I feel like I’ve been having the same conversation on repeat these last few weeks.
Firstly, ‘what’s Feeld?’, and second ‘I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE MF WHOLE INDUSTRY CHANGING FOR YEARS AND NOW I’M WATCHING IT HAPPEN IN REAL TIME’.
It’s an eclipse today. Haven’t you heard?
The etymology of ‘eclipse’ means to ‘abandon the familiar’, and the ‘familiar’ of stagnation and patience and finding peace with what is, feels like it just ran out the door 100/mph.
The way we do business and understand value is shifting. So let’s start with that.
I know so many people who are going through major career transitions right now. So let’s start with that.
Seed money is drying up.
Not in the sense that there are no investments happening anymore, but in the sense that investors need to see WAY more viability and revenue in a business idea before investing.
There are so many more tools available now (thanks AI) that founders are expected to be way further along in an idea before getting investment.
Gone are the days where we have this great idea, let’s go raise money, THEN build…..
Well maybe that’s still happening in the AI space… but that whole world feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
In the kind of product scale ups I’ve worked with the last 15 years, that old Silicon Valley mentality is dying.
Founders are BUILDING. Using AI tools that feel like magic wands which speed up the entire process. So then they get to revenue. Why would they need investment anymore? Why not get a loan and build this in a more sustainable way without giving out equity?
I was at an event last week with the founder of Pluto TV which sold to Viacom for $340m.
YES. Great story. Incredible exit. But the guy on stage has clearly wrestled with giving up 5 years of his life, time with his kids, a divorce, and then a sense of lostness and depression once that milestone exit finally hit.
We hear these incredible stories and unbelievable exits. And that is the story we have been sold by the Silicon Valley model for years.
Great idea > Raise money > Scale the busines > Grind your life away > Have a big $multi-million exit > You’re a hero
THIS IS THE WHOLE IDEA OF SUCCESS WE HAVE BEEN SOLD
SCALE BY ANY MEANS
PROFIT AT ANY COST
And here are your prescription pills to manage this life of chasing and success and validation at any cost.
Of course, that world will still exist. I’m not saying it’s ALL DEAD….
But one of the many reasons I feel like I am fire right now, is because that veil of illusion is coming off for so many.
If we’ve been drip fed this idea of success, which could be the big startup exit OR Hollywood…. We’ve been given the stories of the people who ‘made’ it…. How many people’s stories didn’t we hear?
For every 1 big $340m exit, how many ended up with catastrophic debt and failed marriages?
1 for every 100? 1,000?
So instead, what I am witnessing REAL time is this shift in HOW people want to build their business.
Most of the founders I speak to are no longer just interested in the money. Yes it’s important, but collectively we want something more.
So the ideas they are building typically come from finding a solution to a problem either they or someone close to them were facing.
By default, these center around health, food, water, agriculture, wellness, environment.
I believe humans are inherently GOOD, and we inherently want to fix problems.
So if VC raising isn’t necessarily the path these founders want to take, how do they scale?
SUSTAINABLY.
With a fractional work force. With flexibility and adaptability. With no long term contracts or upfront costs.
They’re not burning the $millions of VC money so recklessly. There’s intent. And one of the most valuable assets to them?
A trusted network. TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS.
A community of fellow builders, knowing which resources to leverage, which skillsets and people are best aligned for their business.
So on the one side you have the founders.
And on the other you have an entire workforce that wants to work differently.
1 steady 9-5 income? Who the hell knows what is stable anymore in layoff city.
Stability is in diversity.
It’s in the fractional economy. 2-4 income streams / clients… doing the thing that pays the bills, and then having the AUTONOMY and TIME to do the thing THAT SETS YOUR SOUL ON FIRE.
For me that was music.
Maybe for you that’s making bags out of Italian leather, or hosting a supper club, or coding some weird AF gaming app that I don’t understand BUT YOU DO. And that is so cool YAY.
The whole eco-system is changing. And I’m watching it happen before my eyes.
So if THIS is the new eco-system, how are you serving it? How are you creating VALUE in it?
For me, the fractional recruiting model is SO obvious. For years I lived without obviousness and clarity and now this just simply SO obvious. My god I’m grateful for that.
And I have explained this shift to probably 10 people in the last week. People who are navigating a career shift, or building a service business, or just trying to figure WHAT THE HELL TO DO IN ANY OF THIS…..
How are you building for this new economy? How are you serving it?
And suddenly I don’t feel like I’m selling at all. For the first time in all these years of recruiting, I don’t feel like I’m selling anything.
I’m just saying this is what I do. No upfront fees. No long term commitment. I’m really good at discerning the right fit.
There’s no sell. I believe in it. I’m literally just standing here. Passionate AF about this shift.
BECAUSE IT IS BETTER FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED.
And I have a service in this new economy which actually adds value.
I am not selling. I am telling you the value I already believe in, in myself.
And I’m explaining this business model to Oliver at the Kinn, and he’s like that’s a BRILLIANT business model. I know Oliver, I know.
And now I’m the Kinn’s recruiting business partner. And rather than just all talk, 2 days later they send me a client who needs to hire a fractional growth lead and fractional product (I AM STILL TAKING REFERRALS THANK YOU)...
And I’ll split the recruiting margin with the Kinn 50:50 because THAT is another big component of this new economy. Equitable partnerships. Community.
I have one piece of the puzzle, they have the 30,000 email subscribers of relevant companies piece.
We have an event booked for September 9th talking about all this stuff. I’m going to be running another event series with Meena which actually leverages the power of the collective in real time IRL.
And in all of this I suddenly feel USEFUL. Aka. purposeful. Aka. setting my soul on fire.
This all centers around value. Around the values that hold the container for this life. For the value I feel for this life. For my own self worth and value.
All of a sudden I have all these men knocking on my door, dates lined up around the block, and business opportunities and meetings coming out of my ears.
As my friend Leena tells me before a date last weekend, ‘you are the prize baby, don’t you forget it’....
And I think that’s what all of this is. I remembered that I am the prize.
I remembered the value that is inherently ME. And life is simply responding to that belief before my very eyes.
This shift isn’t just happening for me. THIS IS THE COLLECTIVE SHIFT I HAVE BEEN WRITING ABOUT FOR YEARS.
This network of founders and workers and creatives and everyone in between that is waking up to their inherent VALUE.
A COLLECTIVE OF PEOPLE REMEMBERING THAT THEY ARE THE PRIZE.
That we don’t need the VC money. Or to put the $340m exit on the pedestal. That we don’t need the big job to come save us. Or to give any more attention to the man who has made it very clear he doesn’t have the capacity to hold you.
We are remembering that “success” is not ‘out there’. But right here. All along. We have everything we need. Right here.
You are the prize baby, don’t you forget it.
What a weirdo.—Holly Gottlieb (Founder, Whole Collective)
Whole Collective help values-driven founders grow their businesses. If you're a founder or business leader who needs to grow your business but aren’t down for upfront recruiting fees and are much more interested in relationships built on trust, let’s talk.
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