$30m business and I'm just a bitch

[MythOfSisyphus]

You can always make more money, but you can never get back time.

So what are you waiting for?
What else do you need to quit and start your own journey?
What is stopping you?

I completely agree.

You're already in a very comfortable position. So much so that an extra million really won't impact your overall happiness or quality of life. Staying stuck in a position you hate for several more years (a decent percentage of your life) will though.

 

[FIFL]

@FIFL

these decisions are highly personal. It’s easy to “give advice” on a public forum, and most of that advice is useless.

What I can tell you is that when I was in a situation similar to yours (but worse), my mentor who is in his 70s told me “you don’t need my advice, in your heart you already made a decision, follow it.”
Since then, I make my decisions with a simple test, I imagine I’m on my death bed (yes, morbid but useful) and I look back at this point of my life, what decision or lack of decisions will I regret? Don’t do things you’ll regret on your death bed.

good luck!

I appreciate this post, thanks.

Regrets would include the "what if I had seen this through to exit". From that perspective I err on the side of going hell for leather where I am and jumping into another endeavor when I've cashed out.

 

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[FIFL]

If you're in an expensive area like SF/NYC, 300k/year in income is not enough to be baller or retire that quickly.

In terms of your equity, do you know if how much you will be diluted if you leave now? Do you have an opportunity at the next round of fundraising to offload your equity? Also, if the CEO is THAT bad, is there an opportunity for you to take over the CEOs role?

I've had friends that have left behind equity to start their own thing, and it has often worked out for them. If you have a high profile role in a well funded start-up, you'll have some options to raise quite a bit if you venture off solo.

I could offload equity though it is likely to 3-4x from here in the next couple of years.

Displacing the CEO is difficult as they're a founder. The VC's coming in and taking board seats as well as the necessary change in the business due to the phases we are to pass through are likely to positively influence his behaviour, or so I hope.

 

[Antifragile]

Keep us posted here on what you do and how we can support you. Consider INSIDERS side of the forum if you ever wanted to get deeper into a conversation that’s not for full public consumption.

 

[FIFL]

Where do you see your life in 5 or 10 years? Your job might be able to play a role in those visions -- it pays well and has an opportunity for asymmetric returns, which can be a conduit to your longer term goals.

Your path depends on that outlook.

Ultimately I think this is key. With those timeframes I genuinely see myself taking the direct time to build something else when I have the focus - but with a significant safety net and asset base.

What I am learning doing what I do daily is very valuable. I'm exposed to so much that I haven't had the opportunity to see, and wouldn't be likely to otherwise. I'm grateful for that.

It feels as though continuing to focus on what I'm doing can be a path to a fantastic result, but some solid investing on the side would be wise to start to diversify my income (but ideally not my focus).

 

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[FIFL]

Keep us posted here on what you do and how we can support you. Consider INSIDERS side of the forum if you ever wanted to get deeper into a conversation that’s not for full public consumption.

I will, thank you.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Good question. I'm indecisive as it's a lot to walk away from.

What's stopping me, to be honest, is that I don't know what I'd do otherwise yet.

So the first reason is no good.
Indecisiveness is not a good trait.

The second one I can understand.
Say that you`ve quit and pulled the max money amount you could, all stock liquidated, best case scenario.
What would your day look like?

 

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[Mike_Espo]

I come here to seek advice, admonishment and like-minded souls.

I am 3yrs in as 2nd-in-command (non founder) of an emerging tech startup. Roughly a $30m business that's just hit Series B. I have equity in the business (around 3-4%) that's illiquid until exit (goal would be $100m+). I look after the revenue/commercial operations of our business, basically everything aside from building the product. I've had a role in most of our ~$3m / year of recurring revenue. Pay is around $300k/year and will grow. Some days I like what I do. Many days I can't stand it and feel a FTE is extremely close. I fantasize regularly about building my own company. Oh and the CEO is a narcissistic pathological liar. It's objectively an incredibly difficult environment to succeed in, with very little empowerment, recognition or support. Kind of sounds like running your own company to me

To me I'm in the slowlane. I feel like I am failing @MJ DeMarco 's commandments. Like an employee with a little tiny bit of cream. This makes me incredibly anxious to do something else with my time.

