Goodbye, Buttermilk 👋

I’ve made the tough decision to shut down my first start-up, The Buttermilk Company. Lots of factors went into this decision, but here’s a few with some advice strewn in:

🤯 Mental Health

Running a company is incredibly difficult, as anyone knows. Running it alone is even tougher. Throw in a few personal life changes, city moves, and getting married and you have a very burnt out founder. I heeded all the warnings about being a solo founder and had in fact started a search for a co-founder when we were accepted into Y Combinator’s summer batch. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I joined the batch alone and instead focused my efforts on building the company. This was definitely the right decision at the time, but sometimes I wonder if I had pushed off YC and taken time to build out the vision and team of the company if I / Buttermilk would’ve faired better. I don’t regret the experiences I’ve had with Buttermilk, but now acknowledge my limitations as a human. I need space and time to flush out something as big as a new start-up before jumping in full force. My mental health and happiness took a huge hit, and I’m slowly starting to pick up the pieces.

For any current or would-be founders, I highly recommend getting a therapist or coach to help you, whether you’re solo or not.

💸 Unit Economics

If a business doesn’t make money, what’s the point? You could point to current unicorns that are burning cash as a counterpoint, but those are few and far…