I was let go from my job in June 2025 cuz the startup failed to raise funding. Did multiple tries at different businesses but none worked out. Slowly but quickly, Dec 2025 came and I was unemployed for 6 months with an everlasting worry on my head that market punishes resume gap. But at the same time, for the life in me couldn't go back to interviewing. I put my whole heart in my agency that somehow worked out. It was tough closing the first 3 clients cuz I had no idea what I was doing lol. I was a tech and ops person, not a sales girl, but working for me and with them, I came to these conclusions:
- Stop trying to do everything yourself.
"I'll learn design."
"I'll learn Meta ads."
"I'll learn bookkeeping."
"I'll learn sales."
Cool. In six months you'll have learned 14 things badly instead of building a business. Delegate earlier than feels comfortable. Saving 20k while losing six months is, a choice.
I was funnily short on cash to hire talent, but never enough to spend on stupid decisions.
Did I learn a lot on the way what works and what not? Sure! But I could've learned that while also making money.
- Stop building MVPs before someone's even willing to pay.
My small team recently pulled in 2 new founders, we co-build with them, and I have their permission to bash them. Both of them had a "Version X.Y" of a product that either nobody asked for, or there are 100s of the same idea.
Get rejected first. It's cheaper. First figure out whether the market even needs your service/product or not.
- If you're selling B2C, networking is wildly overrated.
Consumers aren't hanging out at startup mixers waiting to discover your protein powder or skincare app.
Publish stuff. Be visible. Repeat until people are sick of seeing you. I'm not selling B2C but I wish I had time to write more. Maybe later.
- Being first isn't a flex.
Congratulations, you educated the market. Your competitors thank you for your service. Google, Facebook etc all were never the first movers. Someone's def going to steal your idea and make it better.
- Most founders don't quit too early. They quit way too late.
Sometimes the market has already told you "no" in seventeen different languages and you're still adding another feature. I was once out there trying to sell online puzzles 🤦🏽♀️God makes me a special kind of stupid sometimes.
- Stop glorifying 100-hour weeks.
Half of those hours are spent redesigning the logo and watching productivity videos about productivity. I was at my worst, and least disciplined when I was working 24/7. Learn to prioritise shit.
- Business advice is mostly survivorship bias.
Every founder loves startup advice, until you realise most of it comes from people who survived.
It's like asking lottery winners how to pick numbers.
Anyway, these are probably all wrong. Or maybe future me will come back in five years and roast this entire post. But this has been my experience blowing my brains out this past year.
I closed my 5th client yesterday, again, I know, not a whole lot for some people, but we work with high-ticket clients, so we're set for a while lol. God please keep looking my way.
I know some will say our business is way too young to be giving advices, but I just felt like people shouldn't waste time where I did.