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Entrepreneurship is scary: Reflections on the failure of my startup

On Friday, January 10, I shut down my startup called Locally. As hard as it was to finally make this decision, it is also a huge relief. Not a relief because I have unloaded a burden, a source of personal contention or a financial drain, but because I have learned so much that I am eager to put my new knowledge to work on the next thing - whether for someone else’s company or a new venture of my own.

Entrepreneurship is scary, overwhelming at times, a bit nutty for sure and applies a great deal of pressure to the entrepreneur and his family. However, this is a priceless experience that I will cherish forever. I have a lot of people to thank both in the Philadelphia and Lancaster communities as well as Greenville, SC - specifically The Iron Yard.

Here is the lowdown as posted on our website. Following this snippet I will conclude with a few more thoughts:

A journey that started nearly three years ago today sadly, is coming to an end. You have heard the story before - resources are thin, money is gone, growth is stagnant at best - time to accept reality. Some call it failure, some defeat and some the natural consequence for a startup with limited capital.

Truth is it is none of these things. It was a dream, one I can say we were fortunate to live out. For the last 3 years we actively pursued this dream - at first an idea, then consulting with industry pros, attending tech startups and founder meetups, seeking a technical co-founder, talking to potential customers, pushing our first line of code, testing in real time, quitting our jobs, moving to South Carolina for 4 months to participate in an accelerator, receiving seed investment, launching a beta, marketing, developing relationships, making friends and acquiring our first paying customer. We gave it all we had and then some.

In the end we recognize that we didn’t tap into a real problem and it is hard to create the best solution for a problem that really doesn’t exist. I learned so much about so many different things that I will be able to take with me as I pursue a new challenge. This experience over the last few years really has been like going through a degree program for building businesses in the real world. I know, that and $5 bucks will buy me a beer. But truly, it has been an amazing experience.

Luke and I wish to offer our deepest thanks to our supporters, friends, families and especially our spouses.

Thank you.

Steve

Questions or feedback? Connect with us:

Steve Palmer - LinkedIn

Luke Bayas - LinkedIn

Three years ago I jumped into this thing having little background in tech other than doing some social media consulting, building a few Wordpress sites and a writing for my wine blog - all which hardly count as “tech” expertise. But I have always been driven to explore technological solutions, the first of which spawned from my frustration over waiting on UPS deliveries while running a heavy duty truck parts department.

I decided real time tracking was needed - not the lame version UPS was using but a real alert system telling you “we’ll be arriving in 30 minutes.” We applied to DreamIt and were selected to interview. Pumped up beyond belief we proceeded to get our asses handed to us! We just weren’t prepared to bring a grand vision like this to fruition. But I embraced this experience and every other bump in the road along the way because I knew it would help me to become a better entrepreneur. My wife has said I embrace failure too well...ha. Maybe I should learn to embrace success!

Feeling no need to bore you with every detail of this journey it is important to point out that there were successes along the way. In fact, paying customers is our greatest achievement, albeit so late in the game we couldn’t build upon this success. It is precisely this moment that made me realize how valuable this process has been. We had finally figured out the formula for validating our solution.

I now understand why so many people have said that failure is the first step toward success. Of course the immediate act of failing is not where we find this gem, it is found within the process of learning over the lifecycle of the startup that brings us around. I can’t help it but I feel immense gratification. Yes, gratification. I only wish I had failed 10 years earlier!

Thank you for following along during my journey and for supporting me along the way. It has been amazing and hopefully, more than anything, I have proven to be a great example to my children. For it is my wife and kids that matter most, something I quickly realized once out on that entrepreneurial island.

Onward.

Something Interesting Happened Today

The last few months have been really tough. I have a new appreciation for those diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I cycle through mood swings, emotional peaks and valleys and everything in between - all in the time it takes to listen to Peter Frampton’s “Do You Feel Like We Do?” Embarking on the startup journey was easy. Sustaining the mission is another story.

Back in August, I made the decision to open the door to going back to a “regular” job. We need the income and a better sense of order in our lives. I have been asking around, taking my time to find something I feel is right. This continues to be the plan.

But something interesting happened today. We acquired our first paying customer. It took one entire year to book our first revenue. However, in my mind, it actually took about a month to six weeks. Here’s how.

Once I decided to start job seeking, I met with my business partner and developer, Luke. I walked in with two plans, A and B. I had every intention of shutting it down and going about our lives (plan A), but as we talked I grew weak. I just couldn’t pull the plug. So I threw plan B onto the table. I’ll get to plan B in a moment.

