Deciding to close House Hack.

A Reflection

Today marks the end of the journey with House Hack after 18 months of building the social enterprise with my co-founder Ryan.

What started as a lockdown project in response to covid back in April 2020 as final year students at uni has grown, morphed and evolved countless times into what it is today.

Defining what we do has always been difficult...

• A Talent Accelerator?
• An Early Careers Consultancy?
• An Innovation Agency?

Answer: All of the above.

However, amidst the labels and definitions, there has always been a constant:

That being the mission...

"To empower 18-25 year olds with meaningful work opportunities to develop their confidence, skills and experience in a supportive environment where ambition is normal"

Impact wasn't an afterthought. It was the reason for the business.

The model was created with young people at the core. They delivered our events, managed our community and consulted directly with our clients.

It became a team of 30+ held together on a value exchange of learning, impact and experience with relationships built on trust from the beginning. We wanted our talent to outgrow us and move onto bigger things. Supporting them to start was always the intention.

However, in Helen's words... "You come for the learning, but you stay for the people".

And the people were awesome... They always have been.

Seeing them grow in confidence from students into the true professionals I know them as today has been the best part of the journey. They've landed jobs with our clients, won awards together and started their own businesses. In a lot of ways House Hack has been the match that helped ignite their passions. For that it will always be in my heart.

There is no North Star KPI, because measuring 'empowerment' is impossible.

But, this is what I can give you:

• We delivered 25 virtual innovation hackathons for 405 participants from 65 universities to consult for 60 start-ups to an average rating of 8.9/10.
• We hosted 3 virtual talent assessment days for 77 candidates for 2 scaling start-ups to an average rating of 9/10 from which 6 have become full-time employees.
• We supported a community of 39 team leaders with mentoring, project-based learning and networking to become 'Graduate Ready' for the world of knowledge-based work.

Why are you closing then?

On paper things look good. We're a bootstrapped business, we're profitable, there's money in the bank, we're making a real impact and our clients love our work.

What more could you want?

It's a good question...

Which I'll attempt to answer below:

No.1: The Business Model

Young people delivering our services and learning in the process has been our biggest strength. It's built on trust and reciprocity at every stage and scaling this project-based learning has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

However, this is also our biggest weakness. We designed the model to fit around the student lifestyle of full-time study with weekend events and flexible involvement which is awesome. However, it means we have a huge variable in the time our team can give to clients as other competing priorities like exams win out.

To scale going forward would require us to become more client-focused at the expense of the original mission. We'd need to keep reducing our time spent on non-billable activities and focus on delivering the best client experience we can. But, with flexible involvement built on reciprocity, moving away from our team's needs means not only losing our purpose, but also our capacity as members find more worthwhile ways to spend their time.

Balancing this multi-sided business model has always been hard.

Scaling it would be even harder (but obviously not impossible).

No.2: A Need for Change

In October I had this weird feeling in my gut that something wasn't quite right. I talked it through with a few mentors and friends and realised (among many other things) that my learning was hitting a glass ceiling. I'd let the business become routine and I wasn't finding the work stimulating in the same way it had been before.

In building a bootstrapped social enterprise, I'd always put the needs of others above my own. Perhaps it was moving to London and realising how expensive life is or it was a review of my goals and habits that triggered it, but something clicked inside of me to get re-prioritised on what I want from life.

Once I'd opened that jar of worms, I knew something needed to change. Whether that be the business structure, the people I'm working with or my role entirely. As I explored all the options, it became clear to me that the biggest growth would come from releasing myself from the many variables of the business and narrowing my focus onto my strengths.

No.3: The Timing

There's never a good time to explore doubts as a Founder because there'll always be that next client who's about to land, that milestone you're about to smash and that hire you're about to make. It always seems like you're so close. And once you get there, it looks exactly as it did before. Just one more client, milestone or hire - it's an endless loop.

