I started Twish, my first startup, with three friends. Two of them were running another startup alongside Twish and the other was working a full-time job as he had some financial obligations to cover. I was the only full-time person on the team.
Our initial product idea, financial courses with storylines and animation, generated no sales. We then pivoted to pitching a long list of courses to MBA colleges hoping something sticks. We generated some sales from it but realized this also wasn’t going to scale. We then thought of building an interview prep solution for MBA aspirants. Through this period, we continually faced challenges with finding times to meet each other, generating ideas and delivering product. We never moved as fast as we should have – rapidly generating ideas, testing, iterating, and pushing forward on what worked.
About six months in, the friend with financial obligations got a lucrative job in London and decided to move there. One of the friends running the other startup lost interest in Twish. So we decided to shut Twish down.
Building a startup is one of the hardest things you can do and requires intense dedication and perseverance. I learnt that while there’s no guarantee of success, failure is certain if you’re not fully committed to it. I’m still friends with all my co-founders and each of us has gone on to build successful careers. However, whenever I take the plunge again, I’ll be sure to build my startup with people who are fully committed.