Marc Castel

We always started raising when we didn't need any money — that's always when banks and investors like to give you money, is when you don't need it. But give yourself at least six months, because it gives you two kicks at the can. A raise cycle is about three months, so six months gives you two shots: one for failing, the other for succeeding.

What I've learned is that I'm a startup guy — that's how I've done 13 companies. I am not a scale-up person. So very early on in my startup I found my successor. I built a succession plan. I found a new CEO who would one day replace me.

Whatever you measure is what gets done. So when I asked my people to go and find customers, we found customers. When I asked them for bookings, we got bookings. When I asked them for unit economics, I got unit economics.