For all the times to open a jar of worms like doubt, October was the best month to do it. We had only one retainer client until the end of the year, were in discussions to sign-on several more, and weren't stuck in too many long-term supplier agreements. To not explore it then would mean committing to at least another 18 months.

So, I took a long hard look at everything. I asked myself if I really wanted what lay ahead - changing the business into something that it never intended to be, prioritising commerical activity over impact and sacrificing my personal growth along the way.

To which my answer became "No, I don't want this".

It was then a matter of discussing the next steps for the business with my co-founder to which Ryan and I came to the conclusion that it was best to close at the end of 2021 and go our separate ways.

What followed was many emotional conversations with team members, clients, suppliers, mentors and friends, with each one reminding me of the tangible impact House Hack has had on their lives.

Without them none of this would have been possible.

Thank you.

So many people have given their time, money and enthusiasm to helping us realise the mission. They are the ones who enabled us to bootstrap the business, deliver the social impact and learn a lifetime of experience in a year and a half.

To the 39 Team Leaders, thank you for the time you invested in House Hack at every stage of the journey from the Discord Days to the Talent Challenges. You replied to a stranger messaging you on Linkedin, came along to an event you knew very little about and gave your love to everything you did. The business has always been about you and always will be. Seeing you grow as individuals has always been what made this meaningful to me. You've all got incredible careers ahead of you, and I am genuinely so excited to see what you all do over the next 10 years. House Hack will live on in the relationships you all created with one another and in the lives of those you inspired. Thank you.

To Jimmy & Sean , thank you for believing in House Hack back when we had no idea what we were doing or delivering. You gave us our first real break and invested not only your time to mentor us, but your money as our first long-term client. You fundamentally changed our business from a part-time hobby to a full-time venture and backed us when we had only enthusiasm to our name. Thank you for your inspiration, advice and belief.

To Mike , thank you for accelerating our learnings at every stage of the journey by being the best mentor I've ever had. You gave us your time every single week from November 2020 until now, supporting us to define, scale and eventually close the business. Without you we would not have made nearly the same impact. Thank you for giving without expectation in everything you did for us and never asking for anything in return.

To Toby , thank you for believing in the potential of the Team Leaders and working with us to deliver for your clients. You introduced me to more people than I can count and got us excited about the future of House Hack at every stage. You enabled us to provide meaningful work opportunities to your clients and gave so many of us first-hand experience into the world of consulting. Thank you for your energy, support and guidance throughout.

To Ryan , thank you for taking this journey with me over the last 18 months and giving your time, energy and love to the business. It's been a pleasure working with you and seeing how much you've grown in confidence, skill and experience at every stage. If there was one person I'd say this business changed the life of the most, it would be you. Good luck with your next steps and I know you'll move onto bigger and better things, I'm sure of it.

To House Hack, thank you for giving me more than I could ever ask for. You've become bigger than just Ryan and I, making a real difference to everyone who came into contact with you. You've made me smile more times than I can remember and given me an experience of business that has helped me understand my strengths and learn what it is I truly love doing in life. Thank you for being the hardest answer to "What do you do?" and the greatest expression of my belief that anyone can do anything. I will always look back on my time with you fondly and it will bring me great pleasure to explain what House Hack is once more to anyone and everyone I meet.

What's Next?

With two months to have worked this out, I've got some clarity on what this looks like.

In short, I'll be doubling down on my strengths and pushing myself to maximize for interesting in anything and everything I do.

For me this looks like building a portfolio career focused on project management and process consulting while hitting some long-term goals of mine like finishing my half-written book, crossing the Ironman UK finish line and continuing to grow my personal brand.

To do this I've already started a new business and am genuinely excited for what's to come both in the short-term as I apply skills I've already learnt and in the long-term as I once again go on the journey to build something scalable.

More on this coming soon.

Here's to the end of the post-university chapter and the start of the early career.

Ps. With this not being the first time I've closed a business, it's been interesting to reflect back on my journey with Postey and how releasing it from my life enabled House Hack to come into the world. If you're interested, I reflected on that decision at the time here .

See you soon.