{"id":8780,"date":"2015-05-27T15:59:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T22:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=8780"},"modified":"2018-08-17T13:49:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T20:49:40","slug":"from-peers-to-partners-how-two-founders-friendship-helped-them-sidestep-serious-setbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/from-peers-to-partners-how-two-founders-friendship-helped-them-sidestep-serious-setbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"From Peers to Partners: How two founders’ friendship helped them sidestep serious setbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Dan McGuire and Andrew Jones first met, each was working on his own startup. Through the South Bay peer mentorship group, they became good friends. Then shit got real. Just as Andrew\u2019s startup, Golf Rival, was hitting a funding wall, Dan lost the CTO of his Skinnyprice<\/a>, which lets online shoppers watch a video or take a survey for a variable discount on an item. Andrew started by helping out his friend \u2014six months later, they are both running Skinnyprice full-time, and business has never been better.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s start with\u00a0how you guys met.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> We connected through the Founders Network peer mentorship group. It\u2019s a smaller team that meets at least once a month where you can put anything on the table without fear of someone using it against you. We got to be pretty familiar with each other\u2019s startups because we were meeting regularly and talking about the business problems each of us was facing.<\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> We became pretty good friends and would talk about our startups a lot, just bounce ideas off each other. Then, basically, shit hit the fan for both of us at almost the same time, around Christmas. When I lost my CTO suddenly, Andrew just came over and started helping\u200a\u2014\u200awe went from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew, what was going on from your side?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em>\u00a0A lot of stress. Right before the holidays I learned that my lead investor and biggest partner in Golf Rival was not willing to ante up any additional dollars. Without that, I knew I was in major trouble.<\/p>\n

When I lost my CTO suddenly, Andrew just came over and started helping.<\/blockquote>\n

In any case, I needed to figure out what the heck I was going to do and my initial inclination was to go back and work for a large company because I already had plenty of connections there. It was the easy way, but I was much less passionate about it. I really enjoyed every aspect of the startup space and knew I would love to go and work for another startup. But at the same time, I felt like so many things would have to line up for that to work.<\/p>\n

So when Dan approached me, I thought, \u201cWow, you guys are already far enough along I won\u2019t have to go through all the pain of the early days, but it\u2019s early enough I can really help influence the direction of the product.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Andrew and Dan at work in their office, which they also found through connections in the peer mentorship group.<\/p><\/div>\n

What was it like when you started working together? Did you talk about trying it out for a while first?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> It wasn\u2019t even trying it out. Andrew was like, \u201cYou\u2019re fucked. I\u2019ll come over and help you out.\u201d\u00a0There were no expectations. He just came over for a couple weeks and was banging out stuff.<\/p>\n

You need someone who\u2019s the yin to your yang.<\/blockquote>\n

We had actually talked before about how we should start a company together. Once we were working together, the synergy was just perfect, right from the get go. We balance each other out. I\u2019m a supreme optimist. I think unicorns and ponies every conversation, and Andrew\u2019s like, \u201cThat\u2019s not what I heard!\u201d He brings in the realist perspective. You need to have someone who\u2019s your counterpart, who\u2019s the yin to your yang. And I think that\u2019s why we work so well together.<\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> I would very much agree with that. My strengths are not in sales, and Dan\u2019s a sales guy. I can force myself, but it\u2019s not as natural. I\u2019ve already learned a lot from him on the sales end of things. Whereas, I can go way more in depth on the financials, for example.<\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> He\u2019s an Excel god over there.<\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> It takes a lot of pressure off me to be able to rely on Dan to do the things that he\u2019s really good so I can play better in the spaces where I do well.<\/p>\n

Andrew, was Golf Rival your first startup?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> It was my third, but it was my first where I actually left and was pursuing it full-time. When I was in college. I actually worked at a golf course and there that two brothers had bought and were managing together. I saw them and thought what they were doing was so cool. Even way back then I said to myself, \u201cI want to own my own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason entrepreneurship appeals to me so much is because I wake up every day knowing that if I didn\u2019t show up for work that day or week, the company would go under. A large part of my career I spent working for large corporations. There are plenty of interesting opportunities there, but if you don\u2019t show up for work for a day or a week or a month, it\u2019s ultimately a blip that isn\u2019t going to have any major impact on the company. So the work in a startup feels incredibly meaningful, like it matters a lot.<\/p>\n

