For me, I was lucky enough to meet Anthony Nemitz and Tom Steinacher, two talented young developers who I immediately recognized as being special. I knew I wanted to work with them one day, even if I wasn’t sure how yet.
Focus on Pulling the Levers that Matter
I’ll fast forward to the death of my first startup, Supercool School (R.I.P.).
I tried six times to get into Y Combinator with that idea. All I had to show for it was six rejections.
After years of banging my head against the wall trying to make it work, I was finally honest with myself and admitted defeat. As soon as I let go of my first idea, I felt like a weight had been lifted. I was free to return to the drawing board, wipe it clean, and start over. Immediately, I had a new idea I was excited about.
For my next startup, I partnered with Anthony mexico telegram data and Tom, the two talented developers I had met in the Bay. The result was SwipeGood: a charitable giving app that lets users round up their transactions to effortlessly donate to the charity of their choice.
With this new idea, I didn’t waste time with all the bullshit that had slowed me down before. I had made enough painful mistakes to know which were the right levers to pull to make real progress.
An idea that worked: SwipeGood wasn’t going to change the world, but it did provide a practical solution to a charitable giving problem.