The one thing no one tells you about starting your own business
There is way too much emphasis on cash-burning high-growth tech companies right now.
Winning the approval of famous venture capitalists is touted as the key goal for early-stage companies. We booted up Treehouse with $50,000 of our own money plus a small-business loan from the bank. (How non-silicon-valley is that?!) We charged $25/mo from the very first day and we were profitable in three weeks.
Unfortunately I bought into the Silicon Valley hype and chose to raise venture capital and start burning cash. This was a huge distraction. After a lot of hard work and pain, we’re now financially viable, but we wasted a lot of time chasing growth at all costs instead of building a fundamentally sound business based on sustainable growth.
It turns out I’m not the only one that feels this way. Jennifer Brandel, Mara Zepeda, Astrid Scholz & Aniyia Williams started something called the Zebra Movement. I can’t wait to lean in and be a part of it!
Side note: I just listened to Sadie Lincoln’s interview on How I Built This (one of my favorite podcasts) and she also feels this way. More and more of us need to stand up and let our voices be heard on this.
