Agero, Inc.’s Post

This time last year I was completely oblivious to the fact I was setting myself up for a hellish Autumn. In yesterday's edition of Trifecta, Matthew Briggs said something about that really struck a chord: "Partnership is a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself and make what you do count." The exact same thing can be said about BD and business owning. In May/June last year, I was sprinting towards the summer break, overflowing with work and without a care in the (business) world. I returned in September fresh-faced to zero work lined up and immediately headed into panic mode. BD in the legal world is a long game; it can take 3-6 months for me to convert a new client, so the pace I was operating at felt like lightspeed if I was going to stay afloat. It also felt (and is) unsustainable and burnout-inducing. This is a much-needed reminder: if you pace your BD, you will always have a pipeline to fall back on. With 6 weeks left before summer (hopefully) kicks in, if you haven't already, ask yourself: where is my work coming from later in the year? Not sure? Send those emails, get back in contact, chase down those leads, make those calls, do your follow-ups. #bdforlawyers #businessdevelopment

Our business was hanging on a string for 2 months and we almost failed. But real founders make comebacks. There were... and still are countless people that count us out when it comes to our software solution. But when you start a business - don't expect people to root for you. We came here for a good time and a long time. Getting better and better every day and learning more and more. If there's one thing I learned - it's this. Comebacks are made through transparency. When we were hanging on for our dear lives - we made a big bet and let everyone know what was happening. A few months later we're doing record months building our next stride to 1M/yr. Here's the truth:

May 2023 4 people "Haven't taken a salary in a few months," I wrote in my journal, "Jing cried in the car, overwhelmed, anxious..." We were investing in the team and needed to make some sacrifices. May 2024 11 people Investing ahead of growth can be painful and uncertain, but we had to escape the cycle of sell, execute, sell, execute...vs working ON the business. For this first time in eight years and two businesses, we can enter the summer and not have to worry about next month. At the beginning of this new chapter, what excites the most is simple: seeing the team execute, develop mastery, and investing in their success. When they run a video shoot, that's success. When they complete a website project that they ran, that's success. When we see them lead, that's success. We've done 85+ projects in 6 years... ....just getting started.

New post (free to read): life is a series of trade-offs, so let's be transparent and consistent in how we make them. Read here: https://lnkd.in/e3qJYXuf

Cofounder diaries, Q1 24: we thought Jan and Feb would be slow, like "can we even pay ourselves" slow, so we stacked our workloads with long term projects that will set us up for future scale and make the most of a slower season. Our first software build! A new product launch! Migrating and automating backend systems! Documentation to hand off parts of my role! And those are just MY projects -- multiply that by three (for our three founders) and you've got a sense of our planned Q1. But you know what they say about the best laid plans... January revenue is outpacing December, something none of us saw coming. A consumer biz that grows MoM from Dec to Jan with almost no paid marketing? What?! More-revenue-than-expected is an awesome problem to have. It's easier to pay our fractional CTO, for one. And the software platform we're building went from "we need this in May" to "we need this yesterday," so we have a surge of motivation, energy, and passion that we didn't quite feel before. On the other hand, we're facing the classic entrepreneurial tension of "run the business" versus "build the future." We must do both, and the former is taking up more space than anticipated. Every day is full of triage, ruthless prioritization, tradeoffs, and lots of communication on where we are and where we're going next. It's probably not for everyone, this roller coaster of a path, but it's for me. I'll take this over political maneuvers and ethical tradeoffs every day of the week. How's Q1 on your end?

Imagine starting a journey that spans three decades—here was my Day 1  Everything starts on Day 1... I and my 2 Co-Founders all worked at the same place – right down the road from where we are now. We worked hard. 50- and 60-hour weeks were not uncommon. But we were part of a hardworking, dedicated team all working toward the same goals, so it was OK. Until it wasn’t. See, in general, the company we worked for wasn’t winning. There were often cutbacks and general struggles. It wasn’t terrible but working that hard and not winning wasn’t a great feeling. So, one day, one of us (there is some debate on which one of us) walked in and said, “if we are going to work this hard, we should do it for ourselves” (for the record, I am firmly convinced it was me) We were a nice combination of hardware and software guys – we understood personal computers (and mainframes – hey, I said it was 30 years ago – stop judging) - and computer networks were starting to be an important part of small business. So, over dinner one night, the company was born. We each threw in $100, and we were off and running. We started as Andromeda Computing Systems – a name borrowed from a company I already had for writing software. One more evening spent in one of our attics – and we had a logo and a business card design. Our goal from day 1, which still drives us today, was to help people.   Computers and networks were complicated and hard to get working (in many ways, they still are), and people needed our help to succeed. 30 years of a focused purpose continues today and can be seen in our company’s Core Purpose: “Helping People Succeed.” That was a long time ago, and we have helped many people along the way. Clients and Employees, Vendors and Partners, and the folks in our community. We are far from done. The 3 co-founders are still here today. We show up daily with that same passion for winning – the same passion that drove us to Day 1 - three decades ago. Here is to my two co-founders.....what a ride! 

