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I spent six years of my life building a startup from scratch. We started with a guy and a press release and grew to over 200 employees in six countries.

We took $60 million in funding and our spending was rationally exuberant. We had a beautifully refurbished penthouse office featured in a TV show, acquired four companies, and paid for two all-hands trips to Las Vegas. That’s where I picked up my classic symbol of startup life: a company logo hoodie.

Our exit was ultimately on "terms undisclosed." Pessimism and fear in the final days mirrored optimism and hope in early ones; the lessons were just as valuable. Having survived my first startup, now I can look back with a sober perspective on the attitudes, behaviors, and assumptions that helped and hurt our success.

This session is about sharing the lessons I learned along the way with anyone who might be thinking about startup life but similarly hasn't ever previously worked in that kind of environment.