Last Updated: @2021/08/27

7 Years

I spent 7 years building Consol.io with my brother and then dissolved the company in 2020. It was a productivity app that combined the functionality of multiple tools into one. We left the website up for show.

If you're familiar with Notion, it'll sound similar. I had the idea as early as 2008, but didn't start on it until 2013.

We made a lot of mistakes running a startup, but learned a lot.

When I discovered Notion, I knew it was time to quit. It did everything I wanted (except chat), only better. Know the signs.

I realized very quickly I wanted to use Notion for everything. I also realized 4 years too long to keep trying.

Some high-level lessons on co-founding startups

It takes an insane amount of alignment to build a company with someone.
Partners and founders need to count the cost of how much work it actually is. It's 10x more than you think.
You must be willing to kill your darlings (features), and take big risks (maybe quit a job).
You must focus. Other projects will kill the startup.
You cannot move slowly most of the time.