Manufactured Momentum

Momentum is a peculiar thing. A state most believe is binary. A have or have not.

Truth is, that’s not entirely true. Just as there are three sides to every coin (heads, tails, and the side it rolls on (s/o SG)), so exists a 3rd state best described as manufactured momentum. A result of sheer willpower, and an insatiable desire to bend actuality to match that of your perceived reality.

Wild concept, I know...

In The Birth of Baseline Pt. 1 I chronicled what it took to get us to our first check. A pivotal moment for the company, and one that resulted in Nikola and I seeing Ozzy Osbourne’s last show. Given the stereotypical "investors are lemmings" logic, one might have assumed the momentum had shifted in our favor.

The road ahead resembled that of Sisyphus instead of our desired, and anticipated, slaloms. Thankfully, I'm one stubborn SOB and I let the team know there was no need to fear - manufactured momentum was here.

Other than a handful of small angel checks, we hadn't close anything notable (primarily due to timing - so I thought). Thankfully, the notorious San Tropez summer for every venture investor and their sister was coming to an end and we could get back to work.

Well, they could get back to work, we were as pale as the Coppertone girls tuchus.

On one hand, our runway was non-existent, on the other, the industry kept validating our progress - we even took home a trophy at HLTH. Unfortunately, accolades don’t get mouths fed, but they do whisper “Keep Going…”

Our momentum was slowly shifting, and I had many promising conversations in tow, but none were matching my timeline. (This was entirely my fault. Thank you, Harry).

Around this time my relationship was being taxed heavily due to my monomaniacal focus on work, and some 'friends' started to question my sanity, recommending I throw in the towel.

“You don't rise to your goals, you fall to the level of your standards.” — James Clear

If you know me, you know I'm a systems guy (a color coordinated calendar type). When I created our internal manifesto I created a set of principles that would act as the filter for all company decisions. They've evolved slightly, but one has been a staple.

Never stop until the job is done. Hint: The job is never done. I’m already fairly stubborn. This exacerbates that stubbornness… in a good way, I think.

Not once was waving a sterile flag considered as I had burned the boats long ago, but I’d not closed the capital we needed - and I’m not independently wealthy, yet.

That’s a problem, especially considering we had less than a month of runway in the bag.

I asked myself, If there was a way, what would it be?

Maybe I could future pace all of our expenses on a credit card to buy us a month? I did, as well as negotiated a 45 day grace period on that cc payment. Smart, I thought.

We closed a few hundred grand that month enabling me to pay off the CC on day 44 (thinking it would free up access to our credit limit). Nope… Banks don’t care about intent, only balances and revoked our limit until our balance re-surpassed $400k.

Fail…

Conversation continued to materialize, and I was getting 5-10 shots on goal per week, but we were living in no mans land. My personal threshold for uncertainty is one thing (I also have no dependents), but not everyone on the team has that luxury.

My fear was that one domino would fall - and that chink in the armor would be the straw that breaks the camels back and tanks the company. We were between a rock and a defined timeline, and if something didn’t happen soon we’d be crucified. The hardest part for me was knowing the team, who bet their livelihoods on a promise I made them, would not be able to put food on the table this holiday season.

High stakes, no margin for error, and deferred salaries all around.

We set aside a few hours on our leadership call to brainstorm how to navigate this, but before we convened, Nikola messaged me saying he had news.

He hadn’t been heavily involved in fundraising (someone had to man the ship after all), and I didn’t sense someone was quitting, so I had no idea what to expect.

That conversation lasted no more than 90 seconds (extraordinarily rare for him. ha!)

He said "I've written a loan to the company to cover our costs. Stay focused on the fundraise. I have a feeling we’re very close to closing this out.”

Let’s backtrack real quick.

When my mom died, friends of ours would leave meals at our front door. A kind gesture, but one I internalized (took me years to uncover this) as people seeing me as not able to care for myself. Since then, I’ve perceived asking for '‘help’ as a sign of weakness, and have provided unsolicited ‘help’ as a way to affirmed my identity of being capable.

This has built a level of trust in myself that is unmatched. The con is that I historically remove the opportunity for others to show up in support of me when I need it most.

Simon Sinek articulates this best, here.

“Your work works on you more than you work on it.” — Alex Hormozi

This gesture was something I’d not let myself experience before and was a profound moment for myself, and us as a team. I doubled down on my fundraising conversations, this time with an ever brighter fire to see this through. Thankfully, with every iteration (and every book / podcast / course) my fundraising fluency was improving.

Days later, following 7 calls, 3 reference checks, an IC presentation, and a multi-hour review of our entire tech stack, we received a verbal commitment for $1,000,000. I hung up that call, did a celebratory dance with Lokah, and sent the info requested.

The investor committed to send docs that Friday. Friday came and went.

I followed up. Crickets. No response the following week either.

After another week had passed I pinged the investor whom not only had been introduced to us by said investor, but had done their diligence and invested in us within two weeks (strong signal of someone who GSD). I expressed my concerns, and asked them to follow up to make sure the ghosting investor was okay.

The next day I received an email - which I can only describe as gaslighting Nikola and I. I provided them with a recap, and a transcript. They told me I was huffing paint.

It’s a wild feeling having the rug pulled on you like that. Especially given the shot clock.

What was, and is, within my control is how I respond to the given circumstances. I kindly wished them a great holiday season, realizing we had dodged a bullet. If they were choosing to show up as a donkey prior to signing, imagine what happens next.

Thankfully, I’ve masochistically internalized some other traumas and when I smell blood in the water I poke the wound. This meant when we got the verbal, I doubled down and socialized a strong pre-holiday push armed with said commitment and a fixed timeline.

What started as a ‘hurry up and wait’ (sans momentum) process took a 180 once I chose to run the show. Much to my delight, that was the missing ingredient all along.

Less than 10 days following this flip of the script I had $750k in commitments from two funds, and partners, I’m genuinely excited by. With those commitments, accompanied by a few strategic founder-friend intros (and timely advice - s/o: Harry, Steven, Daniel x2, and Dave), we secured our last and largest investment in 48 hours from first call.

There are a lot of lessons here, but my favorite thus far is that when you give someone the opportunity to support you, and they choose to show up, you build a bond far greater than any win ever will. The dedication our team has to bringing Baseline to life and supporting each other in times of need is something I’m impressed by daily. It is foundational to the culture we’ve built, and one that sets us up for success for years to come.

You can wait for the cards to fall in your favor, or you can manufactured said momentum until it becomes the real thing. Either way, you’re in control.

Time to write the next chapter.

Oh, and yeah, we oversubscribed the round.