A year ago, I sold my company. Nobody tells you what the months after feel like. The announcement is the easy part, there's a countdown, a post, 300+ messages, everyone congratulates you. You feel like you crossed a finish line, then a normal Monday comes, and you're not a CEO anymore. Here's what nobody told me: 1. Your identity lags behind your title For 4 years, "June" was my answer to everything. - What do you do? June. - What are you working on? June. - How are you? June, basically. A new email signature doesn't undo that. It took me 3 months to stop introducing myself as "CEO of June". 2. The pace changes before the work does As a founder, every hour was mine to spend. Suddenly there are calendars, processes, alignment docs. At first, I fought it, then I realized I'd complained about exactly this as a founder, I just couldn't see it from the inside. 3. You grieve something that went well Nobody warns you about this one. Selling was the best outcome for the team, the customers, the mission, and I still had to mourn it. You can be grateful and sad at the same time, both true. Neither cancels the other. 4. The mission didn't change. The leverage did. At @junedotso, we wanted analytics that work for everyone. At @Amplitude_HQ, I get to work on the same problem at a very different scale. Some days I miss the June team and our tiny office, most days I'm learning from people who make me better. A year later I still almost answer "June" when people ask what I do, then I correct myself, and I mean the correction a little more each month. To every founder going through an acquisition right now: the announcement post is the easy part. Be patient with the months after <3