Hey folks and back with another solopreneur blog post and update. Let’s jump in:
My last week in business
It’s been an extra week since my last email, but I think I’ve made the executive decision of shifting from a weekly blog post to an every-2-weeks post. Part of this may be because I’m in the midst of fundraising and quite frankly, there’s only so much to talk about…
But part of it is that I want to make sure every post has enough “mmphh” and awesome takeaways so they’re 150% worth your time to read. Sometimes, it felt like I didn’t have A+ content to share every single week, but I know that there will be every 2 weeks because 2 weeks is an eternity in the solopreneurship business world!
Anyway, as mentioned in my last update, I’m into fundraise mode. This mostly means:
- spending too much time building and fine-tuning a pitch deck
- dozens of calls a week with investors or tech industry folk
- lots of outreach and networking
- sales – selling your company to these investors, in an effort to convince them to invest in you!
I think we’re off to a good start, but considering it usually takes multiple calls and a few weeks to close an investor or 2, it’s too early to tell.
Should have a good sense in my next email…
What I’m thinking about
The tech industry. It’s kind of crazy how the industry and fundraising works when you take a step back to think about:
- people start building a company or product, or sometimes they just have an idea, then they go to investors to ask for money
- the money goes to the team so they can start or continue building out the offering, to see if they’re onto something
- as time or milestones go by, the company grows and many companies raise multiple rounds of funding, which can reach into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. In a lot of cases this is for companies that haven’t turned a single dollar in profit
All of this is in hopes that the company will be bought by another company, or go public (IPO), or perhaps become profitable and return a dividend.
As the tech industry has continued exploding, there is SO much money being thrown at tech companies of all sizes. It’s pretty wild to think about, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason for it.
If you find the next Facebook, or Google, or (insert successful tech company here), you could be looking at a 5, 10, 50 times return on your investment.
What a world we live in…
What I’m Reading
Every few months, I take a break from reading business/personal development books and go back to my first love: fantasy. Think Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc.
I’m nearing the end of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and it is an absolute A+ with about 100 pages to go.
A few notes:
- it’s not a short read, but not overly long by fantasy genre standards
- it’s less of a traditional fantasy about magical wizards and warriors wielding swords… more of a Game of Thrones type feel to it, but told in the 1st person
- will share my full thoughts in the next email when I finish the book, but I’d already highly recommend it
Fan of fantasy? Any other recommendations?
That’s it for me, have a great week and keep grinding.
