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Stories

First-person accounts from inside the startup grind.

305 posts
Stories·Sep 11, 20195

Severe burnout, exhaustion and depression

I launched my first start-up and after years of insanely hard work and it failed. I then launched my second start-up right after. I have nothing left in…

Stories·Jul 20, 20198

New business partner and having second thoughts

I started my own design and marketing business over 7 years ago. I have been a 1 woman band ever since and it has been more than successful, which I am…

Stories·Jun 20, 20193

My co-founder is sleeping with our employee

To start with, my co-founder thinks that he’s GOD. Apart from being married and being in a committed relationship, he is having an affair with an…

Stories·Apr 15, 20195

Lost over $350,000 of our financiers money in a crowd-farming venture … and they’re on our backs.

In 2016, immediately after graduation, we co-founded a crowd-farming venture with my classmate and friend. The idea was to raise cash from friends in…

Stories·Feb 14, 20193

Series of mistakes, at a decision point, and possibly a rant.

Six years ago I started a new company to provide services locally. I had started with a partner but he died 3 months after we started and I was left as a…

Stories·Feb 14, 20192

Academic co-founder from hell

So in order to produce some valuable data, I (a developer) partnered up with a data science guy at my local university. This guy has all the academic…

Stories·Feb 14, 20196

Equity and Team Structure Dispute

Recounting the story of a management and equity dispute I had with a cofounder. Me: Tech founder who is a developer who went to full time work on the…

Stories·Jun 26, 20183

Bad hiring decisions lead to mass layoff

I started my startup 4 years ago. At the time I didn’t know much about tech and although we are profitable we experienced massive scaling issues. I now…

Stories·May 27, 20184

How to Fail

Being in the tech industry, I wanted something that was actually more fun and that I could pass down to my kids later in life. My wife was always adamant…

Stories·Apr 18, 20182

Someday I’ll tell you the full story of my company

Someday I’ll tell you the story of everything I did to keep my company up and running, to give it a chance at being the company I believed in my heart it…

Stories·Apr 18, 20188

My cofounder is sleeping with an employee and lying to me about it.

A couple of months ago I noticed my cofounder was too protective of a new employee – who was in all fairness doing a good job but not flawless. In fact,…

Stories·Mar 28, 2018

2 Days being offline

2 days ago, I had a lot of doubts about my (not performing) startup and was really unhappy since I am lonely all the time (startup with just me working)…

Stories·Mar 23, 20185

Worries of a founder wanna-be

I was really interested in starting a company. I learned about tech startups during my engineering undergrad, and have been always itching to try…

Stories·Mar 17, 20188

THE MOST STUPID THING I DID: I became CEO of a burning ship and I won’t leave it

When I told my friends, they called me mental, sick, insane, stupid – and I must agree. 30 days ago, I, female, 29 and with no experience as a CEO, took…

Stories·Mar 16, 20182

Somewhere deep inside I disrespect my co-founder. I think all the problems we have with our startup root in that.

Somewhere deep inside I disrespect my co-founder. I think all the problems we have with our startup root in that… I started my startup in FinTech over 2…

Stories·Mar 14, 20181

Update From Story here 2 years Ago – Startup Ran out of Funding

2 years later – Update After my startup ran out of funding, I couch surfed for 2-3 months then ending up living in a field for awhile with some coyotes, I…

Stories·Feb 19, 20186

Several startups. Can any of you be of help?

I’ve had several startups and many failed or have not taken off due primarily to lack of funds. I am presently working and have been working all my life…

Stories·Jan 31, 20188

Bad Developers

I started my company 5 years, self funded, non technical founder, with a great idea. Because of financial constraints I hired freelance developers in…

Stories·Jan 29, 20189

Solopreneur loss, isolation, depression and suicide

There’s a number of things that have finally led me to a place where I can share my story. This is the first time I’m sharing it publicly. I quit the my…

Stories·Dec 13, 20174

The cost of office space

In order for my “co-founder” to let me use his garage and work, I have to get him laid. What I mean by this is that I have to go out and meet new girls…

Stories·Nov 8, 20171

Left before acquisition, got screwed out of shares

Many years ago, just prior to the dot-com era, a friend convinced me to join his startup and run engineering. It was a 50% cut in pay, but it was promised…

Stories·Oct 30, 20173

Screwed over by cofounder

So this is a story of how myself and 2 of my friends co-founded a student organization in college (not exactly a startup but I thought I would share it…

Stories·Oct 12, 20173

Drinking too much – starting to negatively impact my health, which dimishes my ability to run the business

I find myself at 30 in a good position as a startup founder – received some angel funding and on track to raise $3.6MM to put our factory into production.…

Stories·Sep 5, 20174

A startup horror story from an employee’s point of view

I come from a humble professional background. So after spending many years in big corporate houses, I wanted to witness the cool workplaces that so many…

Stories·Aug 23, 20173

Shit VCs

Here are some shitty VCs that give you unprofessional and unrealistic expectations as a founder. Stay away from them. Slow Ventures Creative VC Helpful VC

Stories·Aug 16, 20175

Fundraising while Homeless

Homeless?! Are you serious?! I’m a scrappy, ass-busting, well liked person. Man, did these stars align in the oddest of ways. Chance I’ll be in national…

Stories·Jul 10, 20172

Just turned down a term sheet. Terrified.

Two years after starting we just turned down a term-sheet that would return the investors 3x their money and would double my net worth. This is my 3rd…

Stories·May 14, 20171

I don’t know if I want to continue because of my co-founder

It’s my second startup and I we have just finished successfully an acceleration program. The company looks interesting, there might be a great opportunity…

Stories·Apr 11, 20177

My Investor Horror Story

I am a single founder who started a media company a few years ago. From my previous work I brought in the technical experience and contacts and started…

Stories·Apr 4, 201710

Can’t Objectively Tell Whether to Push Forward or End Things.

2x entrepreneur. First venture = small. Good learning experience. Bootstrapped. About broke even. Wound it down but not a big deal. Only myself involved.…