The brutally honest entrepreneurial journey of Stefan Fountain
Eating glass, building a plane while flying… I’m sure you’ve heard some of these analogies for running a startup. However, the main startup mantra is still that of unlimited positivity and success. Well, it’s a public secret that the road to that success isn’t always that bright. It can be far from it, actually.
That’s why the Founder Institute was lucky to hear the story of pr.co CEO and Founder Institute mentor Stefan Fountain, during the How to start a global startup in Amsterdam event at A Lab.
By opening up and be vulnerable, we learned a lot of valuable lessons from his experiences.
First, Stefan founded Soocial in 2008. It was fun. Life was fun. His business was fun. He used David Hasselhoff’s image in its promotion, had lots of parties involving lots of beer, and things just went pretty well.
But nothing lasts forever! It went downhill with the company in 2009 when investors defaulted on their payments. That’s when Stefan found out — when you look past all the fun — he was just running, running and running. It ended up with him being in the hospital. Stress got him physically ill in the stomach. Fortunately, all went well.
Directing, not acting
That experience in the hospital had opened his eyes. “My number 1 life and startup lesson: take care of yourself.”
Because when you don’t, you can’t deliver on what’s necessary to run a business: “Building something, not just a business, but just about anything — is hard. You have to be at your best all the time. You’ll need good days — consistently”, he adds.
“I used to think that being busy all the time and struggling is part of running a business, and is in fact needed. But now I’m not so sure anymore.”
Stefan also learned that you need to be the director of your own life, instead of the actor in your own life. Only then you’ll have full control. He recalls: “First, I was in a band and acted like that. I like pirates so I acted like that as well. But don’t try to be a Kanye. Or me. Just be you.”
Abundant thinking
What helped him dealing with that? In short: the Six Habits of Abundance by Katia Verresen: “Live by these and pass it forward”.
He took control over his life again and sold Soocial. It didn’t get him much, but it was enough for him to conclude his first journey.
Yes, journey, because he wasn’t ready with entrepreneurship yet. That’s because he didn’t feel he made an impact with that business. He wanted something else.
The timing of your business
Enter pr.co, a company he became CEO of a few years after the launch in 2013. This startup makes custom newsrooms for businesses. With his experience, he knew what was necessary to build it. But still, you can’t do it right immediately. In 2016, the company got a 400,000 euro funding, “but we almost immediately sank.” What went wrong?
The issue was timing. “We focused on a part of the business where we weren’t yet. Turns out we need to get in some sales first, to reach that point. You can’t reach the top of the Mount Everest without visiting some basecamps first.”
A change of perspective is all it takes according to Stefan: “Know where you are exactly with your business.”
Lessons from the panel
Stefan had some refreshing tips as well during the Q&A panel session:
On the Amsterdam startup scene:
“Something that stands out from other cities around the world is that founders here are more willing to share. Just ask other founders!”
On investments:
“If you need money from investors, ask for advice first. It helps to phrase it like that. Eventually it comes to money.”
And: “Both investors and founders focus on ‘10x’ startups too much. There’s nothing wrong with running a solid, under the radar business. You don’t have to be techy or have to fit that typical Silicon Valley lifestyle.”
Stefan Fountain is a mentor in the Founder Institute Amsterdam pre-seed accelerator programme for startups and entrepreneurs.
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