Founders 🚨 If you’re building a Product or Startup? Read this…

My phone showed me this picture memory. The chances of this memory ever happening were pretty much impossible.

A few December’s ago.

🏕 I was reluctantly living out of a suitcase from a friend’s new home in Ilford, London.

👵🏼 The previous old lady left behind a master bedroom, like a scene from Austin Powers, the carpet, the walls and the curtains, bright purple! 🕺🏻 🟣

🛏 The new mattress my friend treated me to, was like sleeping on weetabix, a spine buster. The fresh coat of white paint was pungent and nostril burning. 👃🏻

This temporary bedsit had a very clear objective: Solve a Problem

After what can only be described as living a childhood fairy-tale, 8 years to become a Chartered Architect, specialising in residential, sustainable hi-rise design and parametric modelling.

In 2009 before moving to London, I designed a 25 storey tower for Manchester which incorporated a lattice diagrid (X) system and double skin micro climate. The tower had similar engineering cues poignantly for this post to Norman Foster’s ‘The Gherkin’.

During my fourth year in London I decided to flip into a different universe; Software.

I set up a company, built a website, iPhone app and platform in Beta while working full time  for 12 months. I didn’t tell anybody outside of my family and a couple of friends.

This 🔥 in my belly, had to be explored.

1) Leap of faith:

I quit my job… Two months before the app went live. 

2) Sacrifice:

Eleven years in architecture.

3) Risk:

Skin in the game. £45k Bank Loan for London survival.

For context, I’m a non-technical solo founder (I didn’t code) originally from Old Swan in Liverpool with a real scouse accent. I don’t come from family wealth, didn’t attend Cambridge, Oxford or MIT. 

Within months of going Live, we gained traction and Users in 50 countries, piggy backing onto the existing hashtag #mipic – A Spanish word, “my-picture” Three national startup competitions were entered, miPic won every one and received a nice feature by INC.com.

I then popped my Crowdfunding cherry raising £170,000 with Crowdcube which enabled miPic v1.0 designed in Brick Lane, built it in Buenos Aires after a life changing day at Richard Branson’s house. This whirlwind 6 months followed with an exciting hello invite to Accel Partners.

And then… Suddenly, the handbrake was pulled.

A back seat driver got excitable and demanded we bizarrely franchised the company, blocking new investments. 🤯

I felt punch drunk, like I’d just done 10 rounds with Tyson Fury. 😵 🥊

I was told “you shouldn’t have mentioned your Accel meeting.” In simple terms, we over performed our six month plan and ears were burning wanting more equity.

I then lost 10 months of our Roadmap untangling over emails, distraught with worry how I would pay the team or buy my own food shopping.

I chose to leave my apartment in Clapham minus a traumatised burnt-out ex girlfriend. I was operating on instinct and first time founder naivety. I told everyone, “don’t worry guys, I’m going to solve the problem.”

The new bedsit in Ilford. The first train station walk was eventful.

An angry looking chap appeared from a tower block, running in my direction crossing the road, swinging a machete.

🔪 YES, A MACHETE… Shouting at two men I was walking towards.

🎒 I held onto my straps and continued walking, I didn’t cross, I didn’t stop or turn, I kept moving and walked past them. I heard screams and shouts putting my key into the door thinking “what the hell have I signed up for here.” Founders often ask themselves this same question.

That same ‘machete week’ in December, I was invited to meet a couple of gents at their office near Liverpool Street. Yes, you guessed it – The Gherkin.

The Holy Grail and icon for Business in London

I visited the Gherkin many times before, studied its engineering in detail but never been inside, behind the curtain.

The Gherkin is the architectural postcard and pinnacle of business in London.

This was not an episode of The Apprentice but as real as it gets, I was walking into the exact visualisation I had dreamt a thousand times.

We grabbed coffee and went upstairs to the 12th floor, to their floor!

I met with Marcus Traill and colleagues at Quantres about chapter one of miPic’s story and my vision for the company.

8 weeks later, Marcus and Craig Mawdsley both Directors at Starling Bank became 5% Shareholders in miPic. And just like that, I’d ‘solved that Problem’ and inadvertently arrived at a much more professional investor table.

Marcus, Michael and Craig of Quantres.

I had no real insight into what Quantres or who their solo founder was, Harald McPike is a self-made entrepreneur and financial trading adventurer.

I sold 25% equity in miPic
to Harry and his team for £1,100,000

From meeting to completion in 6 weeks over Skype. Where I’m from that’s not loose change.

But this miPic investment, insignificant to the bigger picture, at less than 1% of Harry’s £130 million investment into fellow solo founder Anne Boden who has created an incredible brand and FinTech disrupter in Starling Bank now valued at £2+ billion just a few years later.

Investing in Technology businesses requires serious capital, scaling a product to millions of people requires much more than just Code. Brand building, tone of voice, a Consumer end product, logistics and most of all creating a talented happy Team.

Architects design Master Plans, Infrastructure, Buildings, Layouts, the Look and the Feel. For it to stand up, we rely on Engineers and Technicians to play their part… Correctly.

Architecture was the perfect foundation and baptism into the startup game. Taking an idea through design, iteration, construction and delivery, bouncing through revisions and criticism along the way. Nothing ever runs in a straight line.

Founders!
Develop a Thick Skin Immediately

The simplest and most elegant of products are often those working the hardest within. The Gherkin’s beauty is made possible thanks to it’s column free floors and diagonally braced engineering.

❤️ At the Gherkin’s heart, multiple concrete core lift shafts act as the buildings linch pin cantilever. Each diagrid lattice (X) connects to the heart and Cores discreetly within floors, resulting in a masterpiece of column-less open spaced architecture.

The Building works in a trapeze of balance, tension and compression.

Building a Tech Startup holds similar parallels alongside my brief stay in Ilford.

Your Core Mission and Values must be able to withstand an earthquake.

Prepare for challenges, massive sacrifice, heartbreak, road blocks, maniacs, sleeping on sofas while remaining upbeat. Keeping a level head during the absolute 💩 shi*est of times and calm during the most ecstatic of celebrations, is a necessity. ✊🏼

On the day Harry’s £1.1m investment arrived in our account, I took our iOS engineer Shab to Sushi Samba in Heron Tower at 2pm. 3 glasses of Champagne and 2 courses later, I’d had enough. I didn’t entertain calls to go out and celebrate.

During the Uber ride back to the purple bedsit in Ilford. I was content and smiling, knowing that this working class kid from Liverpool’s dream had come true.

I never gave up when several people told me it was impossible to solve the problem. I kept pushing from the bedsit slash building site with courage and belief, 18 hours a day until the job was done.

My advice for Founders, document absolutely everything along your journey.

You never know when it will be needed. As Architects, it is engrained in our brain to be meticulous about detail, a screw that came loose or a pixel not aligned. All while seeing the forest from the trees and birds eye view of the Masterplan from above.

Being able to reflect on these memories is priceless and a reminder how far naivety and tenacity can take you through difficult periods onto the next chapter.

If you think this Chapter was wild, wait until you hear the next! 😱

I continue to share my mission of building miPic, a crowdfunded company in public. To join our journey with 80 other shareholders, check out our pitch page below.

Godspeed to every Founder pursuing their dream. ✊🏼

Carl

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