The work in a startup feels like it matters a lot.<\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s one big motivating factor; the other one is being able to bring creative thoughts and ideas to the table and go chase after it. It\u2019s not, \u201cHere\u2019s the box, and this how we want you to fit it,\u201d it\u2019s, \u201cFigure it the hell out!\u201d and then you reap the benefits from anything you bring to the table.<\/p>\n

Great. So Dan, tell me how you got into entrepreneurship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> My first encounter\u00a0with entrepreneurship was when I was six years old. My sister was eight and my mom was her Girl Scout troop leader. I\u2019m at the house with 12 girls making these really cool Halloween decorations for arts and craft, and then all they would leave them all behind when they went home. So I found this rickety old baby stroller to put these Halloween witches in, and then I went around knocking on doors and selling them for $20 a piece. I even sold 20 of them to the local convenience store. From that we got enough money to go on a big field trip\u200a\u2014\u200athat was the first time I got the bug.<\/p>\n

My first encounter\u00a0with entrepreneurship was when I was six years old.<\/blockquote>\n

Then I moved on to starting a lawn mowing company, then a paper route, and I had a bunch of different companies through college. After school I started my own construction company, which got acquired by Home Depot. From there, I always had the entrepreneur bug.<\/p>\n

I think one reason was my uncle, who took his company public when I was in high school. He flew me in to NASDAQ and I got to be there when they rang the bell. I was like, \u201c I know what I want to do the rest of my life, I\u2019m going to be like Uncle John!\u201d<\/p>\n

I did the corporate thing at Home Depot, running a whole bunch of stores. It was exactly like what Andrew says: You don\u2019t show up, it doesn\u2019t matter. I have always been dreaming these big ideas and I figured sooner or later I\u2019m going to have something that can really be a massive disruptor. With what we\u2019re working on now, our goal is huge. We want to fundamentally re-invent pricing, we want to flip it completely on its head and change the whole market. That\u2019s what gets me out of bed every day.<\/p>\n

\"20150430

Taking a lunch break at the food hall a short walk from Skinnyprice’s downtown San Jose office.<\/p><\/div>\n

Is there something people who aren\u2019t founders don\u2019t get about what you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> Most people think entrepreneurs want to be billionaires. It\u2019d be nice, but if you look at the numbers and you\u2019re any kind of mathematician, you\u2019ll realize that\u2019s not the motivation. Entrepreneurs aren\u2019t doing it for the money\u200a\u2014\u200athey\u2019re doing it because they want to put a ding in the universe.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurs aren\u2019t doing it for the money\u200a\u2014\u200athey want to put a ding in the universe.<\/blockquote>\n

If there\u2019s one other thing no one told me, it\u2019s the emotional turmoil, the roller coaster you\u2019re getting on. It\u2019s this constant internal battle. If you don\u2019t get up and go to work, the company\u2019s dead. Then there\u2019s always this little voice in your head, \u201cI could be making $200k. What am I doing? This is freaking crazy!\u201d Especially when all the cards are stacked against you. That\u2019s where it\u2019s crucial to have a network of people that you can call and lean on. That\u2019s the what Founders Network gives us: a support network to reach out to.<\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> What people wouldn\u2019t know who aren\u2019t founders is just how freaking unbelievably hard it is. Because even if you can have the greatest idea in the world, the vast majority of the time it\u2019s about execution. And even then, you can be executing fantastically, but something changes in the market and totally throws things off.\u00a0Often you hear these stories of the overnight success\u200a\u2014\u200abullshit. It\u2019s never an overnight success. It\u2019s really freaking hard work.<\/p>\n

Why did you join Founders Network?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> I knew Kevin [Holmes, FN’s founder] pretty well from his Santa Clara days when he was running the center for innovation and entrepreneurship at Santa Clara. Founders Network sounded like an extension of some things that he did at Santa Clara, but just taking it to a whole new level. So I decided I\u2019d give it a go because any social events or incremental knowledge it provided could be of significant benefit to me. Obviously, it ended up being beneficial to me in ways that I could never have predicted way back when.<\/p>\n

