Taking the Plunge

Frog and Toad Go Down the Long Slide

Frog and Toad met up for coffee.

“Toad, wake up,” he cried. “You are bored at Big Tech Co., come out to the West Coast and see how exciting the startup world is!”

“I will not,” said Toad. “I am well-paid by my employer and respected by my coworkers.”

“You’re young and you have a high appetite for risk,” said Frog. “Come out and let’s get rich.”

“Blah,” said Toad. “I have good health insurance and my employer matches my 401k contributions.”

Frog showed Toad his pitch deck. “I’ve brought equity for you,” he said. Frog wowed Toad with stories about Big Name investors. Frog promised Toad an impressive title. He told Toad that they would be the first-to-market with a billion dollar valuation in just a few years.

“Help!” cried Toad. “My best friend is trying to recruit me!”

“I am only getting you ready to work at our startup,” said Frog.

Frog and Toad pitched their idea to investors. They built a prototype of their product.

“We should quit our jobs and move to the west coast and start this company,” said Frog.

“Not me,” said Toad.

“Do not be afraid,” said Frog. “We will be co-founders. It will be an exciting ride. I will be with you the whole way. Toad, you will build our mobile app. I will figure out some clever growth hacks.”

They moved to San Francisco and rented bunks in a hacker hotel for $2000 a month and started their company. “Here we go!” said Frog.

No one downloaded their app at first. Frog got bored and started tinkering on a different idea with some other friends. Toad kept building out the product.

“Frog, I am glad that you are here,” said Toad.

The app got its first users and was written up in TechCrunch. “I couldn’t steer this company without you, Frog,” said Toad. “You are right. Startups are fun!”

One of their investors flew in from New York to see how they were doing. “Hello, Mr. VC,” said Toad, “Look at Frog and me. We can build a startup better than anybody in the world!”

“But Toad,” said the VC, “Frog seems to have checked out. You are building your startup by yourself.”

Toad looked around the hacker space and realized he hadn’t seen Frog in weeks. “I AM ALL ALONE!” screamed Toad.

Bang! Google debuted a free cloud service that was in direct competition to their app.

Thud! They couldn’t raise money and all of the developers that Toad had hired left for greener pastures.

Plop! They ran out of runway and had to shut it all down.

Frog came by and met Toad for coffee. He patted Toad on the back.

“I read about everything,” said Frog. “You did very well by yourself.”

“I did not,” said Toad. “But there is one thing I can do all by myself.”

“What is that?” asked Frog.

“I can go back home and move in with my parents and get a job at my old company,” said Toad. “Startups may be fun, but a steady paycheck is much better.”