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

You sure sound like you haven't slept in 30 days.

To you and any other woman in tech,

Good luck! Go for it!

There's a new for-women help desk like StartupsAnonymous (however it's mainly non-anon). It's called Leap.

More info: leap@ycombinator.com

Many, many women join every day. It's starting to take off...

Hope to see you there!

I took over as CEO of my current company when when we had no runway, were actually in debt and customer complaints were over the roof.

This was four years ago.

Today the company has broken even, and as we speak I’m negotiating an acquisition offer, having turned down two offers already. We’ve also raised from two VC’s.

My mentor told me: it’s in times like these when the strong leaders step up, people like you and me who do not shun any challenge. It’s also in yimes like this when sissies take off and run.

We are not sissies.

When the kids are stacked up against you, that’s when you can prove your crazy is Thebes right crazy.

All the best.

I know it's hard, but try to keep things in perspective! You're doing everything you can, and even if things don't end up working out the way you hope they will, you will survive this, and be so much stronger for having done it. Best of luck!

That's the thing about being an entrepreneur... You see where this could go, you believe you can take it there and you keep going.

It will undoubtedly be one of the biggest professional learning experiences you can have. I say keep going.

I'm in a very similar position. 33 female CEO of a company that was sinking under previous management. 6 months in, we're still in huge debt but got many new and important clients, shut down the product that was ruining the company in favor of smaller but more promising and interesting products we already had, changed the entire team and everything is looking sunny again. We finally see that we will make it, even though it's going to take a while. What I have learned in these 6 months though was more than an entire education, more than a lifetime as an employee. Would be worth it even in we sank.

Sounds like you got your hands full. My one piece of advice, don't allow holding your paycheck, especially more than one, because there is no money. There is a good chance you will never see it.

Have you tried hiring a business coach? I hired a business coach after a 5 minute conversation with him. The thing is, I took his tiny amount of advice, went home, and it improved the next two weeks worth of work for me. Then I had an hour long conversation with him, which improved the next month for me. Now, I am about to do a 12-week session in a group... Do you see where I'm headed with this?

If you haven't tried it, it might be something you spend an afternoon researching, earnestly.