In a weird way, it was the best meeting we ever had. We never agreed so completely before. Our backs were against the wall, we saw no real promise for growth with the service we were offering and time had run out. We couldn’t go back to the drawing board to start over but we could segment the part of Locally that was working, make it our core service.

I already had plan B mapped out before our meeting, in fact we were going to implement plan B as a feature per our product roadmap. Here is what we knew. The functional aspects of Locally that are strongest are messaging and referral. Customers would share their location, business hours and relevant info and then post to Twitter and Facebook. Visitors would come to Locally via these referrals, however, very few were coming to Locally organically.

A local discovery platform will never work on a referral based system. So plan B was all about optimizing messaging. Locally customers were reaching Twitter and Facebook followers and fans but not reaching their customers that were not on these social networks. The solution: Text Messaging. Everyone has a cell phone, they won’t need an app and it is the most direct method to communicate priority information (as determined by the consumer by way of opt-in).

In our meeting we went all lean startup and hammered out a plan to validate this new idea. Yes or no, will you pay for it? This is all we want to know and we want to know as quickly as possible. We carved out the framework for group text messaging, created a new marketing page and simplified our service.

Locally is group text messaging for businesses and organizations. Share discounts, special offers, cancellations or announcements with your customers, employees or members; share your text messages on Twitter and Facebook, add your location (including a map) or schedule a text for later.

This also eliminates the need to build for the consumer. We offer a service for business and organizations, that’s it. Much easier to focus on value proposition this way.

I said earlier that the plan remains the same, I am still trying to find a job somewhere. We know one paying customer doesn’t mean a hill of beans in the big picture. But we started to work on plan B in mid-September and launched it November 6. On November 7, we got our first paying customer. We altered our mindset, become laser-focused on the goal and employed a strategy that produced results.

No matter what happens at this point, we got to one. We might get to two, or more, we might not. Reality is if we don’t get to about $500 in revenue before the end of November there won’t be time to sunset this, there will be a straight up blackout.

I started this post by saying how it has been a struggle. There are things that keep me up at night like thoughts of letting my family down; I didn’t need to get rich, I needed to make a living. Or failing to come through for our investors. I hate not being able to repay or generate a return for those that thought enough of us to invest. Second guessing. All the things that I imagine most startup founders struggle with from time to time.

But there are also so many positives to reflect upon. I learned so much about myself and as a family, we have gained a sense of appreciation for what we have. Let’s put it this way, it definitely could be worse.

To conclude, while I continue to seek that elusive new job, Luke and I are going to keep at it for just a little while longer, eyes wide open. If you or someone you know might benefit from group text messaging, let me know. Plans range from $19-$149 or we can do a custom solution for you.

Do You Feel Like We Do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7rFYbMhcG8

#startuplife

Going Back to Where It All Began - Greenville, SC

I'm heading back to Greenville, SC on Wednesday to hang at The Iron Yard for a few days. The plan is for me to "mentor" the current batch of startups in the accelerator. I have a lot of unique experiences to share with the startups so hopefully I can share some insight and first-hand knowledge with everyone. Make no mistake, I am no startup expert or one of these sought after gurus. I just want to help in some capacity and lighten the load of stress one can feel in an accelerator.

I openly admit, I love Greenville (as evidenced by my Facebook cover photo). A smile comes to my face when I think back on the four months I lived there. It is a strange thing, though. Most people don't move out of their home, leave their wife and kids behind and live in another state for nearly four months. These things, of course, were the worst part of pursuing this passion. So while I smile when I think about the best experiences I had in Greenville, I can't help but to feel some guilt for leaving my family.

There is also some guilt about not having broken through with our startup yet as well. I won't go into all the ups and downs since returning from the Iron Yard, you probably read those posts already. But I will say you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Once you commit to a decision like leaving the family and starting a business it changes everything.

People say "well at least you gave it a shot and won't live the rest of your life regretting it if you hadn't given it a try." I wouldn't trade my experience in Greenville (and my love for it) for anything. HOWEVER, the ramifications of a taking a dip into the startup pool are irreversible and feeling guilty for burning your savings, leaving your wife and kids behind; and putting your spouse into an impossible position (support the dream or put a fork in it), may be worse than regretting not doing it in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. There are so many amazing things that have come out of all this. Too many positives to list; I am just pointing out that the regretters of the world don't know what they aren't missing. And, we haven't failed with our startup, we just haven't made it to 1 yet. I suspect this will change in early May and if you know me at all, you know I will tell you if we made it to 1 or not and I will be brutally honest in my report.