Circumstantially I have done fairly well. Perhaps too well and the comfort prevents a complete FTE meltdown. From $0 in my pocket 10 years ago, I now have a house, investment property, stock portfolio, crypto investments, etc. and have been a well paid slowlaner for those years. I still for the most part live the same way I always have and tend to save and invest my money. I guess you'd call me a savings rat. I have a well-paid wife and two children under 3.

I am not risk averse, and I have progressively worked for riskier and riskier businesses. This company was absolutely fledgling with shitty, unknown customers when I joined and I have helped grow it from a nothing to where we now have major utilities, telcos and 100's of customers.

Recently I've been thinking it's really time to pull the rip cord. I want control of my own destiny. If I leave, I'll lose some of my unvested equity (probably $1m worth over 4-5 years), but my already vested equity will still be worth a couple of $mil, and I don't have a slog my guts out on something I have no control over working for a maniac.

I'm a little lost on what to do. It is a bit to walk away from. It's really not a topic I have anyone I can talk to about with and none of my friends are in similar situations nor do they have aspirations to build businesses from scratch.

I believe I have plenty to offer and have the chops to work through failure and struggle, but the pace and intensity of the shit I deal with daily leaves barely a moment to stop and think and plan for what next. I feel like I need to just jump.

I would greatly appreciate practical advice on what to do or criticism of my thought process or mindset. Don't hold back now.

It sounds like you aren’t happy with your current role because of CEO of the company and your current compensation structure. If you truly believe it’s time to jump ship because of these issues why not sit down with the CEO and give him some hard truths with how you’re feeling. Maybe he listens and things become better, maybe you can even negotiate more equity or a higher salary. If things don’t go well and he tells you to F*ck off then you now have your definite reason to leave and pursue new endeavors.

 

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[100k]

Wow, so you're getting FREE mentorship in how to build a successful company and take it public, not only that but they are paying you $300k per year to learn on the job, not only that but they're also giving you 4% equity.

Yep, you are a dumb bitch and an ungrateful one too. Quit you SOB and let someone less entitled take the position.

 

[Kolslaw]

I was also living the startup life but without the success that you enjoy. I think you are currently experiencing a "grass is greener on the other side" syndrom. You have seen all the success literally next to you and believe it should be you (forgetting that most dont even get to a Seed investment). Meanwhile you stop to appreciate what you have: A house, investment portfolios, vested equity and a 300k salary with NO financial risk. Say. This. Out. Loud.

You need to realise that you are part of a succesful venue and that you havent seen first hand the other 90% that failed. Just like me who has worked more than 1.5 years with VC investments and blew it all. The opportunistic cost is far too great for you.

I do understand that tingling sensation and the realisation of "hey, I'm the one who made this succesful so it should be me" and the dream of being an entrepreneur yourself. I really do, thats what happened to me too. Are you perhaps burned out after the last round? They are super tiring. Maybe a long holiday would do.

I think what is really important in your case is to understand how your vested equity agreement looks like. Are we talking about a 1 year cliff (that you already passed) with another 3 years left to go; How much time is left. Btw, you will be in a great negotiation position when you have vested all your equity and when you are about to go into the next financial round. (Just imagine the no 2 leaving before the next round = Red flag for all investors).

Also another important point is that you need to have some sort of plan ready. Just jumping is not good enough.

Good point on the negotiating position once he's vested. Red Flag indeed.

 

[srodrigo]

I think you answered it right there, "I don't know what I'd do otherwise yet." I think you should stay where you are until you have at least an idea to build on. Then take your money and build it. Good Luck!

+100

 

[Flint]

@Johnny boy

It doesn't' have to be an Uber-like model to expand/pivot to tech. Launch27 or dreamdesk come to mind. Rohan, the cofounder of both, started with a small local service company of his own, too.

