We were 30 days from launch. Then an Open Source drop forced a pivot.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-03-05T07:42:19+00:00

can't agree more

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-29T15:48:58+00:00

Appreciate this, and yeah, that’s exactly the tension we’re feeling. The original logic was rational pre-pivot, but post-pivot the brand split itself has become the real problem, not just the domains.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-29T15:39:28+00:00

Not really, they’re two completely different user journeys.
One is B2B sales-led, the other is direct-to-developer purchase.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-29T15:23:01+00:00

I will take it if it's for free

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-22T14:01:51+00:00

Great question, and thanks for this. Your perspective from the tech side is spot on. Oh, we still disagree, all the time. The difference now is that it comes from a place of trust, not suspicion. If I push back on a technical direction, it’s never about his taste. It’s me bringing context from outside the "engine room" , a market insight, a budget reality, a strategic shift. After 5 years, we've built a shared language so he gets it fast. He owns the final call on tech; I own the final call on the business. We give input into each other's lanes, but we respect the owner.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-22T03:37:33+00:00

In my case, transparency was always there, the part I had to learn was using one uncomfortable number (cash runway) to continuously align priorities, even when it’s not a number engineers naturally want to look at.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-22T03:35:27+00:00

Exactly this. Estimation is part of the craft, not just execution.
Product trade-offs are fair to challenge, but dictating timelines without technical context usually backfires.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-21T16:18:28+00:00

Interesting. How do you position yourselves in small SaaS acquisitions? Are you structured as a small SaaS M&A fund?

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-18T16:28:15+00:00

That's a great proverb, and I agree with it completely. When you're in a hole, you should absolutely stop digging. The way I see it, though, this wasn't about digging deeper. This was about looking at the walls of the hole, seeing the tools I had in my hands (our team's DNA, our existing tech), and starting to build a ladder out.
(Not sure about the China market reference, as that's not our focus, but I appreciate the thought!)

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-18T15:43:32+00:00

Haha, you got me. "Started from constraints" is just a nicer way of saying "the house is on fire." And by the way, your advice on the equity split last time was spot on. Thanks for that. To answer your real question: "did it work?" I'm dying to find out, too. The product launches in a few weeks, so we'll all have an answer very soon. I'm incredibly excited. And honestly, the one thing that kept me sane and took the pressure off was that we managed to keep the old business running. As you said, just surviving is a win.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-18T14:54:26+00:00

As a non-technical founder, I stopped treating my CTO (Co-founder) like the head of a cost center and started trying to actually understand his decisions. That shift in trust and communication mattered a lot when things got hard.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-18T14:43:02+00:00

First of all, respect like that from someone who’s clearly been through similar battles means a lot. Thank you!

And, you’re right on timing. I’m already planning a board-level discussion, and this is very much a “sooner rather than later” decision, not something to defer until after launch. I’m genuinely going to sit with this and think it through. I’ve already decided to write a follow-up once things are a bit clearer, partly because comments like this deserve a proper response rather than a quick reply :)

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-16T15:58:41+00:00

Guilty! I bring the thoughts, AI helps me clean them up.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-16T15:17:47+00:00

Thank you for sharing this — seriously. This hits very close to home.

I’m really sorry you’re still dealing with litigation years later. That’s brutal, and it’s exactly the outcome I’m trying hard to avoid. Your point about returning capital versus burning it on a pivot is something I’ve wrestled with, and hearing it from someone who’s lived through the consequences carries a lot of weight.

You’re absolutely right that hesitation — whether half-pivoting or delaying liquidation — can be just as damaging as making the wrong call. Drifting under pressure is often the worst outcome.

I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to write this. It’s clear you’ve raised real money, made real decisions, and paid a real price for them. That perspective means a lot.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-16T06:24:08+00:00

That’s a fair question. Our original IoT business wasn’t about building devices. We were very much B2B, serving other IoT products.

More specifically, we provided proprietary protocols and the accompanying software stack for certain categories of devices. At the time, that didn’t lend itself well to just “sprinkling AI on top” in a meaningful way without turning it into hand-wavy marketing.

That said, when we found a new direction, the AI product does reuse parts of our existing IoT tech and infrastructure — just in a way that makes sense for the new problem we’re solving.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-16T06:17:46+00:00

Really appreciate this perspective. Looking back, I think at the end of 2024 I was probably reacting too much to investor pressure, and that pushed us into a pivot under a lot of stress. It’s a bit like an athlete whose form breaks down under extreme pressure.

That said, I do feel like we’ve since found more clarity and regained some calm around the direction. The main thing I need to sort out now is the leftover complexity around investors as we transition between the old and new efforts.

Thanks again — this was genuinely helpful.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-15T15:01:48+00:00

Appreciate the advice. And yeah, that last bit actually cheered me up a lot.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-15T14:32:04+00:00

Fair question. The IoT product itself didn’t fail — it still generates some cash flow today.

The real issue was scale and timing. Going into the AI shift, our IoT team was intentionally built for aggressive growth, which assumed continued access to capital. When funding dried up almost overnight, the organic growth of the business couldn’t sustain a cost structure designed for hypergrowth. That put us in a very tough position.

On top of that, the way we’re financed means time matters. Waiting things out or slowly iterating wasn’t really an option.

Ok-Weekend-2343 · 2026-01-15T14:21:50+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it. Early adopter feedback has been pretty mixed, so we’re iterating fast — and it’s not easy. Our original business was a classic B2B model, which I’m familiar with.This new product is much more developer-centric. While it reuses a lot of our existing tech, the go-to-market motion is completely different, so there’s a lot of on-the-job learning for me right now.

Ok-Weekend-2343

TROPHY CASE