I’m applying for a grant and I got this question: share a time you faced a challenge as an entrepreneur. How did you use your “founder-mindset” to overcome and stay on top of your game?
I was thinking about my response and I thought I’d share.
My response:
Over the past year, I would say that there wasn’t one challenge that I faced. Instead, I would say that the entire 18 months have been challenging not just for me but startups in general. And it all came to a head in March of 2023 when SVB, a very popular startup bank abruptly shut down.
I was set to speak at SXSW when I received an email that the bank had shut down. Now as a fractional CFO, managing tens of millions of dollars for clients you could imagine how panicked I was.
I had multiple clients with multiple millions of dollars at SVB and had to figure out very quickly how to allow those businesses to continue operating. Payroll needed to be run, vendors needed to be paid. It was a nightmare.
That event triggered a market correction in which startups
1. Were not able to fundraise
2. Lost millions in revenue as customers stopped spending
Essentially their sales came to a halt and money completely dried up. This was especially bad for Black and women founders. I had multiple customers in the last year shut down, cease operations, and essentially not be able to afford my services.
So as the market changed so did my business.
What I have done to continue to support my community and the founders that I am put on this Earth to serve is the following:
1. I created tiered pricing that would allow my customers to pay at a rate that was more suitable to their current financial situation. I did not want to abandon them as a service provider so I created a price and structure that worked for both of us.
2. I created ways that my clients could work with me without working with me. I created a self-study fundraising course so that you could get all the experience I’ve gotten over the years for a fraction of the cost of working with me 1 on 1. I’ve helped founders raise over $40M that’s .2% of all pre-seed and seed stage deals in 2023. I can learn you something and you can learn it at any time.
Staying on top of my game and having a founder-mindset has always meant that I need to be able to serve the community I was put on this Earth to serve. IN ANY CLIMATE. And if that means that I need to change my pricing or change my offerings then so be it.
How have you had to change your business to stay alive in this market?