Momentum can make or break a startup.
Lack of momentum, lack of customer, investor, outside interest can kill a company that does not pivot/adapt quickly.
Positive momentum: interest by investors, potenial customers and even potentially unexplained good luck… well, you have to go with it.
Sometimes it takes years of hard work until the momentum catches, sometimes it's almost right away. At eTour, we worked quietly, silently for about 1 1/2 years before the momentum kicked in. All of a sudden the press, our growth of users and our investments seems to happen at once. That was June of 1999. I remember it well. From there it was a wild ride.
A StartupChick I had coffee with last week, likened the startup experience to an airplane flight, you never know when you might hit “turbulence”. I'd actually compare it to Space Mountain. It's a roller coaster in the dark… you don't know when you're going up, down or sideways. You just hold on tight and try to keep it going.
Well, as it turns out… I am truly blessed. I have what appears to be a twice in a lifetime experience, to make a run for it. To be a STARTUPCHICK. To find investors, raise money, sell customers and grow a fundable/scalable business.
My company, Nexpense (http://www.nexpense.com) is gaining momentum. We launched our Alpha on 10/12/2010 as a Showcase Company at Venture Atlanta. It was a HUGE honor to be selected as one of the most promising young startups in the Southeast/Atlanta. And most recently, we were selected as one of 9 companies as finalists in the Women 2.0 Pitch Night in San Francisco. Again, this is a HUGE honor. I'll be out in San Francisco next week for the Pitch and meeting with old friends and hopefully, some potential investors.
This is momentum. This is a start. And I have to run with it. I have to devote my energies to leveraging this momentum and making it happen. Nexpense deserves it, my team at Nexpense deserve it, you deserve it, and well, I am a STARTUPCHICK.
With that being said… I will be relinquishing some of my duties at StartupChicks to focus more fully on Nexpense. I will be as involved as I can be. I will do my best to be at EVERY event; but, some of the stuff that happens behind the scenes…. well, I need help.
I'm doubley blessed. At last weeks event, I mentioned my concerns to some of our more active/experienced and involved StartupChicks, and well, they have stepped up to the challenge. In addition to my co-founder, Shannon Hubbell, and leadership committee member, Jenny Trautman, the following women are stepping up and joining the leadership committee:
- Ella Dyer (Abundant Closet)
- Marna Friedman (The Small Business that Could, Author, Self-Publish & WordPress Expert)
- Jacqui Chew (iFusion Marketing)
- Jackie Hutter (IP Strategist)
- Alysia Wurst (Aspiring Entrepreneur/Investment Firm)
Thank you to these AMAZING women for helping to ensure that we continue to connect, educate and inspire women entrepreneurs, through this transition and into the future.
I intend to do my best to educate and inspire you through my journey. I will be blogging along the way. I will sharing our successes, our setbacks, the excitement, the fear. Stay tuned….
Jen
