One of the things that makes blogs great is when people are openly vulnerable. Although there's an inclination to use it primarily for professional purposes—expressing views about markets and industry direction—I believe an equally important aspect is putting yourself out there. It's a prerequisite to building deeper relationships. This is me doing that.
The last few months have been positively challenging. When we concluded that Hubble Exchange had run its course and would be closed down, I knew there would be pain ahead. But to some degree, I found this reassuring. Each time I've gone through severe pain in my life, I've also experienced rapid growth in the period that follows.
One of my greatest unfair advantages is my stamina for relentless optimism and perseverance. I believe going through intense challenges early in life builds a sense of anti-fragility. It goes something like: "if I went through difficult times before, I can go through anything." Life is a testnet. Pick a game and have fun.
The Human Side of Shutting Down
Letting go of the marketing team was one of the saddest things I've had to do professionally. It hit differently at Hubble because I built this team myself and knew these people intimately over the last 2-3 years. I'd traveled with them, hosted booths together, gone on road trips, stayed with their families, and met their spouses. When you go through the ups and downs in an early-stage startup setting, it bonds you for life.
One of Hubble Exchange's most valuable products was one our users never saw: the culture we fostered. We tuned into work each day, not just because it was a job. We genuinely liked working with each other. (And you shouldn't take this for granted. Because it doesn't necessarily scale.)
The Magic of Team Chemistry
As a manager, I try to be the glue that binds the team together, leading with empathy. When you put together high-integrity people with strong work ethic who are genuinely happy, and they believe in the shared vision—productivity optimizes itself. But there's a secret ingredient that's not always replicable: magic.
We had magic in our team at Hubble.
Perhaps this is why, after Hubble Exchange closed down, the engineers on our team were driven to continue working together. For a while, I played recruiter, using my network to find roles for many of the talented engineers. I even started interviewing myself.
A New Chapter
But it became obvious that the engineering team wasn't ready to give up on each other yet. They were hungry for a win. And I was called to duty. For the first time, I wasn't intending to start a project—I was summoned to it.
Around this time, I booked a flight to be in Vancouver Monday morning for a meeting that could give us a chance to build something new. On my way, we brainstormed two ideas to pitch. One of them was MoarMarket.
Seven days later, after jam-packed days of meetings and discussions, I returned with a soft commitment for capital that would be used to build MoarMarket. We had conviction. We were hungry for a win. And a direction was set.