On the TechTO stage ×3
How the Future of Work is Changing
Watch on YouTube ↗
Michele Romanow and Andrew D'Souza on Culture and Working From Home
Watch on YouTube ↗A Conversation with Michele Romanow
Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on a TechTO stage in 2017. Every TechTO talk is searchable — ask the archive about Michele ↗
In their words
School teaches you how to be perfect — how to go and get 100% on an exam. I had to unlearn most of the things I learned in school, because that's not what startups are about. It's about doing things at about 60% right but executing faster than anyone else.
Andrew and I went to Wall Street and we got 200 no's — 200 debt investors who said this will never work. Now all those people come back and they're like, wow, you've built a category. Yeah — this is what it feels like to build a category: everyone laughs at you at the beginning.
We have completely eliminated this bias — there is now no question that if you are working from home, you are actually working. I think this will put women ahead 50 years, because now it's totally normal to go pick up your kid and do a call.
Around the web ×6
Quick answers
What is Clearco and how is it different from venture capital?
Clearco (originally Clearbanc) funds founders with revenue-share capital instead of equity or debt, with no personal guarantees. Founders connect the data sources that run their business and get a capital offer within 24 hours instead of months of pitching.
What companies did Michele Romanow start before Clearco?
She started six companies before her 35th birthday, including a sturgeon caviar fishery, daily-deal site Buytopia, and SnapSaves, a coupon app Groupon bought in 2014. Clearco was her sixth startup.
What advice does Michele Romanow give founders?
Just do it — stop planning ('your plan should fit on a post-it'), stay scrappy, and remember CEO 'stands for chief everything officer.' She says only about 20% of what she tries starts to work, and every successful company 'almost went bankrupt 20 times.'