Thread by @melkargi

As much as I love everyone FINALLY embracing remote work from anywhere, been in this game for a while now…

In 2016, I set out to build a globally competitive AI #startup from Sault Ste Marie, Canada.

Here’s how that went:

https://twitter.com/fortunemagazine/status/1527663146550296576

I had a vision.
I had a dream.

I wanted to revitalize a steeltown with tech.

I wanted to prove that you could build best-in-class tech from ANYWHERE in the world. In 2016.

I was proven wrong.

I was literally laughed at by Toronto investors.

Most Waterloo investors didn’t believe my dreams could be possible up “North”.

I ultimately determined that local Soo investors would have been more likely to fund a cupcake shop than deep tech AI; despite endless attempts.

Only ever got gov’t $$ in SSM that I matched with $ from my day job before funded.

Sudbury investors came through and funded me. Strong appetite for #tech investing there.

Big ups to Peter Dal Bianco for believing in me and making @skritswap possible putting capital behind me.

Silicon Valley finally funded me in multiple rounds in 2018.

I had to constantly go in-person to build relationships. Used air miles to visit quarterly starting in Nov 2016.

Didn’t have much PTO so had to take unpaid leave from my jobs. I skipped meals to stay on budget.

I would pretend it was NBD for me to get to a place in person for the next meeting. When in reality it took a Herculean effort & a lot of friends’ couches.

It’s incredible the equity that #zoomfundraising opened up, albeit by force, in 2020.

It wasn’t an option back in 2016.

I had so little personal capital, I couldn’t afford to change an air miles flight when it became clear that my only known living grandparent was dying.

I gambled on going to #sf July 2017.

He died while I was there.

AFTER he died @AirCanada helped me get back sooner, cheaper.

This is the cost of #entrepreneurship. Super sad sometimes.

The silver lining of that trip is that I did meet in person with the first #sf VCs who funded me.

I hope my grandfather would be proud at what I was able to do because he came to Canada on a cattle ship at 4 years old

There are so many stories in my 2-year fight to just get a chance to try.

That one is probably the saddest/hardest.

Others:
- driving 8 hours thru snowstorms to get my first cheques.

- spending weeks at a time in California for years, convincing people I was serious and legit.

These are spontaneous tweets, so I’ll leave it at that.

I’ve journaled and took vlogs throughout my entire #founder journey.

Maybe someday I can share more if ppl are curious.

All this is to say:

1️⃣ give those founders on zoom a chance. There’s probably 1 million reasons they couldn’t get to youIRL. And 10 million more why they deserve to be funded

2️⃣ if you don’t come from privilege/$$ or even the USA, it can take the impossible to get funded at all

3️⃣ keep supporting #remote work and #wfh, which REQUIRES #affordable #childcare and support for families.

I don’t have kids, but I’m extremely mindful of my teammates who do and orient around their schedules as much as possible.

4️⃣ there are a LOT of people to thank on my journey. And so many details left out from the above.

I have thanked everyone PROFUSELY here: melkargi.com/30-days-before…