Lack of attention to money used to drive me crazy, especially when it was my money. If you left a career or job with a regular paycheck, you understand how incredibly sensitive to money entrepreneurs can be. It’s not that your team is insensitive, but they don’t have the same obsession with it as we do. Imagine watching your bank account shrink when you know you are at least a year from revenue. Imagine getting a parking ticket for $150 when you are burning through your savings. Imagine having to ask friends and family for money. It runs through your mind every minute of every day. It drove me crazy when people going from New York to Philadelphia, Boston or Washington DC, would take the Acela instead of taking the standard train. It would cost about another $100 to save thirty to forty-five minutes. Don’t they know we are a startup?

We are always thinking about saving money and it often gets a little ridiculous:

When we had a team travel to trade shows or to finalist or investor presentations, I wanted team members to share rooms together even though most of them were in their forties. In retrospect, not sure this was realistic when it comes to grown professionals over the age of thirty-five but it was my perspective at the time. When they questioned it, I questioned their dedication to what we were doing.

We just can’t seem to understand why no one else is willing to drive six hours in the snow versus taking a ninety-minute flight. We think that no jury would convict us for killing a team member who ordered the $100 bottle of wine at the client dinner or used  expensive software when there was an open source version. Remember, no one cares as much as we do.

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