When things don't go according to plan

Unfortunately we’re in a business where things don’t go as expected often. A favorite company of mine from years ago in 2020/2021 just announced an acquisition where all common stock is likely to be wiped out.

I was a fan of the business, but more than anything, I loved the people there. They were good folks who cared about their customers and what they were building.

We worked with them in a much different time period. The market was humming and FinTech was the hot space to be in back then. We all know what happened to the broader market, but FinTech was hit especially hard throughout everything.

Undoubtedly this company fell on more difficult times than even other companies during the downturn. It sucks and I feel for the people who worked their asses off to build it. But that’s the game you play in the startup world. Unfortunately the vast majority of companies do not result in any sort of payout for equity.

We do our best to educate people on this. But there’s undoubtedly a bias whenever you work for the company. You are always being fed aspirational information and almost everyone starts counting their chips.

Of course, there’s always shock when things don’t go according to that plan. It’s never a fun situation when your exit leads to a bad financial outcome. The best you can do is temper expectations and make sure you plan for all outcomes, not just the best one.