After learning how short life is, I quit my comfy desk job and pursued my passions. I didn’t have a stable income for 5 years (this was stressful). Every $ earned was a grind. DoorDash, Uber, and 10 other schemes. Some more successful than others, but ultimately all of them gave me only short-term financial relief. I wanted full independence so I could focus on my short-term plans, but it came with costs. Staying motivated while being alone is hard. Everyone needs support to flourish, and I didn’t set myself up for success. Every time I started to climb up ahead, something new brought me back down: Getting hurt. Sick pet. Totaled car. The list never ends. Losing access to my phone was one of the biggest hits to productivity. Breaking my phone used to be such a traumatic experience when I relied on it as my source of income. It meant loss in income AND more bills during a period when I couldn’t handle that. Compared to now, where it’s nothing more than a minor speed bump in my week as I stay focused on my goals. It’s a wakeup call for me. Things that used to cause anxiety don’t have to be scary anymore. Just keep moving. RIP 2021-2024 Pixel. You were a tank.

I can’t seem to get this summer bop (yes, I said bop) out of my head: "I’m looking for a man in finance. Trust fund. Six-five. Blue eyes.” What a simple set of words that turned into a huge trend on all social media platforms. This industry is a bumpy ride, almost like first learning to drive a clutch, constantly evolving with both consolidation and growth. One minute you’re dealing with excuses for late payments from retailers or vendors (prayers for the A/R teams), and the next you’re hearing the bad news of product testing hot. It’s like walking into a storm, going through a storm, and at the same time walking out of a storm. This industry isn’t built for rigid practices or “everything has to be perfect”; we’ve all experienced flying the plane as we build it. But don’t we crave this? It gets our blood pumping—our blood type should be THC at this point. In this complex landscape, I’ve seen many posts from individuals with stellar credentials struggling to land a role. It’s a testament to the fierce competition and the unique challenges our industry presents. Or is it? I view hundreds of roles and, like many others, put my hat in the ring for the chance to make an impact. What do we do? We keep going, keep refreshing, keep networking. We didn't enter the industry from inception because it was easy or immediately lucrative. Why aren’t we landing the roles but keep going? Color me a glutton for punishment, but this industry is difficult to leave. In an effort to keep up in this fast-paced environment, staying authentic is crucial. We all receive countless cold outreach messages and mass pitches. Let’s be real—volume doesn’t equal value. No, I don’t want to click the link for an investment opportunity and no, I don’t need a new hardware device for a brand I don’t own. I’ve seen a few folks reintroduce themselves, and I want to elevate their platforms because I’ve grown with them over the years and can vouch for their talents and generally just want to give praise (I'll tag a few in the comments). Rather than reintroducing myself, I'd like to share some irrelevant things about me. We might have a few things in common, such as: - I always beep my car lock twice to make sure it's extra locked. - Watching chiropractic adjustments and pimple popping videos is relaxing. - Having subtitles and everything at 1.25x speed is a must. - In another life, I'd be a farrier. - I'm enthralled by the Loretto Chapel staircase. These are just a few authentic things about me to stay... real. In my continuous search for a new role and with that annoying song stuck in my head, here goes… “I’m looking for a role with purpose. Trusted. Full time. No lies.” Cue the DJ airhorn on the turntables. -Stac.

Written by Google's Martin Gonzalez and Joshua Yellin, #TheBonfireMoment 🔥 is available now! Check out the link below to join me in being the thankful owner of a copy: https://lnkd.in/eA8agViH #Startups #GoogleForStartups

At Redocly we're launching four new products in May. Here are some fun facts about the compound probability of success. If you have four projects and they each have any 80% chance of success, what are the odds that they all succeed? ~41% chance they all are successful. How can you leverage that knowledge to help increase the odds of overall success? I've gone deep into the rabbit hole for the past few years with a few key observations. 1. Minimize cross-project dependencies. 2. When dependencies do arise, never schedule them for parallel development. 3. Pat yourself on the back every time you follow rule 1 and 2. 4. Kick yourself in the ___ (back?) every time you don't follow rule 1 and 2.