Thoughts Brewed: On my 2020
Edition No. 11
Hey there,
To be clear, as we approach March 2021, I don’t think I’ve fully brewed thoughts on anything that’s happened post-March 2020. I have a back log (fyi I just typed bog log — time for vacation?) of posts though which I’m super excited to finally sit down and share.
I’ve learned so much this year about All The Things. And the best part? I’m still learning, so you’ll get a bunch of that in here too. This is, after all, a digest ;) I’m stoked to answer whatever questions you send my way. Some things hyper relevant for me which I’ll be talking about in here come 2021 are:
Designing quality driven products
Leadership / Being a CEO
Processes / Automation / Workflows
Remote Work / Building a remote team
SaaS
Fundraising
Parenting
☝🏼 Have any questions about these? Ask away! If I don’t have the answer, we’ll deep dive together.
Here’s the TLDR on my 2020.
2020 happened.
A lot of roles of mine joined together full-time: Mom, CEO, Homeschool teacher to my 5 year old that was suddenly no longer in school from one day to the next.
We started fundraising for Stark at the beginning of the year.
COVID became a thing in the states. Which became massive globally.
We closed $1.5M in funding with phenom investors, hired a group of phenom people, launched a massive re-brand, launched centralized billing, and got covered in TechCrunch.
I’ve been incredibly challenged personally and professionally by the people around me. I’m grateful, but exhausted.
Taking a “stay-cation” as soon as I hit send.
A quick breakdown before vacation…
Needless to say with the above I spent this year extremely quiet on the newsletter front, so I appreciate y’all hanging in with me here. I started the year off so hopeful, so ready to get back into writing, and I sit here throwing my head back at the sky and laughing lol. This year has been something else, and despite spending majority of it being a parent to a homeschooled 5 year old, and a full-time founder, I’m personally in an extremely privileged position. We are fed, in a home, and want for nothing. And I type this to you now from Ireland where COVID, though present, is well controlled and life is somewhat “normal”. This year has been incredibly stressful, but the inability to want for nothing except some quiet time isn’t lost on me. My heart goes out to so many people that have struggled this year.
Having said that, I personally better frigging leave 2020 with an award for Designer, CEO of the year, Best Homeschool Teacher, and Top Notch Chef.
Regardless, I wanted to share the news and let you know that I’m committing to doing this 1x per month. There were a lot of learnings this year professionally (and personally) and I’d like to think I can share that with y’all based on what you’re interested in. For now, let’s start with a little of how I got to now, the news / progress of Stark since it’s what is most top of mind right now as we close out the year, and going forward...
In November of 2019, Michael (Stark’s CTO + Co-Founder) and I sat at Shizen in San Francisco eating sushi when we discussed starting to fundraise. There were so many thoughts around it all, but in the new year, we hit the ground running. Needless to say I didn’t see 2020 ending up the way it did. But in 8 months, we spoke with just under 100 investors. Majority were “No”, but most importantly every “No” was closer to the “Yes” from some of the best tech leaders — institutional and angels alike. And amidst a global pandemic and impending economic recession, Stark raised $1.5M in a pre-seed round. Immense thanks to Tyrone Ross and Connor Murphy for being my immediate call throughout the process. Down to the call from our co-leads to give the final yes, it was an absolute roller coaster. I’m so so grateful for our investors. I’ll write more about it soon, once I’ve had time to digest / process it all. The announcement and sharing it with the world was a surreal moment, and despite being interviewed about it not long after, I still can’t relay everything I fully experienced. I saw the best and worst this industry has to offer.
Because of that (and as I go through the questions you’ve sent previously and may share following this), I’ll share a snippet of what I pushed out to the world the day we launched. I hope it helps better inform the way you work as folks in tech—whether you’re a founder, designer, engineer, PM, or something completely different. This also gives you insight into the world of product I’ve been thinking about, my general thesis on the work we do, what’s top of mind, how I approached fundraising, and more.
When it comes down to it, and with all we’ve shared over the last weeks and years, I hope tech sees that accessibility and beauty are not at odds. And in a world where objects can be landed in space and returned back to earth, there is no reason the world’s technology shouldn’t be accessible and in turn easily usable, to everyone—regardless of physical, mental, or socioeconomic background.
Accessibility is a byproduct. It’s accessible because it’s usable, and it’s usable because it doesn’t exclude based on abilities or socioeconomic profiles. Disabled does not mean unable. Let's stop excluding, and start building cross-abilities, not just cross-platforms.
Stark has a big mission to help teams make the world's software products accessible. But this isn't a single discipline problem, it's an entire product development problem. Knowing that means understanding how to build for the future, not continually push dated tech and thinking.
Our goal is to spearhead accessibility by replacing the dated thinking, often slow and expensive, and predominantly web-focused tech. And do so with modern tools made for a community, AI-powered, and cross-platform world. And to do so for teams of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises delivers quality and value at all touch points.
Now we’re gearing up to give you seamless, assisted, and automated workflows that remove re-work, reduce cost and time to compliance & increase your customer satisfaction.
In order to do this, we knew we wanted and needed investors that understood the value and priorities in servicing our community, that we don't compromise on quality, inherently believed everyone should be given access, and that accessibility wasn’t a nice-to-have.
We needed teammates that were eager to learn, come from all over the world, and invest in a mission that went far deeper than the tools we build. It's a privilege to have gotten not just investors, but an extended team that hit the ground running with us from the very beginning. It’s our team, along with our community and boosted by this investment (as well as partners) that ensure Stark stays ahead of the game. It means Stark has the space to re-define and re-shape the accessibility market.
It's incredible to see so many of you from some of the best tech startups and corporate companies like Microsoft, Oscar Health, US Bank, Instagram, Pfizer, Volkswagen, Dropbox, and more using Stark in your daily workflows.
The positive impact at scale isn't lost on me. So when I say today is much more than funding, I mean it. We're pumped to roll out a beautiful account system (SIGN UP FOR FREE!) to provide centralized billing needs for individuals and teams plus a new brand that changes the way people see and understand accessibility.
Our plan is, and always has been, to enable everyone to create and build accessible software in a way that enhances your workflow and educates you along the way. With that being said, sign up for an account and/or our newsletter for news on new features, content, and more.
Soon along with some awesome new features, we launch our first dev integration
as we shift from design-only toward being the foundation for accessibility for the entire product team.
Any guesses what's coming? ANY REQUESTS?!
Finally, a massive thank you to all of you.
You built Stark right alongside us and have made our tools faster and even more beautiful. We’ve watched as you ship some of the most incredible products we use on a regular basis. To say it is humbling would be an understatement.
Here’s to making the world’s products accessible for everyone. Here's to seeing people.
And now, it’s time for staycation. For the first time in over a year, I’ll take a break that isn’t just an extended weekend. And for the first time since January, I’ll spend quality time with my family that isn’t surrounded by convos of the pandemic, requiring me to split away for potential investor meetings, or me not being 100% for all the adventures and imagination that come with being my 5-year old kiddo. It’s time for me to prioritize play. Because if there’s something I’ve learned deeply this year, it’s to work smarter. The best way to do that? Rest your brain.
More on that soon…
As always, thanks for reading! And if you have any questions, AMA! Reply to this or email me at hello@heyimcat.com with your questions. I’ll try to pick as many topics and write about it, and I’ll keep your name anonymous by default unless you ask otherwise. I’ll open each up with an update and then get to the post. Sometimes they’ll be short, and others will be longer. If it’s a not-so-wild month, I’ll have more. But I want to set realistic goals as I still am a Mom, CEO, and human being that likes to read every day, exercise, and have a chance to think.
I appreciate you. And until next time…