BTW it's well off-topic now, but Uber business model is not quite what it used to be initially. Should we be be surprised when one day, in a (not so distant) future, self-driving cars are powered by a monopolist who had the right connections and infrastructure in place at the right time?

Uber is licensing its ride-hailing software to three more public transit agencies

Uber is continuing to push its way into public transit.

www.theverge.com

 

[FIFL]

@Johnny boy

It doesn't' have to be an Uber-like model to expand/pivot to tech. Launch27 or dreamdesk come to mind. Rohan, the cofounder of both, started with a small local service company of his own, too.

BTW it's well off-topic now, but Uber business model is not quite what it used to be initially. Should we be be surprised when one day, in a (not so distant) future, self-driving cars are powered by a monopolist who had the right connections and infrastructure in place at the right time?

Uber is licensing its ride-hailing software to three more public transit agencies

Uber is continuing to push its way into public transit.

www.theverge.com

Happy to have stimulated some discussion.

$30m, or $3m, it really doesn't matter what we're 'worth'. It only matters what we sell for. For the sake of this discussion I referenced the valuation the corporate advisors and the variety of VCs we worked with generally agreed on.

Valuations are mental at times, but within my game, SaaS, recurring subscriptions mean increased multiples.

 

[Chris McCarron]

I come here to seek advice, admonishment and like-minded souls.

I am 3yrs in as 2nd-in-command (non founder) of an emerging tech startup. Roughly a $30m business that's just hit Series B. I have equity in the business (around 3-4%) that's illiquid until exit (goal would be $100m+). I look after the revenue/commercial operations of our business, basically everything aside from building the product. I've had a role in most of our ~$3m / year of recurring revenue. Pay is around $300k/year and will grow. Some days I like what I do. Many days I can't stand it and feel a FTE is extremely close. I fantasize regularly about building my own company. Oh and the CEO is a narcissistic pathological liar. It's objectively an incredibly difficult environment to succeed in, with very little empowerment, recognition or support. Kind of sounds like running your own company to me

To me I'm in the slowlane. I feel like I am failing @MJ DeMarco 's commandments. Like an employee with a little tiny bit of cream. This makes me incredibly anxious to do something else with my time.

Circumstantially I have done fairly well. Perhaps too well and the comfort prevents a complete FTE meltdown. From $0 in my pocket 10 years ago, I now have a house, investment property, stock portfolio, crypto investments, etc. and have been a well paid slowlaner for those years. I still for the most part live the same way I always have and tend to save and invest my money. I guess you'd call me a savings rat. I have a well-paid wife and two children under 3.

I am not risk averse, and I have progressively worked for riskier and riskier businesses. This company was absolutely fledgling with shitty, unknown customers when I joined and I have helped grow it from a nothing to where we now have major utilities, telcos and 100's of customers.

Recently I've been thinking it's really time to pull the rip cord. I want control of my own destiny. If I leave, I'll lose some of my unvested equity (probably $1m worth over 4-5 years), but my already vested equity will still be worth a couple of $mil, and I don't have a slog my guts out on something I have no control over working for a maniac.

I'm a little lost on what to do. It is a bit to walk away from. It's really not a topic I have anyone I can talk to about with and none of my friends are in similar situations nor do they have aspirations to build businesses from scratch.

I believe I have plenty to offer and have the chops to work through failure and struggle, but the pace and intensity of the shit I deal with daily leaves barely a moment to stop and think and plan for what next. I feel like I need to just jump.

I would greatly appreciate practical advice on what to do or criticism of my thought process or mindset. Don't hold back now.

Don't view your job as a job. It's a means to finance your own company and provides resources for you to invest.

You're also in a key position to put into place all the things that are clearly missing with the company's culture

 

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[Flint]

It's the same thing everywhere. Everyone wants to avoid the actual work getting done.

It's a broken industry and the problem is that jose and his 3 brothers don't know how to run a damn business.

There's massive demand that doesn't get fulfilled. This isn't going to be fixed because of a new SAAS business, or a lead gen business, or some other middleman.