So, off to Greenville. Might drive past the old apartment at North Slope, may even go in to Publix - won't buy anything - just want to walk through the isles reminiscing. Well, maybe not, that actually sounds kind of dumb. Why would I do that when I can visit Barley's, Chicora Alley and maybe 2-3 other favorite places; walk Falls Park and might even bike the Swamp Rabbit Trail. But the one thing I want to do most is kick back in that white leather office chair in my old seat at [the new] Iron Yard throwing back some cold ones with my great friends and fellow Iron-Yarders.

#The Iron Yard #Greenville #startuplife

The Valley

Not talking about Silicon Valley. I'm talking about the valley between the peaks.

Things are getting tough in startup land. We finished The Iron Yard in late September, launched a prototype (we used to call it a beta, but let's be honest), learned a lot and felt like we finally found the sweet spot.

The next milestone was to actually get the product to catch up to the business development. See, we have beta clients (some high profile) waiting to use our product. I suppose this is a good problem to have but I imagine the shine wears off after waiting around too long.

Here we are in March and about a week or so from pushing the update that will finally get the clients on our platform. This is THE critical moment in the life of Locally. This is when we find out if we are a contender or a pretender. Either way, it's been about as hard this last month or so than is has been the entire journey to date.

Money running low (business money that is, personal accounts have long since been drained), tension in the household increasing daily, sense of industry is about shot, role confusion (I work for free while my wife brings home the bacon), personal torment for both my wife and I - the mental battle over to support or not to support this endeavor, to give up or not give up on this dream, become the startup killer or remain the startup supporter? It's all madness, quite honestly. Pretty sure I am in limited company when it comes to dealing with all this stuff.

One thing I know to be fact. Startups need capital to move fast. IF you have some, you are golden, if you need to raise some, you are gonna get suckered into the "trap" real quick.

The "trap" is the toil between spending time working on raising money (which takes a lot of time especially if you have to establish investor connections on your own), and deciding to commit to just cranking out code and shipping product. You quickly realize that you can't do squat without some money. Then while you are struggling to get meetings with investors you get pissed and decide you are going to build out more features and ship some updates. Then you realize this is moving fast enough because you don't have the required resources....you get the idea.

The "trap" is also getting sucked into all the blogs, articles and startup "How-to's" which are all garbage. These don't apply to the average startup (and if you are the founder of an average startup, you know what I am talking about). I could write a book on all the traps you know why? We have fallen into what feels like every one of them.

I will wrap up with this. People ask me all the time if it was worth it to quit my job, leave my family behind for the summer, ask my wife to support me and significantly put a hurtin on the family (I was gonna say "family budget" here but really, this has been beating down on the family unit). Not sure I have the answer yet but I certainly have learned some lessons about what is important in life. I'm not the best at seeing this all the time but I do know. All we need to do is ship the next update and then we are golden...

#startup families #startuplife

Great resource for Philly area startups and more.

I'm Just Not That Crazy About Boats, That's All

"Gee whiz Caffey you're in the Navy for crying out loud."

Been watching A Few Good Men tonight and this line was perfect for some thoughts I had about startup life.

Ups and downs are part of startup life. We all know this. But something every startup founder should understand before getting into the startup life is that you're enlisting in the Navy. Sure you may get sea sick but it comes with the territory. You can't circumvent this reality. If you join the Navy, you will spend time on the boat regardless of your vertigo.

We need to prepare ourselves before singing up for the Navy. Is this really the life we want for ourselves and our families? Are we prepared for the massive lifestyle adjustment that is about to happen? Do we understand that it is a four year enlistment? Are we ready to get in that foxhole or "stand on that wall" with our comrades?

Others have enlisted with the expectation that they will miss their family for extended periods of time, live a meager lifestyle, take risks most people cannot fathom and be there to hold up their end of the deal as all enlisted personnel took an oath to do. If you do start a startup and your co-founder(s) do not share the same understanding that you are joining the Navy, the ship you are on is likely to sink before reaching port.

You have joined the Navy and you will ride in boats even if you aren't that crazy about boats. If this scares you, don't join the Navy.

#startuplife #startup families #all in

Moment of Confidence

I recently posted a 60 second year in review for 2012. I decided to spare you the long details of the ups and downs we experienced this year. To get to my point, we learned so much it is hard to share in a blog post. So instead I am going to jump to right now, today and discuss my moment of confidence.

I am the CEO of the startup Locally. My biz partner Luke is our developer and CTO. We are finally right where we think we need to be in our startup lifecycle. No paychecks, no funding (yet), a closed beta v1 with no revenue and a financial well that is quickly running dry. So why the hell would I say we are right where we need to be?

We've lived a lifetime, or at least one career cycle, in the last 6 months. It took every minute of these 6 months to refine, refactor and redevelop a product, a team and a company. But having done that we have positioned ourselves really well. Don't get me wrong, we have work to do and lots of it, but this is a moment of confidence, not a moment to analyze.

