop making magic, and we are just not going to do that.
9. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done
Being a founder is damn hard. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Here’s to a challenging and memorable 2015!
