One Year of Hynts: My Top 5 Thoughts
Here we go, another blog of a nobody talking about something he has no idea about --The social media special. Well, not far from reality. The truth is that I am just a simple guy trying to build a company with a friend to change education for the better. I am sure you understand that, so far, this is my biggest personal and professional challenge. Thank god it is fun! I want to use this blog to discuss some thoughts I have from this first year based on my experience:
Money does not matter
This is a fucking Rollercoaster
Building something is fun
You learn non-stop
We are only starting
1. Money does not matter
Hold your horses, and let me explain what I mean. I don't see Hynts succeeding because our top/only goal is to make money. To be honest, I have barely earned a penny from the company since I finished my Ph.D. I wake up every day and try to give my best because I love our vision, because I have fun doing it, because I learn non-stop, and most importantly because I believe in this idea and have faith in it. Do I think this will lead to having clients and hence money? Yes, of course. Essentially, it will come because we are determined to help universities and schools with our products, and then I am sure we will make money. Is money the priority? Not at all.
My take: If money is the only thing that matters to your company or to you, then maybe your company or you will not matter much.
2. This is a fucking Rollercoaster
Do you see the graph below? I am sure I underestimated the ups and downs of any startup. Everybody says it is a rollercoaster, and everybody is right. The worst part is that we probably have not even seen
the worse of it. One day you think you are the shit, and the next one, you are in it --I am not using my best English today. The goal, of course, is to see some upwards trend over time, hence the importance of looking at this graph with perspective. However, it is easy to say this now when I am writing, but it is not that easy when you thought you were about to close two clients and suddenly they are not convinced yet and need to explore more options. As I said, this is an insane rollercoaster that is not easy to deal with, but it is what it is.
One day you think you are the shit and the very next day you are in it
3. Building something is fun.
We could add: "If you have a clear vision of what you are building" Looking at the graph above, there was one point where the vision of Hynts changed (February 2023). We moved away from consultancy and became an EdTech. Time will tell whether that was a good decision, but the point is that when you know what you want your products to be, building them is a lot of fun. Seeing the products evolve, advance, and be used by users is a fascinating feeling. We currently have only one paying customer, but it is already fulfilling.
Vision first, then build!
4. You learn non-stop
The speed at which you have to learn things is crazy. Finance, preparing for VCs (Venture Capital), legal, cloud, DevOps, Frontend/Backend, and team management are among the most important skills acquired. But there are two additional interesting things. One is the speed at which your knowledge is evaluated. You may go from learning how to construct a financial plan to receiving feedback from a VC in a matter of weeks. The second relates to how fast the transition between learning and teaching can happen. You may have to learn something one day to explain it the next day to somebody. But you know what? I am learning a lot from working with people supporting the company too. I will take a moment here to recognize the effort of our summer interns to help us push the company forward: Michael, Kennedy, Alvaro, Xingru, Cheryl, and Elliot. I hope you learned a bit as well from us.
5. We are only starting
Yours truly is only starting to grasp the dimensions of what he got into. We will see how we deal with uncertainty and complications that will arise. For now, I will limit myself to enjoying the good times and keep working during the good and the bad ones. The rollercoaster will not stop, but with some luck, neither will the fun of building and the learning part. If that is the case, we may have a chance to get somewhere and give a better future for the next generations. For now, step by step, and as always: Let's enjoy the journey.
Hynts is up to something. Let's enjoy the journey!
Books of June-July
Reina Roja. Juan Gómez-Jurado
Loba Negra. Juan Gómez-Jurado
Rey Blanco. Juan Gómez-Jurado
Benjamin Franklin. Walter Isaacson
Clásicos para la Vida. Nuccio Ordine
Die Familienfeier. Shopie Kinsella
Ethan of Athos. Lois McMaster Bujold
Thank you for reading the blogs, and feel free to follow me on Twitter if you want to know more about me.
From a friend,
Pepe
