My first month as a Startup CEO

I hate calling myself a CEO.

Last month after quitting my dream job I launched ArtSpot, a marketplace platform that connects emerging artists with local exhibition venues.

But it didn’t all happen in a month.

Believe it or not I spent 1.5 years recruiting a killer team, learning Rails, and buying enough Chinese takeout to feed an African village.

As for our first month? We’re pretty happy with the #’s.

But besides traction / product / user problems, what I’ve learned:

Sleep

I didn’t get a lot of sleep before ArtSpot, but I get even less now. It’s not that I’m always “working” but that I literally can’t sleep. When investors ask “what keeps you up at night?” they’re speaking directly to my soul.

Anxiety

No matter how close I was to a company before ArtSpot, I never understood what it meant to have ‘founder’s burden’ until now. There is simply no one else on the planet who cares more about your project than you do (in the early days, anyway) and that takes an incredible toll on your health if not monitored.

Love

My girlfriend is half the reason I’m still alive. The other half is iced coffee. Having a strong support system, romantic or platonic, is a must-have when you start a startup. Even though I’ve spent years on and off as a full-time entrepreneur (mostly freelancing, one small company) I was never as passionate about a vision as I am with ArtSpot.

Exercise

Thanks to a friend I now work out regularly (albeit early) with like-minded entrepreneurs. We meet at 8a a few times per week, take fitness classes, then network over chocolate protein.

Spending time with this group keeps me accountable with personal health and forces me to maintain a somewhat consistent routine. This is especially helpful for when you don’t have a “boss” telling you what to do all day.

Sales

I always thought I was a marketing guy; I was wrong. I’m now a sales machine, and last week I got my first batch of business cards since 2010.

Management

Great managers a) surround themselves with people smarter than them and then b) get out of the way. It wasn’t difficult to achieve this rule of thumb and I’m learning how to manage ‘up’ to folks who are more talented than me in X,Y,Z arenas.

As we grow ArtSpot I hope I can continue getting out of the way while also being an enabler for progress.

Goals

One of the first sentiments I embraced before going full-time on ArtSpot was the 98% chance that we’ll fail. Whether failure is a mix of bad luck, market timing, or just plain incompetence, I’m prepared to fail fast, learn from my mistakes, and move on.

Opportunity

There are unlimited jobs, unlimited sources of income. But after a few years in the ‘real world’ I no longer find it interesting to sacrifice my own dreams just to chase someone else’s.

So while technology, founder-ship, and quitting great jobs isn’t the right move for everyone, I’m grateful that I’ve been surrounded by people and opportunities that make it the right move for me.

For better or worse, ArtSpot will be the highlight of my 25th year and I can’t wait to share the rest of our story as it unfolds.

Onwards and upwards,

Ryan