It's going to be fixed when a business starts answering the phone, signs up the customer, and sends out a trained employee to do good work on a regular schedule.

Almost everyone we signup says the exact same thing: They called everyone and nobody answered the phone. They tried those lead gen companies like angies list and it was a shitshow. They tried lawnstater and they got sent some bum, so they asked for a new guy and got sent another bum. It's the same thing. And the people who try to start another "disruptive company" in this industry want to avoid that fact. The industry doesn't need more software. It needs a company on the ground in the trenches getting actual shit done. It's a lack of listening to the market that's the problem. They WISH the industry needed some software and that was it. It's like having thousands of beach towels in stock and it's raining outside. It would be NICE if it was sunny and you could sell all those beach towels. But it's not. It's raining. It would work if you sold umbrellas but you don't have any. And lying to yourself about the weather doesn't change anything.

Great comment. Don't wish it was easier, wish you were better. 100% agree with the value skew where quality, reliability and hard work take the lead. No shortcuts.

A few notes from a different angle. I'm in a B2B service business. My clients are big multinationals but also smaller companies. This is a highly regulated industry which requires subject matter experts with years of experience, skin in the game, quite unique technical skills and a serious dose of people skills. Relationships with clients are built over years.

These businesses deliver value to their customers, really tangible outcomes that were relevant 1,000 years ago and will still be relevant in 1,000 years. But as organisations they have their pain points and needs, too. This is where we step in. Nothing to do with lead generation, middlemen tricks or diluting value by other means you listed. We help by guiding them where and how to play to address unmet needs, building their complex (physical and digital) products with them (or for them if they wish), improving their processes and, most of all, coaching and training their management and employees to be even better as an organisation. And it's extremally difficult to find great talent that can do that. So I see many parallels with what you describe.

You're excelling at creating a fantastic B2C business that stands out by offering quality and reliability. But in a couple of years you may also find yourself having a franchise at hand, a well oil system that will lead you to B2B (McDonald's of lawn care? lol). Or that you'll be helping other B2C businesses in your space to become better by raising their standards and instilling the values you described above. Either way, I'm pretty sure you won't be chasing next SaaS umbrella in a sunny day.

I raise my glass to your value system.

 

[PapaGang]

The other work I have ahead of me is exactly what you're talking about here. Working out what (semi) unique set of skills, capabilities and interests I have and how I can help others.

Thanks for the wise comment.

Thank you. It sounds like you are doing the right things to keep it moving forward.

I have no doubt that you will create something great.

 

[frenki]

Make an array of all the value skews the company already has, like Customer Service, etc.

Find the variables that you can skew better than the current founders and literally make a bootstrapped exact company with better value skews than the one you are working.

You might be thinking they will copy you and raise their value skew (standards) too, but that's not how it works.

See, there is something called initial conditions and founding culture that usually never change if the founder has some personal traits that he can't change in himself. ("You have personal problems that reflect in your business")

Anyway back to point one, copy the company best practices, identify value skews, provide better value.

Now you created the company 1.0 MVP, but how to get customers and get product market fit?

Buy a list of companies that could use your SaaS

Then hire 5-10 VA's and get them to set appointments with cold emails.

It would be better if you could get sales reps on the phone.

Looks pretty simple explained this way, but I honestly think it is as long as you are resilient and have patience.

There is no shame in copying!

After all that's what we have been doing all our lives

 

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[WJK]

I come here to seek advice, admonishment and like-minded souls.

I am 3yrs in as 2nd-in-command (non founder) of an emerging tech startup. Roughly a $30m business that's just hit Series B. I have equity in the business (around 3-4%) that's illiquid until exit (goal would be $100m+). I look after the revenue/commercial operations of our business, basically everything aside from building the product. I've had a role in most of our ~$3m / year of recurring revenue. Pay is around $300k/year and will grow. Some days I like what I do. Many days I can't stand it and feel a FTE is extremely close. I fantasize regularly about building my own company. Oh and the CEO is a narcissistic pathological liar. It's objectively an incredibly difficult environment to succeed in, with very little empowerment, recognition or support. Kind of sounds like running your own company to me

To me I'm in the slowlane. I feel like I am failing @MJ DeMarco 's commandments. Like an employee with a little tiny bit of cream. This makes me incredibly anxious to do something else with my time.

