I remember, years ago, walking through the San Antonio office of one of the world’s largest oil companies. I was staring at an ocean of cubicles. Many of them stretched from floor to ceiling. A few of them stopped at hip height. “We’re trying an open concept on this floor,” the secretary said, as he guided me to the meeting room to meet with my clients.
“No one likes it, though,” he whispered with a smirk.
As an entrepreneur straight out of college, it was my first experience in a large corporate setting, and it was just as I had imagined. At that moment, I also remember asking myself, for the first time, if I could imagine myself working in a cubicle. The idea was foreign to me. Don’t get me wrong — the office was nice. But it wasn’t the office I knew, which started in a kitchen.
Most entrepreneurs would probably agree that building a startup changes your perspective on life and everything happening around you. Some events may seem bad in the short term. Over time, they transform into experiences that mold entrepreneurs into resilient and sometimes misunderstood humans.
A New Normal
During the first several months of starting my company, I had no idea how to fundraise, let alone run a company. As a result, money was scarce as my cofounders, and I hustled to build a…
