👉 Project updates:
- @getchunkie is coming along. Gotta change website from Healstack which is now used for our general business. Overall we are ALMOST there. So so close.
- I’m thinking of doing a small physical product project - candles or a derivative from it.
A major decision I decided is to learn how to code over the next months, primarily focused in implementation of design, as I feel locked up by inability to style what I made. Last phase of Chunkie offers a great opportunity to bridge the gap.
I also want to help few indie creators with their brand journey, to keep my branding chops still current. My main obstacle now is the move - office & flat move. I hope this will be last move in next 2 years. Moves have slowed us down by a lot.
In terms of finances, we are still aiming to bootstrap our way through for Chunkie. Now we managed to become sustainable via consulting enough to allow runway to run. It bought us more time to update some things we had wrong assumptions on, and improve overall flow.
I am feeling burned out, but much less than before. I took some time away from the project. Reflected on good things & fuckups in the beginning of our healstack/chunkie journey. I realised I need more outlets, thus candles.
We also did a small hackathon project for @thirsttrapapp and we got very far, learned some new things. Will try to release it at some point after we are done with Chunkie.
A huge barrier I managed to break for myself is to be ok with fluid production aka not feel like I have to do everything at once, finish it all asap or otherwise it’s a failure. I have privilege at the moment to take a chillpill & work on things in a mindful manner so why stress?
One tip for founders, especially women - this shit is not easy. It’s a long game. I was very naive few years back despite previous experience. You can’t expect the journey to be the same for all, & I wasted so much time on self doubt because my path didn’t follow a formula.
I will repeat often in case any #femalefounder stumbles upon this thread: if you have an idea, don’t give up on it because things aren’t going as fast, or it’s taking you a long time to release or make something. Your timeline might just be right. It’s something nobody told me.
Major topics that were pushed in our journey:
- release fast
- raise a large preseed
- must be A tier angel/vc/
- focus on quantity versus sustainability
- be like someone else
It never resonated with me. It took months to understand it’s not my jam.
So now, a year later since we “quit” that storyline, I’m happy with where we stand. Chunkie is a 10x better product, Vic & I are more solid as team mates, our values are clear & sharp on what business we want to build & we are completely unstressed about failure.
That’s a short summery of what’s been up. We also have about 4000+ signups on healstack.com with no ads or push. The landing hasn’t been updated in a while as we are focused on building. I am excited to enter the new phase soon. Stay well.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I’ve recently came to terms that as you improve your well-being, you will have to leave some, if not all friendships that you built earlier in life prior to change. 😕
This feels in particular true if you are changing class position & have less of a scarcity approach to life.
I used to think that if you invest time, money & effort in people, it would motivate for becoming more proactive & change outlooks + outcomes. And to some level it does.
But unless systems they are in support that change, majority just reverts back.
I’ve been very sensitive lately to negativity, anxiety & scarcity that certain friend units share together and have realised that for some it is the only operating mode. This perpetual reality of misery (often misplaced).
Today, we have decided that Chunkie as a company will not seek or take any investments.
We will not make any investor pitch decks anymore, & I will not meet with investors in the future.
Here is my why 🧵👇
1. Let's start with the basics - women do not get funding.
The statistics are so bad that the issue won't change during my life, as it is much worse than this industry is willing to talk about.
2. Marginal winners of funding are only those with friendships & relationships inside the circle.
Fundraising as a woman outside of that circle is a dehumanising & invalidating experience. Especially in the stage, we are in. I refuse to put myself through this anymore.
Let’s talk boundaries. 👌
Few years ago had a collegue I decided to distance from as the friendship ran its course. They kept texting me every few months despite me telling them that at this moment I need time to focus on family stuff. 🧵
As I gave 2 instances of explanations where I said that I can’t give attention & taking time to focus on family matters, they persisted to contact me from text to Linkedin. I was short in initial answers and reiterating the same msg that at this time I am focusing on family.
At this point, I started getting annoyed. I thought about boundaries & when it is appropriate for someone to back off. How many signals need to be sent & is it truly on us to be unpleasant or directly crushing to maintain our right to step back?