Was there anything you got out of it that you didn\u2019t expect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> Well, finding another job! But before that, with my previous startup, I ended up getting funding because of the discussions we had in the peer mentorship group. It sparked an idea to reach out to the most powerful entrepreneur I knew and just ask him for advice. At the time I was talking to the a big golf organization that I viewed as a partner and a potential customer. This mentor said, \u201cHey, if they are so interested, why don\u2019t you get them to invest?\u201d Their whole thing was wanting things to move faster, so I went back to them and told them the best way to that was to have them invest. And they said yes.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you\u2019re so heads down with\u00a0the company, you miss something really simple.<\/blockquote>\n

I attribute that to the Founders Network because, if not for them, I wouldn\u2019t have met with the mentor who suggested I think about them as investors. It was right there in front my face, but sometimes you\u2019re so heads down trying to move the company forward that you miss something really simple.<\/p>\n

\"20150430<\/a><\/p>\n

What about you, Dan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> I think it was about two years ago when I came out here from Boston. I got into RocketSpace<\/a>, where Founders Network is based, and I think someone mentioned it.<\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> It\u2019s just Dan\u2019s personality. Dan\u2019s \u201cspray and pray\u201d all over the place. If something sounds interesting, he\u2019ll sign up. And if he gets value out of it, he keeps going\u200a\u2014\u200aif not, he moves on to the next thing.<\/p>\n

Dan:<\/em> Yeah, I decided to try it out. The forums are great; you get to read about other people\u2019s experiences. And then I started doing the networking events, and one of the dinners up in San Francisco, I got to sit next to Michael Selton. Here\u2019s a guy who\u2019s taken a billion-dollar company public, and he was like, \u201cThis is really interesting. Let\u2019s have lunch.\u201d So we did lunch, and it was great synergy, so I brought him on as an advisor. That was the first big score out of the Founders Network.<\/p>\n

I ended up getting funding because of discussions in the peer mentorship group.<\/blockquote>\n

And another big score would be the Dell Founders 50<\/a>, which we just came back from last week. We learned about that through Founders Network. It was a big summit where they flew in the all top executives from Dell and put us up in a hotel. Everyone was really helpful and we\u2019re getting a whole bunch of press out of it, which is great.<\/p>\n

I know founders tend to lean on their significant others a lot. Are your wives glad you joined Founders Network?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew:<\/em> Yeah, it is really helpful to talk\u00a0with folks who get it. We\u00a0started out doing the peer mentorship group, but then it was just Dan and I picking up the phone and talking to each other and just venting. Because you need someone\u00a0you can vent to who\u00a0truly understands. Our wives\u00a0are\u00a0a huge piece of that, but there\u2019s pieces they don\u2019t understand if they haven\u2019t actually done a startup. Being able to connect with other founders is enormously beneficial to your sanity. That\u2019s also why the peer mentorship group was awesome. I feel like I have a closer relationship with those guys\u200a\u2014\u200aScott Schreiman, Ranan Lachman, and\u00a0Jo\u00ebl Cheuoua\u200a\u2014\u200athan I\u2019ve had with other folks.<\/p>\n

You need someone\u00a0you can vent to who\u00a0truly understands.<\/blockquote>\n

Dan:<\/em> Until the Founders Network, until I had friends like Andrew, my wife, Julia, was my therapist. I didn\u2019t think I was that emotional until I started on this journey. Especially the pressure to not lose the money we put in, our friends and family put in, and investors put in. You end up leaning on your significant other. Now that we\u2019re in Founders Network, a lot of that pressure is taken off her. Now she\u2019s like, \u201cYou don\u2019t seem as emotional as before; maybe Andrew\u2019s getting more of it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

============================<\/p>\n

Interview by<\/strong> Miki Johnson and photos by Jackson Solway, cofounders of Job Portraits<\/a>, a creative agency that helps startups provide\u00a0a\u00a0human-centered hiring experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dan McGuire and Andrew Jones first met, each was working on his own startup. Through the South Bay peer mentorship group, they became good friends. Then shit got real. … <\/p>\n

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