How I burned $10M so you don't have to

The article was a lot better than I expected to be given the slightly click-baity title.

The key note for me is that move fast and break things is a motto that works well in a software/systems context where the cost of failure is low. However, when dealing with business, the cost of failure can mean layoffs and serious disruptions to peoples' lives.

Good read. It is instructive to see how a business on a slow ramp can get off-rails by forcing strategic growth decisions prematurely and without sufficient reflection

> We searched frantically for a head of sales. It took three months to find someone, and she only took the job on the condition we open a second office in North Carolina. We opened that office. Grew it to 14 people. Then, when it was quickly clear spreading a sales team across two locations so early was crazy, we shut it down. All within 12 weeks. There’s $500k eviscerated.

So there was a LA based sales team that was working and the customers I assume are media companies. The sales model working was individuals making direct sales. Then in NC ramping up another team so big and so fast? Another model in another place? Where was the board providing a check here? The problem here was not too senior too early but getting someone senior that was not properly aligned and letting that person dictate the sales strategy.

Enterprise sales is hard. Cycles are typically long. Some sales people are gifted and some come with well established connections. Initial success can be a factor of the latter - then comes the chasm. Judging velocity and scaling up can be non-trivial.