The Glamour-Less Side of Entrepreneurship

I know I project a lot of confidence and self-assuredness but let me tell you all that I have my moments of weakness and doubt, too.

I've accomplished a lot in my career, but it's not some straight line of success after success, win after win. To this day, I've never been recognized on any kind of Forbes, Fast Company, Inc "under 30" or "under 40" type list as so many of my peers have. Hell, I've been a finalist for the Austin Under 40 Awards four or five times, losing each time, every time in a different category. Perhaps being a polymath is my downfall. I've just never been the kind of person to think I could do one thing or be known solely for one thing, and in a lot of ways I've seen how that hasn't always benefited me. I went from making nearly $200,000 when I was 29 years old to being 38 years old today with over $160,000 of my own money still personally invested In Localeur. You take the money I've personally put into Localeur over the last 8+ years, and the business would have gone under years ago. I've done the work of venture capitalists for Localeur over and over because the VCs I pitched in 2013 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and 2017 weren't willing to write the checks that George Floyd's death have inspired them to write in 2020 and 2021.

One person can look at my entrepreneurial track record and feel like I'm a source of inspiration and another person can look at it with disappointment. And that person can be me depending on the day.

When I started Localeur, I committed myself to the venture for 7 years. You may wonder, "why 7 years?" For me it was simple, I wanted to know what was on the other side of patience. I felt like there were things I would learn about myself, about my purpose, about the world in general, by sitting in it for several years. Plus, I felt super strongly then - as I do now more than 3,000 days later - that travelers should have access to local recommendations as much as they have access to tourist reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp.

Before Localeur, I put myself through college working 30-50 hours a week all four years, which took four years. After a few years in DC, I moved back to Austin to pursue entrepreneurship starting with a social media consulting firm with clients like FedEx and Deep Eddy Vodka, which was successful for a few years but not nearly as fulfilling as I'd hoped (too much "hurry up and wait" for my taste and not enough skin in the game). So, I opened a sneaker boutique that folks who met me during that time still respect and say nice things about; it showed me that storytelling and community building Is something I'm good at even if brick-and-mortar retail wasn't my professional sweet spot. I created the first-ever part of SXSW focused on fashion/style, which was groundbreaking in every right. If I started Style X today, in the peak of Instagram age, I'd probably be on one of those Fast Company lists every year. Nonetheless, each of those ventures were short-lived and as I approached 30, I realized I'd never done something for more than 5 years, not even a romantic relationship.

I realized there were a lot of things I'd learn by forcing myself to really grind on something through hell or high water. I definitely got what I hoped for, and some. 

Someone with less grit and determination would have quit years ago, but I genuinely wake up knowing deep down that Localeur is still getting better every day. We've partnered with companies like Nike and JetBlue and Match and Lyft and have been praised by countless media outlets like The Today Show and The Guardian and I've been able to travel the world as we've expanded from Austin to 200 cities. But it's been a slog. 

A lot of folks see "tech startup founder" and think it's glamorous or lucrative but it's not. They don't see the hard decisions I've had to make like going thousands of dollars into personal debt to cover payroll or risking eviction or car repossession to pay your team before you pay your own bills. From March 2013 to October 2016, Localeur averaged 53 days of runway. Yes, fifty-three days. We've had 5 months of runway three times in the history of this business, and just as we were breaking through to profitability at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 the COVID pandemic hit, and we went from a pipeline that would have grown our revenue 300% in 2020 to flatlining. Our revenue in 2020 was the same as what it was in 2018.

I've pushed this startup through untold confrontations with racial bias, the pre-vesting departure of my co-founder, the sudden death of my lead investor and adviser, a global pandemic, and countless instances of reneged deals, lawsuits with partners who tried not to pay us, copyright infringement, billion-dollar brands blatantly copying us, and negative account balances that would make you pull out your hair (which my fiancé Angélica often sees me do).

This is not for the faint of heart. So many young people tell me they want to launch an app or have an idea. So many people come to me for guidance and mentorship on business ideas. I appreciate it all because it means they see me as an inspiration, but it's important they know that inspiration comes from pain and struggle and grit and "fighting the good fight" on the daily for 8 1/2 years nonstop. Literally, nonstop.

I'm sharing this because last night Angélica and I were talking about our childhood selves, and I said that the 10/11/12-year old me would be proud of who I am today. That's the thing that carries me through in many of those moments of weakness. Knowing that I am standing on the shoulders of struggles my mom had to go through as a single parent with three Black boys in a world and society that isn't built for her to succeed. Knowing that my grandmother and my uncle and my brothers have always believed in the person I could be and the professional I could become. Knowing that I've had a set of friends around me, truly blessed, who've supported me numerous times in ways they can never fully understand was so instrumental in my ascent.

I don't know why Localeur hasn't had a big breakthrough yet. I honestly don't. I've worked harder for this business, on this business, than anything in my entire life. I've made decisions and sacrifices that I know deep down so many other founders could never. I've faced hurdles I know in my heart and head many founders could never jump. Have I made mistakes? Of course. Have I regrets? Certainly. But I look at the last 8.5 years of Localeur and I see a story of grit, persistence, mission-focus, and survival. We haven't had one big investor come through with a $2 million check or one big partnership push us to hire half a dozen new employees, or some big press hit that got us a million new subscribers or an App Store feature. The biggest travel conference in the industry is called PhocusWright and we were encouraged to apply to present several years ago for investors there. We paid something like $10,000 to sponsor the conference and present to investors and media and potential partners at a time when that was half of our bank account, and we paid it but never got to present. The schedule ended up "not accommodating" us presenting. Not long thereafter we were asked to fly to Silicon Valley to apply to YCombinator to pitch their partners. Twice I sat there with three of their partners and pitched them on the opportunity for Localeur and they nodded in approval and agreement with my vision. We were rejected. I don't share this to garner pity or sympathy but to share that there's not a single moment I can point to in the history of Localeur and say we got a big break or an opportunity we didn't have to fight tooth and nail to get. Everything has been earned. Every $5,000 investor check and every partnership and every press hit and every subscriber. Everything has been pure grit.

I don't really have anything else to say other than thank you for reading this. Writing gets me through moments where my confidence and self-assuredness doesn't fully match the track record of what I know I've been able to accomplish as an entrepreneur without family money or an Ivy League degree or some kind of easy marker of acceptance from the powers that be who so easily support founders who don't look like me or needed a Black man to be murdered on video to see my worth.

I'm so proud of the years I've put into Localeur so far because they reinforce to me that I am that rarity. Someone who doesn't give up easily, someone who will see it through, someone who will sacrifice, someone who will fight the good fight even when it feels like losing (or watching others win on your ideas), someone who doesn't value money as much as community, someone who doesn't need external validation to feel a sense of purpose, someone who knows that God has a plan and trust that plan.

I am someone who can lead and write my way back to best self.