Circumstantially I have done fairly well. Perhaps too well and the comfort prevents a complete FTE meltdown. From $0 in my pocket 10 years ago, I now have a house, investment property, stock portfolio, crypto investments, etc. and have been a well paid slowlaner for those years. I still for the most part live the same way I always have and tend to save and invest my money. I guess you'd call me a savings rat. I have a well-paid wife and two children under 3.

I am not risk averse, and I have progressively worked for riskier and riskier businesses. This company was absolutely fledgling with shitty, unknown customers when I joined and I have helped grow it from a nothing to where we now have major utilities, telcos and 100's of customers.

Recently I've been thinking it's really time to pull the rip cord. I want control of my own destiny. If I leave, I'll lose some of my unvested equity (probably $1m worth over 4-5 years), but my already vested equity will still be worth a couple of $mil, and I don't have a slog my guts out on something I have no control over working for a maniac.

I'm a little lost on what to do. It is a bit to walk away from. It's really not a topic I have anyone I can talk to about with and none of my friends are in similar situations nor do they have aspirations to build businesses from scratch.

I believe I have plenty to offer and have the chops to work through failure and struggle, but the pace and intensity of the shit I deal with daily leaves barely a moment to stop and think and plan for what next. I feel like I need to just jump.

I would greatly appreciate practical advice on what to do or criticism of my thought process or mindset. Don't hold back now.

If I was you, I'd start where I am. I'd be putting together a side gig - or two -- or three. I'd be journaling and exploring the possibilities. I'd be interviewing people around me. I'd be looking at how to dovetail what I'm currently doing. I'm just NOT a hit the beach and burn the boat kind of girl. I always leave myself a way out of any situation -- and I try to make sure it is a graceful way out. I sure don't do my best work when I'm frazzled and there's no turning back. I make sure that my feet are on solid ground and the natives are friendly before I turn in my boat pass.

Here's a thought. Have you thought about making your current boss a proposal to start a side business with him? It could enhance the current business. That way you don't have to leave. Maybe you could have your cake and eat it too. Maybe you could tell him how you feel and find a way to work it all out in your favor and his.

 

[Rammsteinfanboy]

I would kill to be in your position, I am not speaking from experience. Fastlane vs slowlane might be the wrong lense to look at this. Common startup advice is to join any fast growing business, and use is as a springboard into investing, aquiring unique knowledge, that is valued by the market. Or find a niche /problem for your own startup. All of that can lead you to equity, or your own business. Thats what I am reading up on. If I was a boss in a growing company like you, I would treat the company like a labaratory, to develop my own stuff. Dont just walk away, use it.

 

[Nigel B]

Ultimately I think this is key. With those timeframes I genuinely see myself taking the direct time to build something else when I have the focus - but with a significant safety net and asset base.

Mentioned in other ways in this thread - you cannot get the time back.
Why is this significant? You are assuming no other changing variables.

You assume your health will remain good - so you can focus and build something.
You assume you do not have a catastrophic incident - none of us plan on dying in a car accident.
You assume your circumstances do not change in a way which causes you to not want to build anything.

And, you are waiting to build a safety net. That's very different from not having an idea, not being ready, etc, etc.
Many, many people start their ventures with no safety net, some investors consider those who have that safety net are a more risky investment (not as committed, not so much to lose from failure, etc). You have a safety net which eclipses what many/most have - are you hiding behind needing more?

If you "have the chops for it", and you want it, there are myriad reasons why waiting might be never doing it.

 

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[Nigel B]

... someone who doesn't run from hard work. That's rarer than gold now.

Yep! In almost all industries and disciplines. Everyone seems to be looking for the catapult to the top, now even the elevator is too slow. Climb the ladder - look for ways to speed up the climb - but damn well climb!