Confessions·Mar 28, 20162
My first startup failed a couple months ago due to team issues. I keep feeling like it could have been a big thing if it wasn’t for the people. I work for a VC fund now but I really REALLY want to start my next startup.
Confessions·Mar 7, 20163
I hired a trusted old friend and, after dragging our development time, he bailed on us. He told the CEO (and not me) that he was leaving. I haven’t talked to him yet…I’m still angry. I don’t even know what I would say.
Confessions·Mar 6, 20168
Sometimes I just wanna quit and go back to corporate. Being a CEO is fucking hard. I’ve even toyed reaching out to potential buyers for the company since we have really interesting technology and traction. Then I remember I hate corporate life. FML
Confessions·Mar 1, 20167
Does anyone feel like they’re just staring at a screen pushing buttons all day working on another app people could easily live without? It’s hot outside and a dude is mowing the lawn, he’s sweating like a pig but looks a fuckload happier than I do.
Confessions·Feb 12, 20165
My family tells me to “get a job” because they think physical labor = work, I act like I’m taking it as a joke but I know they really think that way and it hurts everytime.
Confessions·Jan 28, 20166
Bootstrapping your startup sucks. I tripled revenues in 2015, but this week I have to pay off 15 thousand in taxes and debt. My startup apps are about to launch soon, but I wonder if it is worth it. I’ve aged like 10 years in the last 3.
Confessions·Jan 25, 20166
I was an early’ish employee and put in 5 years in our startup building many key components. My company just got acquired by one of the big ones in the fortune 100. I made exactly $3236 in options. I hit the lottery right ?
Confessions·Jan 17, 20162
“Everybody is a genius. But if ask a fish to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” — Unless that fish is an entrepreneur. Then it just climbs the damn tree.
Confessions·Jan 14, 20166
Lack of sex and affection with wife is depressing, but we cofounded our startup and are fighting this war together, so I can’t change it.
Confessions·Dec 23, 20152
My co-founder ghosted to start a competing business but I’m not worried. I am the brains and the heart and there was nothing proprietary about the MVP.
Confessions·Dec 18, 20159
Every day is a struggle. Things are going pretty good for us and yet every day I experience unbearable amounts of stress and wonder why I’m even doing this. I care a lot about what we do, I just think the personal price is getting out of hand for me.
Confessions·Dec 15, 20154
Despite advice from all over, I don’t believe in ‘legal protection’ between partners. Contracts only get useful after shit has already hit the fan, and so are a waste of time.At the same time, I’m terrified of the idea that shit will hit the fan…
Confessions·Dec 5, 20152
“Exploratory research is really like working in a fog. You don’t know where you’re going. You’re just groping. Then people learn about it afterwards and think how straightforward it was.” – Francis Crick
Confessions·Nov 16, 20157
I was always told to keep our funding options open, but it feels like we have swindled potentially a few people as they are all options that we keep on hold. Fundraising almost feels like being a con.
Confessions·Nov 6, 20153
I really hate chasing invoices. I once had a boss that didn’t do it. He didn’t seem to care about the harm it caused his individual performers. So as much as I hate it – I’ll never stop doing it….
Confessions·Nov 3, 20157
At a band audition being asked to whiteboard the physics formulas for my instrument’s harmonic series without playing a single note … oh, wait, no … at an interview being asked to code yet another sort algorithm. Hiring’s become completely tone-deaf.
Confessions·Nov 3, 20157
Need some advise to protect my early stage tech startup from copycats
Confessions·Oct 30, 20155
I’m both CEO and technical founder, and it is the worst thing ever. Don’t do it. Always get a technical co-founder, even when you come from a technical background. Being a founder is already hard. Sticking these together is exponentially worse.
Confessions·Oct 30, 20157
My open source startup is failing and I’m taking it personally. I feel like everything in my life is going wrong and is out of my control, and I’m starting to resent the success I see around me. I fantasize about hurting myself, but won’t, of course.
Confessions·Oct 21, 20155
As a guy who has been in three start ups, I can confidently tell you that the more I work in these kinds of companies, the more I realize that most are clearly just not going to succeed.
Confessions·Oct 18, 201513
Beginning to think my startup is worthless/irrelavent/useless. In the beginning I was really hyped and saw the vision for this company. Now I’m still in development, but I’m starting to doubt myself and thinking maybe I should quit.
Confessions·Oct 18, 201511
I don’t care what anyone says… UI/UX will make or break your product. Thank God for front end developers!
Confessions·Oct 12, 201510
I’m secretly hoping we do not raise a seed round because my co-founder is pretty much useless and I simply cannot “partner” with him any longer. Thing is, we’re half way to closing the damn round.
Confessions·Oct 12, 20152
Six months into starting another company. Others think that this must be easy for me. It is not. I am more terrified now than I was the first time . The task is daunting, the responsibility suffocating, and the fear of failure greater than ever…
Confessions·Oct 9, 201512
I am the wife of a technical co-founder and I wish he would quit this venture. It’s not because I don’t believe in him–I absolutely believe in him. It’s that I despise his soul-sucking, cowardly, lazy partner more than words can tell.
Confessions·Sep 28, 201511
I feel like an American who is forced to live in exile. Most of my friends and customers live in the US. I had two offers to join great SF startups. Both now worth > $1bn. Got rejected because of visa. I grew up in Germany and feel punished for life.
Confessions·Sep 25, 20157
I am addicted to startups. I refuse to get a job, my clients all are my partners in one way or another, my own ideas are bubbling out of my head and spilling onto the floor where I feel like I want to ‘buy everyone a drink’ with startup ideas..
Confessions·Sep 16, 20155
Sold my startup to a bunch of a-holes, got rid of my cofounders mess and got paid in the process. Every time I pass their office I extend my middle finger. Childish, I know, but feels so good.
Confessions·Sep 5, 201516
I just found out that I make $6/hour as an engineer in a company who’s annual rev is over $1B. What ‘s pissing me off is that I spend $12/day for the ride home in a taxi. Thinking about starting up but I still don’t have the balls for it.
Confessions·Aug 28, 201510