Weekly Trivia

Source: Silicon Valley Bank

Friends & Family

I have the greatest support system that any founder can ask for, but I do recognize that the topic of friends & family (F&F) is a sore subject for others.

Family functions turn into investor meetings, friends become your beta-testers, spouses & significant others are your full-time therapists, and that one neighbor claims to “understand” what you’re going through because they had a lemonade stand in the 6th grade…

So let’s get into it.

Isolation

I moved to Boston after my summer with the Techstars accelerator. There were a lot of reasons, but I needed to be away from F&F.

No distractions, no temptations, just me and putting pen to paper on Habits.

More specifically, a business requirement document. Let me be clear this isn’t a “business plan,” it’s a comprehensive break down of the entire technology scope of our company. Consider product features, screens, use cases, work-flows, and every little detail you could think of.

It took about 6 weeks. And you can view it here.***

But that’s the part of F&F that many people don’t consider. That you may need to isolate yourself so you can fully focus on getting started.

***that sh*t is confidential as f*ck, if you actually clicked on that link thinking I’d share our IP then let me say thank you for thinking so highly of me lol***

Raising Capital

Okay so there are two schools of thought when it comes to F&F fundraising.

(1) You’re nervous about the result of your startup so you don’t seek any investment from them.

(2) You 1000% believe in yourself and want your F&F to get rich off of your hardwork & conviction.

Some investors think F&F can make the cap table messy, others think if they don’t invest it’s a reflection of how they think of you.

First users

In the first $250k that we raised, I’d argue $75k of that was from mentors, early adopters, a few friends, but for the most part we did not raise a lot from F&F.

Instead, I turned to them to be the first users of our platform. And WOW did they come through and blow my expectations out of the water.

And I promise you there is nothing cooler than a random high school classmate, a former colleague, or a best friend who out-of-the-blue texts you “this Habits thing is going to take off, I am so impressed.”

You can’t buy that type of support.

Ongoing support

This might sound strange…but you need to be comfortable asking for help or at least allowing people to help you. For example, here is a random list of ways my F&F have come through.

• One referred a former roommate who has now been an employee at Habits for over two years.

• A college friend allowed me to live in his rental property for pennies on the dollar.

• A cousin has over 25+ referrals for this blog.

• A friend I lost touch with over the years invested $15,000 the moment they heard I was building a startup.

• My buddy and his fiancee are probably my #1 supporter on social media.

• I was nominated by two friends of mine and awarded a prestigious award in the NIL space.

• Roughly 50% of our cap table is a result of warm introductions.

• My immediate family for being my biggest cheerleaders and advocates in their daily lives.

So to those of you still reading, thank you too. Each day is a dream come true. It’s stressful, it’s hard, but you all make it worth it. My email is [email protected], don’t hesitate to let me know how I can return the favor and support you (also if you need a financial advisor, I gotchu fam!).

^{Find Your Financial Advisor}

If you’re somebody on the sidelines or are not sure if a financial advisor makes sense for you or your family, just shoot me an email at [email protected].

Or… visit our website and book time with us!

Thanks for reading, Habits fam. See you back here next week for more.

-JB