Beating the Startup Grind

How One Entrepreneur Pivoted During Covid

Contrary to popular folklore of the overnight successful American entrepreneur, starting a business is hard, often lonely work. You may have a great idea, a vision for a better future. And you are highly motivated to see that vision through to reality. But the path to success is fraught with uncertainty and hardship. You work long hours with seemingly minimal progress. Products fail to gain traction, marketing campaigns bomb, competitors enter the market and funding is hard to come by. It may even seem like the company is entirely dependent on you for success. That’s a lot of stress for one person. Where does an entrepreneur turn for answers and support?

That’s where Facet comes in. Often the best advice comes from entrepreneurs facing the same challenges as you are. “Facet was born out of my own need to create structure and the space for bigger thinking,” says Rachel Charlesworth, “it’s often too easy to get bogged down in delivering the work rather than working on real growth in the business.”

What is Facet? Why did you start it?

Facet is a peer to peer network for first-time founders looking to scale up their company, and become a better leader in the process. My co-founder and I started Facet in the Covid era because we felt first-hand the unique challenges an early-stage entrepreneur experiences in a crisis — we were both working on other businesses that didn’t survive past May.

In the early days, founders may not have investors or partners that can help guide them. It’s a very lonely journey, and 2020 only exacerbated the social-emotional toll of stress. Sure, there are plenty of Facebook and Slack communities, but it’s difficult to find entrepreneurs at your level, who understand how you think, and are going through very similar challenges.

So, taking a cue from executive peer groups, Facet is designed to help new leaders manage the unknown and get more done. Members talk through their challenges, examining them from new angles (hence the name!), build deep relationships, and discover new ways to grow their company.

What services will Facet offer to company founders? Why founders?

Facet provides structure to work through challenges, ultimately making better decisions. We match members into small groups of 5–7 fellow founders whose companies are at a similar growth stage, but non-competitive verticals. A group might include a marketing agency owner, B2B SaaS founder, leader of a product development shop, etc. Members meet in a facilitated format twice a month for 90 minutes. It’s a time to work through on strategic questions rather than plowing through the to-do list, and group camaraderie builds through tactical problem solving.

We also bring on experts in certain areas like growth PR, pivoting, bootstrapping strategies, etc. for office hours and one-off talks. But, unlike an accelerator, we primarily focus on peer-to-peer coaching for founders to get more done. The hardest part of growing a company isn’t new tactics, it’s consistent execution and knowing when you’re getting in your own way.

In your recent blog post, you talk about combating the founders’ myths. What are these myths and why do you think they are so prevalent?

I wrote about the idea of burnout, and that it’s not a badge of honor. We’ve been living in this era of hustle culture, but it misses the boat on the complexity of what’s required to sustain yourself while running a company. Working at 100% capacity 100% of the time just means you’re about to run yourself into a brick wall.

Founder myths like all out relentlessness or the lone ranger visionary aren’t just dangerous, they’re unrealistic and fail to recognize the complexity of most people’s lives. We need to better recognize the mental toll of entrepreneurship, and combat that struggle with better connection.

Starting a company in this environment seems a bit counter-intuitive. Are there any particular issues that founders are facing right now?

Over 3 million U.S. businesses have been started this year, 12% more than in 2019. And we all need better support to move our companies forward, not just surface-level networking.

Many of our founders face similar challenges managing and galvanizing people, even if their teams are small. This may not be different from “normal” times because managing technical or young teams is always hard. But I do think people are finding it harder, particularly when it’s their first time around starting a company and it happens to be during a pandemic. How do you keep people motivated and keep deliverables on time when there’s so much else going on in the world? That’s one of the biggest challenges facing founders right now.

You’re a founder yourself. Tell us about how your experiences have contributed to you starting this organization.

Facet was born out of my own need to create structure and space for bigger thinking. For the last three years, I’ve been running a marketing consultancy and thinking about long-term growth constantly gets moved to the bottom of the to-do list. It’s really easy to just do the client work, and focus on what’s right in front of me.

I was also inspired by the book The E Myth by Michael Gerber. I read it this past summer during the Covid crisis. The premise is that a lot of people who run companies aren’t entrepreneurs, they’re just creating jobs for themselves. They’re not working on the business, they’re working inside the business. It can keep them stuck.

How can founders set themselves up for success?

There are a couple of things. First, find your people. Find a peer group of other people that are at a similar stage. Meet with them regularly and set that structure up for yourself. This is what Facet is all about. Second, get really good at ritualizing your routines. Recognize what gives you energy and create a routine around that so you can stay energized and do the work that you aim to do. Finally, invest in yourself and invest in yourself as a leader. No first time founder knows how to do this stuff. You may have previously held a corporate job, but founding a company is different. It’s different when things are at a different scale, whether it’s super tiny or a lot larger and you’ve never managed people before.

https://www.hellofacet.com/ Follow Rachel on Twitter Follow Facet on Medium

Rapid Fire: Get to know Rachel Charlesworth:

What’s on your Quarantunes Playlist?

I’m big into indie and 70’s funk and soul vibes. They’re songs where you know the words and have good vibes that keep you going.

What book(s) are you currently reading?

I like to read my business books in physical form. The one I’m currently reading is The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Stanier. It’s super snackable and is a great book for leadership. For my entertainment reading, I like to do that on my Kindle. I’m currently reading The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by Andre Leon Talley. He’s a former Vogue contributor and a fascinating personality. I love peoples’ stories.

What is the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

Quitting my job in D.C. at 25 and moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I worked for a marketing company, but mostly used the year and a half to explore the world, to explore other ways of thinking and to get outside the norm.

What is the first app or website that you access every morning?

I do the New York Times mini-crossword. I love it.

Three people dead or alive that you’d like to have over for dinner?

The first would be Michelle and Barack Obama. They are an amazing example of social emotional support in couple form. And they are an amazing inspiration to a lot of people. The other would be Brene Brown. I think she is the ultimate voice for empathetic leadership and treating each other as human beings and not just cogs in a wheel.