Ouch. This hit hard. There’s something sacred about people investing in you even when the business fails, but it also leaves behind a kind of grief no pitch deck prepares you for. The emotional tax of taking money from people who love you is rarely talked about, and you just gave it language. Thank you for writing this. So many of us needed to read it.
"Thx for losing my money" - ouch that stings every time my brother-in-law says that. He's joking b/c he's a sophisticated investor and put funds in one of my startups that didn't fulfill.
It stings because I let it.
He sees a scar, but I'm still holding the wound open.
Both your dad and your friend investor gave money because of their trust in you, and they are not holding it against you now. You are.
I recommend having 1 more conversation to clear the air, close the wound, and let it turn into a scar.
Then use the scar as a battle wound and show it off.
You got in the game. You fought. You lost. You now have a wound that needs to turn into a battle scar.
Use the scar to tell the story and amplify to your next battle and victory. I'll do the same.
Thx for this article. Well written. Will help me and many others. Keep it up!
Great and honest piece about an under-explored situation.
"It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena... who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming."
Ouch. This hit hard. There’s something sacred about people investing in you even when the business fails, but it also leaves behind a kind of grief no pitch deck prepares you for. The emotional tax of taking money from people who love you is rarely talked about, and you just gave it language. Thank you for writing this. So many of us needed to read it.
"Thx for losing my money" - ouch that stings every time my brother-in-law says that. He's joking b/c he's a sophisticated investor and put funds in one of my startups that didn't fulfill.
It stings because I let it.
He sees a scar, but I'm still holding the wound open.
Both your dad and your friend investor gave money because of their trust in you, and they are not holding it against you now. You are.
I recommend having 1 more conversation to clear the air, close the wound, and let it turn into a scar.
Then use the scar as a battle wound and show it off.
You got in the game. You fought. You lost. You now have a wound that needs to turn into a battle scar.
Use the scar to tell the story and amplify to your next battle and victory. I'll do the same.
Thx for this article. Well written. Will help me and many others. Keep it up!
Thanks Jared, really appreciate it.
Powerful read.
Sometimes the cost of money isn’t what we spend — it’s what it takes from us.
Great and honest piece about an under-explored situation.
"It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena... who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming."