Finally, we had our first taste of entrepreneurial success. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make us realize that we could actually do this. We could run with this idea just to see how far it could go. We stuck to our guns over the next few months, and the deals kept on coming. From January to March 2014, we worked with 15 different startups ranging from seed funding to Series A, and placed 4 candidates in the process. While that may not seem to be the most impressive success rate, it was good enough for us. Remember, we’re a two-man bucket shop; no overhead, no employees. Whatever we could pull in went straight to the lining of our pockets. Well, at least it began that way.
As all entrepreneurs know (and you don’t need to have your own business to be wise to this fact), there comes a point in the life of every company when you have to decide how seriously you’re going to take your operation. We knew we had four something sustainable here, and as such, we needed to set it in stone, so to speak. I probably should have alluded to this earlier in the story, but it fits in nicely right here as well. You see, when we first launched, we did so under the pretence of a partnership: Ali and I were both personally responsible for our business, so if anything should happen that would require more funds than the company had in its bank accounts – a lawsuit, for instance – we’d both have to come up with the money personally. Let’s just say there was a certain level of uneasiness those first few months where we felt like we were constantly walking a tightrope, trying our best not to slip. We needed to get off of it somehow, and the safest way to do so would be to give the business a life of its own: incorporation.
In moving from a simple partnership to a corporation, the company was now able to act as a legal person. That would mean that in the case of any lawful action taken against it, it’s shareholders would be in the clear. What a relief. It may have cost us [what felt like] a pretty penny at the time, but it was well worth it.
The peace of mind alone allowed us to hit the market even harder than we had before. We discovered new methods of reaching out to candidates. We felt more confident in the way we approached potential clients. We were firing on all cylinders. We even launched a new version of our website and began to take social media marketing more seriously. The brand took on a life of it’s own. We’d felt like we had only just begun to scratch the surface of the Synapse golden age.
Oh how naive we were….
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