Move slow to move fast

Nothing moved for a year. Except we became profitable.

Since I took back over as CEO of my company, we’ve moved slower than we ever have. It took us a year to turnover and retrain the entire team. In that time, product shipments slowed to a snail’s pace. We focused on core infrastructure - stopping the bleeding on scam accounts, fixing what was broken. Our growth held flat. Nothing moved. Nothing to brag about on Bookface.

Well, except we became profitable.

And yet stepping off the venture funding escalator was perhaps the best thing I ever did for our business and the thing that’s most likely to help it become the company it’s meant to be.

For the first time in a year, we’ve started to see growth turn positive. We’ve started to add new recurring revenue. We’ve shipped successful products for the first time. We have a team that loves working on the product, and for the first time since I replaced myself as CEO three years ago, I’ve actually had fun running the business.

For the first time in many years, I see a true future for the company. I didn’t let it go because I knew we were in a multi-billion dollar open space with little competition and we just needed to figure out execution. And as we’re figuring out execution, bit by bit, I am zooming out from the dots of the impressionist painting and seeing the whole picture. Wow. This is a fucking wild journey.

I often say I didn’t think we’d make it this far. I got into YC! Holy shit! I raised millions of dollars! Woah. I built a product people actually use?! Wow! (Sometimes, I see links to my product other people send to group chats and I’m shocked people are actually using it.) I run a profitable company?! What?!!!

I never could have imagined the awe I’d feel when the final dots started to be dropped into place and the painting was indisputably beautiful. I never could have imagined we’d make it this far and be this successful.

I also never could have imagined how insane this journey would be. I lost my physical abilities and became disabled for a while, I may have lost my fertility, and I’ve definitely lost my sanity for a bit. And I’m so incredibly grateful for all of the hard-won lessons that come along the path of being a founder. My god this work is hard.

I’ve lived it myself, left, and (like a masochist) came back. Along the way I started coaching other founders to help them on their journey. I love that work often more than I love running my own company, which is why I do both. I get to ride their journey with them and help smooth the rough edges - it’s such a wild privilege to be alongside them. I get to help them find their reasons for doing this work, I support them as they discover their own hard-won lessons, and I’m there to celebrate their successes and coach them to new heights.

If you are looking for coaching support on your journey, I have one spot open in my coaching practice.

Reach out for a discovery call: lunarayemail@gmail.com.