Last month, Sean Percival stepped down from being chief executive at Wittlebee, a US-based children’s clothing subscription service backed by search engine provider Google’s corporate venturing unit.
In April last year, Wittlebee raised $2.5m in its seed round from Google Ventures and venture capital firms Crosslink Capital and Rincon Venture Partners.
Percival said he gave up being CEO after failing to raise it’s a round and on his blog gave the advice to peers:
- “Ignore the cries for more traction, especially when it would hurt your business or deplete your cash to satisfy those demands. Buy yourself more time and make the investors wait.”
- “A loyal team member is going to stand by you even when times are tough and the snack cabinet is bare.”
- “Just do your research and find the one [accelerator] that is right for you. Most of all you want one that is founder friendly (several are not), has juice (the ability to fuel or fund your business), and has demonstrated some measure of stability (most are a shit-show).”
- Be transparent with your employees about the challenges the company is facing and if you are out of love “it’s really your duty to get out of the way. Intense love and passion is what builds great companies, and without it you really don’t have a chance.”
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