18 months ago I sold $36,000 of Salesforce stock to pursue my first side project. Aaaaand today I shut it down.

Three comments, then the story:

1. Please forgive my shamelessly clickbait-y title.
2. If you're doing the math in your head, today that stock would be worth about $61k (gotta love ESPP - I had been contributing since my intern days).
3. The story ends well.

In March of 2019

A friend and I were about 5 hours into a gravel ride when he ran out of water and started bonking* pretty hard... we were probably five miles from the nearest water source, so the next hour was pretty intense. But not so intense that we didn't get through it (clearly). Later that evening I was looking at my bike thinking, "how can I get more water on here?" The answer that seemed obvious was to make maximum use of the space in the frame already occupied by the water bottles -- i.e. leave no negative space.

*bonking is like "hitting the wall" just way worse. Your body decides that you really are just a sack of meat and your brain, sidelined and helpless, has to watch it all fall apart.

State of mind

I had just read a book that got me all hot 'n bothered to do something creative, so I figured why not go all the way and try to manufacture a device that was like a Camelbak... but for your bike. It would enable those suffer-happy cyclists that love long, desolate rides to carry more water (niche market for sure.. niche personality type too). And while we're at it, why not make it pressurized because who wants to suck water up a 3-foot hose?

I researched some rapid prototyping companies, found one I liked, reached out, and we started jamming on the concept. I also got connected to one of my sister’s friends who was a few years into his career as a designer (and also an avid cyclist). We were moving along at a really promising clip — the brand design was looking amazing, the prototyping was a really cool process ("iterative" is an understatement), keeping track of all the finances, building models, and doing market research was also pretty darn fun.

Then Covid hit

Manufacturers shut down and the project ground to a halt for about 10 months. We had the product designed, patents pending, a great looking style guide for the site, closing on the target date to shoot the Kickstart video... then womp womp.

(Brief aside: the crazy part of this was that we stopped hearing from manufacturers in China in late November, early December. They just went totally dark. It was almost like something weird was going on over there...)

^Pretty nifty, no?

Idle hands

In the midst of slowdown with Velikan, which is what we decided to name the company, some other little dots started connecting. I saw an opportunity to pursue a second venture, with the goal of helping young people improve their financial literacy in an engaging and entertaining way. Financial literacy had become a passion of mine in 2019, to the point where I was doing hourlong lunch & learns with some junior employees at Salesforce...

And they were digging it!

Onward

The experience working with Skylar (the designer that my sister connected me with) and Summer (Skylar's partner), had been such a good one with Velikan, that I asked if they'd be interested in a "once in a lifetime opportunity" (jk I didn't call it that) to work together as partners on a new venture. I couldn't pay them -- no more stock money at my disposal because, as it turns out, manufacturing net-new products is expensive -- but I could give them equity in the company. The market was huge, woefully underserved, and I felt like I'd gotten some great early "customer" feedback from those sessions.

They got on board and we set up a weekly call. And thus, Big Later was born.

Fast forward to now

We've met once a week, every week for the past year. There are now 8 people involved in the project and, with our September soft launch behind us, we're closing in on our 100th customer (no marketing dollars spent yet). In the process, we have created a learning experience that we're all extremely proud of, a brand that looks and feels pretty darn unique, and our little work-team-family-whatever-you-wanna-call-it team meetings have been a bright spot in an otherwise uncannily (is that a word?) difficult year.

So, today when I decided to shut down Velikan, I was able to do it with a smile on my face. It was an expensive venture and a failure. But hell, if I hadn't decided to go for it with Velikan, I certainly wouldn't have Big Later. Or any of the new skills I developed along the way.

The moral of the story

I realize that the moral of this story is a tired one. Books, blogs, tweets, manifestos, <insert any other medium that human beings like to communicate through>, have been written on the topic of failure. But I'll say it again.

There is no better teacher.

So, to the reader who is standing at the precipice of their own creative venture, being pulled back by the endless torrent of mindless distractions (Mandalorian Season 2 anyone?) hear these words: you gotta go for it.

Make an investment in yourself. And if you fail, you can thank me later.