It was announced in AFR this week that our first investors, Startmate, cashed out of HappyCo in our latest investment round. They more than 100x’d their investment over the past 10 years.
Generating good returns for our early investors wasn’t something I expected to be proud of; but here we are, and I definitely am.
I’ve no doubt our success to date has been heavily influenced by luck and the fantastic team I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Nevertheless, I’ve worked hard for the last 10 years to help build HappyCo, and this feeling is a nice unexpected boost along the journey.
It’s a feeling that has taken me by surprise, but on reflection I think I understand it — Startmate and other early investors bet on us when very few others would. Some provided us with support and mentorship, and some just provided cash. But whatever they put in, their bet on us has paid off. With their shares sold, the relationship is changed. We’re now a confirmed win — for them we can no longer lose.
And while I’ve always felt somewhat proud of the effort I have put in to HappyCo, that’s not quite enough to sate my relatively well hidden but extremely competitive streak. I absolutely love winning, and to get the full feeling of pride, I need to win — allowing early investors to cash out feels to me like we’ve genuinely won the first round.
I look forward with anticipation to the next time I get this winning feeling. I am hopefully optimistic for both our new investors and those who have doubled down and held their investments that it is not too far down the line.
Maybe for some we’ll be a 1000x return — wouldn’t that be something. That’d be like a gold medal win!
Generating good returns for our early investors wasn’t something I expected to be proud of; but here we are, and I definitely am.
I’ve no doubt our success to date has been heavily influenced by luck and the fantastic team I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Nevertheless, I’ve worked hard for the last 10 years to help build HappyCo, and this feeling is a nice unexpected boost along the journey.
It’s a feeling that has taken me by surprise, but on reflection I think I understand it — Startmate and other early investors bet on us when very few others would. Some provided us with support and mentorship, and some just provided cash. But whatever they put in, their bet on us has paid off. With their shares sold, the relationship is changed. We’re now a confirmed win — for them we can no longer lose.
And while I’ve always felt somewhat proud of the effort I have put in to HappyCo, that’s not quite enough to sate my relatively well hidden but extremely competitive streak. I absolutely love winning, and to get the full feeling of pride, I need to win — allowing early investors to cash out feels to me like we’ve genuinely won the first round.
I look forward with anticipation to the next time I get this winning feeling. I am hopefully optimistic for both our new investors and those who have doubled down and held their investments that it is not too far down the line.
Maybe for some we’ll be a 1000x return — wouldn’t that be something. That’d be like a gold medal win!