Week 13 of Being a Founder

The Zinc Venture Builder is a full time, 12 month programme where a cohort of 70 from across the globe unite in founding teams to build startups that tackle the biggest social challenges. This week I was battling a migraine so a frustrating slow down to progress from my side ??

Highlights from Week 13 ??

Not a huge amount to report this week due to having to take a few days away but grateful for the beginning of the week that brought many moments worthy of my highlights section.

My highlights were:

Birthday Celebrations ??

I turned 29 on the 16th ???David surprised me with a Terrarium workshop (adorable) and some crazy golf plus an amazing vegan meal. Alfredo also bought me an orchid and cake on Monday ???Was a great way to start my 30th year - and the last year I can say I’m a “Forbes Under 30” ??

Slowing down (involuntarily) ??

Not really a highlight but a significant aspect of the week - getting an unstoppable migraine. I suffer reasonably regularly from migraines and unfortunately haven’t found any significant common triggers to avoid them so it’s just something I have to deal with. Thankfully after a couple of days I could get back to business.

Proud Ventures ??? ??

Loved attending this event and connecting with many amazing LGBTQ+ founders and investors. Great vibes all round - looking forward to the next one!

Thoughts from Week 13 ??

On my mind is the rejection of perfection by founders… but the expectation of perfection from others. The process of building an MVP includes rejecting the “nice-to-haves” and focusing on the needs.

It does mean though that you’re acutely aware of the things your product is missing (and you know people know they’re missing!). You’re working on just spinning the plates and you know someone is wondering why you aren’t doing backflips at the same time. So something else to get used to as a founder is having good logic for why you’re building the way you are and not being distracted unless there’s a really good reason.

Other than that my main thoughts this week were… why has been head been hurting for 48 hours straight ??

How You Can Help ??

I’ve been thrown in the deep end this week and am learning B2B sales on the fly. Which is thrilling but also very intense. If you can help a girl out and send some community sponsors my way that would be great.

We’re looking for businesses that want to advertise to founders. This could be a B2B startup that makes fundraising a lot easier or an HRTech that makes onboarding new employees a breeze - if you work for or are the founder of a B2B startup that wants to connect with founders, get in touch ??

Thank Yous for Week 13 ??

• Big thanks to Emily from Seedrs for your support and interest in what we’re building. Look forward to chatting more ??
• Thank you to Maiko from Impact Hustlers (and Max for the recommendation!) - super excited to keep chatting ??
• Thanks to Sameer Singh for visiting Zinc and providing a hugely beneficial session on marketplaces ??
• Hug thanks to David Kirk for your thought and insight. Really helped focus our efforts this week ??

What’s Coming Up ??

Next week is major hustling mode for me. I need to get us revenue - that is my main focus. So lots of sales calls, lots of pitching…

Also, the Lionesses kick off against Haiti in the Women’s World Cup (I’m actually writing this against China and I can confirm that we did not play well against Haiti, or Denmark, but we’re pinging in the bangers against China so I’m feeling good).