3 Lessons from Andy Bilinsky, CEO of Lensabl

Recently, Andy Bilinsky, the CEO of Lensabl, came on Demo Day, where he shared some key insights around building a startup.

Lensabl, a one-stop-shop for all things optical — contact lenses, frames, and lens replacement — has raised more than $7M from investors and our team at CoEfficient Labs was so glad to have Andy on the show.

Below, I’ll share a few of the topics Andy discussed, and share links for watching the episode in its entirety.

Starting a Business With Friends

As Andy mentions in our interview, many people want to start a business with their friends — after all, these are people you know well and whose company you enjoy being in.

Because a startup occupies your entire life for a number of years, you’re going to want to make sure you’re around people that you actually like spending time with.

The issue? Disagreements will inevitably arise, especially if you have a long-standing friendship beforehand, and this can create problems.

One example brought up by Andy is around the roles of the founders. Who will be CEO? Who will be COO? These types of decisions have to be made, you’ll never agree 100% about all of them, and it’s important to understand this before you start your business.

Can a business started by friends work? Absolutely, but you’ll need to prepare yourself for the strain this can potentially put on your relationship.

Splitting the Work

In a similar vein to understanding what you’re getting yourself into by starting a business with friends, Andy also cautions founders around the issue of splitting the work that needs to be done when running a business.

At the onset of the business, when you just have an idea, you’re probably splitting the work 50/50, but as the company grows and people’s roles evolve, not everyone is going to be doing the same amount of work. This is something to be mindful of as you build your company and an important topic you’ll need to be ready to have a conversation about with your co-founders.

My two cents — outline the roles and responsibilities of each member of your startup in the beginning and update at regular intervals as the company grows.

The Roadmap to Starting a Company

Andy has a plethora of experience building startups and talks about a specified roadmap around funding when it comes to the early stages of a company — you either bootstrap or raise money from friends and family.

VCs don’t traditionally invest in first-time founders with no product or revenue, so your goal early on is to raise enough money to build the first version of your product — enough where VCs, Angels, and accelerators are willing to give you a shot.

Of course, there are organizations that exist to help you at all stages, from Grid110’s Idea to Product Program, or Yellow.LA with @Mike Su.,to top accelerators like MuckerLab, Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and Techstars — find the one that’s best fit for you and the stage your company is at.

Building your product and getting that earlier traction will lead to VC investment later on to add fuel to the fire of your fast-growing startup. Just understand, as Andy mentioned, that you’ll probably have to bootstrap early on, especially as a first-time founder.

Want to Learn More?

You can watch Andy’s full video interview on our Demo Day website, or listen to his full episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Tune in next week as I share more learnings from Demo Day. Sending love from the entire CoEfficient Labs Team!

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