Stylish Booze Brand Haus Was Buzzing. Why Did It Lose Funding?

I didn’t know about an ABC process until extremely recently—I’ve been in Silicon Valley since 2009 and I’d never heard about it. And I just happened to learn about it from my business coach because I was watching the industry and I thought, “God, what do people do? What do people do… when they run out of funding?”

I hope that [other founders who face this process] will know from me that there are options. It’s not like they’re the only company on Earth that’s going to have to go through this. It’s not something they should be ashamed of. It’s horrible, yes. But there’s a whole industry to help companies when they’re in this position. And I didn’t know that.

That’s why I hope sharing what I go through will help some other founders who are going through this.

BA: I like what you said about not feeling ashamed. In reality, there are so many things outside of our control that impact our professional success.
HPH: Yes, a lot of founders are doing this for the first time. So, if it doesn’t go the way that we thought, it’s very easy to think that we are the worst at this.

But then you talk to other founders who have been doing this for a long time, or investors who have been doing this for a long time, and I’ve had them tell me specifically, “Hey, you know, almost every founder on earth goes through this.” They go through it multiple times because they start multiple companies over their lifetime and most of them don’t work.

So, the first time, of course, it’s going to feel like the end of the world. And believe me, it does. But, then you do it again. Or not! Or you go do something else again… People have multiple jobs and multiple careers, and they can have multiple chapters.

BA: As a Silicon Valley vet, how do you feel the intersection of funding with creativity and innovation works? How do you navigate that as a founder, as a creative person, as a human?
Know that the market that existed a year ago doesn’t exist today. You don’t have to be upset about that or mad or sad about that. It just is. If I had launched Haus in 2012, I probably would have raised $100 million… When I launched Haus, that era was over. And, as I went into this I thought, “Oh, okay, no one’s funding companies in that way anymore in my space. I see.” So, I had to learn that as I went.

For someone starting something today, I would just really closely take note of what’s going on right now. Like, it seems like it’s going to be hard to raise money. Do I still want to do this? Am I able to build this without funding? Do I want to build this without funding? And if those answers are yes, then great. Go do it. It will be a lot easier to do it when you have a better grasp of the landscape, so you don’t have any surprises down the road.