How Raising Too Much Too Soon Nearly Derailed Our Startup—and What We Learned
When we started, we were scrappy and ambitious. Fresh out of college, with no prior work experience and no playbook for venture funding, we launched by selling to our first customers before building a product. It was just two of us, learning as we went.
Then the venture capital interest arrived. We closed a $3 million seed and, a month later, followed with $9 million in additional funding. For me, fundraising felt surprisingly effortless. We had never hired anyone before, and suddenly we were scaling fast.
That influx of capital changed our aspirations. We shifted from a customer-centric mindset to an expansive, vision-driven one. We hired rapidly and grew from 0 to 30 employees within a year. It’s fair to say we made every first-time founder mistake in the book: we brought on some great people and, unfortunately, a few misfits as well. We operated in stealth for about 2.5 years, working with several notable design partners along the way.
When we finally launched, the reaction was underwhelming. People liked what we were building, but they didn’t love it. We were juggling 5–6 products at once, spreading ourselves thin.
Two years ago, we faced a brutally honest turning point: we trimmed the team to nine people and dropped everything except the one feature that customers actually valued. We returned to our roots—deep customer conversations, rapid delivery, and a laser focus on one critical outcome.
Since that pivot, our trajectory has shifted dramatically. We’ve grown from 0 to 500,000 users and now collaborate with some of the world’s largest companies.
Today, I feel like we’ve emerged from a long, dark tunnel. There’s still plenty of risk ahead, but there’s also a renewed sense of confidence and clarity.
If you’re a founder navigating a similar crossroads (many teams faced tough realities after 2021–2022), I’m open to chatting or helping where I can.
