"After raising $1.75 million in funding for my AI startup last year, I quit my chief of staff job at a Series B startup and moved to San Francisco to go all in as a solo founder. The startup I used to work for had three co-founders, and I saw how they relied on each other for opinions and advice. If one person were sick, the other two could pick up the slack. As a solo founder, I'm completely on my own."
"I have a team of five employees operating across different time zones, but I spend most of my day working alone. My task list is endless, and there's always another goal to chase, but my mindset is to just keep going and hope the hard work pays off. I'm building mental resilience every day, but there are times it's hard to do it all alone."
"The day we announced our raise should've been one of my happiest days as a founder, but it wasn't. The night before, the landing page wasn't ready, and my team of five had gone to bed, so it was just me working on the Webflow landing page until 3 a.m. I remember sitting there and having a bit of a cry to myself."
Annie Liao raised $1.75 million and left a chief of staff role at a Series B startup to move to San Francisco and build the AI startup Build Club as a solo founder. She runs a five-person, distributed team but spends most days working alone, facing an endless task list and constant goals. The solo-founder path has brought both risk and excitement and has required daily mental resilience. Long hours and solitary problem-solving are common, and specific precautions are taken to ensure credibility and overcome underestimation as a female founder.
Read at Business Insider
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