Locally is now positioned to be a platform. Marketing for merchants, vendors and event planners, discovery of amazing local experiences for consumers. A great combination with a solid value proposition. Merchants, et al. directly engage their local market in real-time by sharing location, information and deals/offers - with the press of a button. Consumers simply open their mobile app and see which experiences, events and offers are available in their city or neighborhood. We describe it more simply as Foursquare for things that are happening right now.

We will raise the capital required to build this out from our current beta product into the number one local discovery platform. As one investor said to us, "you just need to build it out." We agree.

Advisors, colleagues and fellow entrepreneurs all helped to shape us in 2012. We expect incredible growth in 2013.

#startuplife #locally

60 Second 2012 Year In Review

Startup idea carried over from 2011.

Developed product/vision and began prototyping in early 2012.

Felt strongly about startup, decided to go "all-in."

Quit my job in May.

Applied for and was accepted into the Iron Yard accelerator in Greenville, SC.

Left my wife and two boys from June 7 until Sept 18 (saw them 3x for total of 8 days during this time).

Pivoted with about 5 weeks left before our Demo Day on Sept. 13.

Pitched at Iron Yard Demo Day Sept. 13. (then went to BMW Performance School to zip around in M3's and 6 series)

Took the next month to adjust to living at home again. Luke, my business partner and developer, went back to Boston. We currently work remotely from one another.

In October we started to discuss raising capital and have been fortunate enough to secure initial interest.

Also in October we launched our closed beta, enrolled our first handful of customers. We capped enrollment at around 10 for initial testing.

We rebranded our food truck app, TruckyLove, to become Locally, the easiest way to discover amazing local experiences. Now open for all sorts of local vendors, businesses and venues.

Began discussions with high profile organizations in Phildelphia to sign up for Locally; meetings ongoing.

Currently, raising capital (today is December 26th).

Acknowledgments (Important people that have helped me - and Luke - along the way):

My wife - my kids, and all of my family/friends/support network

Charlie Crystle

Kyle Sollenberger

Dave Weaver

Trini Amador

Peter Barth, the Iron Yard, Iron Yard teams, and the Iron Yard Mentors.

Keith Messick

Arnold Waldstein

Chris DiFonzo

Eric Katherman

Bob Moul

Mark Spangler

Startup Lancaster members

Many, many others as well!

#year in review

sonomavine

Those of you that follow along here on The Sonoma Vine know that I have had quite a year in 2012. I quit my job and started a consumer internet/mobile application company called Locally. After many months of long nights, hard work and time away from home, we have finally released our location...

firstpitch

Post from my wine blog about a use case for Locally.

#marketing #Locally

Locally Logo and Logo Mark

#Locally

Locally

Good Morning, While you were sleeping, TruckyLove has been transformed, mostly just our brand name. We received feedback about our software that indicated to us that we were leaving the door shut for other awesome, locals who may want to use our platform. In response we discussed our findings with event planners, business owners and other vendors to gauge interest in using our software. The response was favorable! With this in mind we wanted to create a brand that was open

to many local establishments, thus Locally was formed.

The tools, functions and pretty much everything else will stay the same. You may notice one or two remnants of the TruckyLove site - we call them Easter Eggs! These will go away over time, however. Finally, we are really going to work on establishing a network of awesomeness...Locally. This is why you will notice the map is focused on Philadelphia, our primary area of focus. You can move the map to see other areas and on your mobile, you should be taken directly to the map view of YOUR location. Our new Facebook page is below, we will migrate the TruckyLove page into our new page over time. If you have questions or comments, let us know! Thank you for supporting us! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Locallyfm/126487767501908?ref=hl

#Locally #local discovery #branding

TechStars Boston Demo Day about to start

David Cohen talking fundraising.

Seth Godin on stage, David Cohen about to intro

Seth Godin prepping for presentation at #GANFounder conference

#ganfounder

GANconference

TruckyLove has launched in private beta

You know our story. Summer in South Carolina accelerator, The Iron Yard. A pivot 8 weeks in. Visiting my family 3x. Adjusting to life back at home. Bootstrapping since our return. Livin' the startup dream.

Today we can announce that we have launched our beta. It is public for consumers, but private beta for truck owners. Next week we should see our first trucks start to broadcast live for all to see. It has been some journey to this point. But, the work is really just beginning.

It has been very rewarding to reflect upon all of our experiences from this summer. Many mentors still helping out, including The Iron Yard as a whole. Great to feel like we have created so many connections with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Check us out at www.truckylove.com

#launch #startup #food trucks

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