Today is the 10 year anniversary of Rally - this is the first confirmation of the first launch of the *first* app for investing in collectibles which led to a million other products everyone uses today. I have absolutely no idea where 10 years went. But I know I literally gave up my good years to build it... And I wanna talk about it quick, with no filter, to anyone starting something new today. If you're not a new founder or in tech, you don't have to read this. If you are though, I think it might help: First and foremost, there are NO guarantees, even with the greatest idea of all time, that what you’re building going to work, or even if it does work, that it’s going to scale. And while your chasing that, you will (with 100% certainty) lose relationships, family, friends, and time that you can never get back - that will be a direct result of what you’re building. I’ve lived each of those in some of the worst ways possible. Investors called to berate me during a funeral. A secret plot throw me out of the company went live on my 40th birthday. I had a legitimate breakdown where I quit the company and thought I was done with tech and design entirely. ...and those are the easy ones I’m comfortable enough to talk about publicly. Through this decade, in all of the highs (there were lots) and in every moment of complete and utter collapse (also lots), there are 2 things I was told early on that stuck with me and will land with basically every founder. Both of which came from investors… 1) “As long as you guys stick together, you’ll be alright” - this was from Howard Lindzon (an incredible investor that I consider a true friend) during a midnight phone call at the peak of covid - we had no runway and me and my cofounders were fighting, mostly because of my own hangups and my ego at the time. 2) “If you stop now, someone else will build this and no one will ever know it existed” - that came from Greg Bettinelli (one of the smartest and most direct investors I’ve ever worked with who took a massive chance on us) during an inflection point in 2021 when I was ready to quit and seriously just needed a kick in the ass. Those are two of the realest things anyone has ever told me in life in general, not just business. They matter more now than ever in my opinion, simply because of the insane pace of tech today. Rally, as a company, hasn’t become what I think many of our investors expected by now. I think every day about whether I’ve let them down, and our team down, and just a nonstop loop of what I can do to make it happen. But there’s still time, even when it doesn’t feel like it, which I think is lost on this new generation that needs everything, instantly. 10 years without the $1B exit every VC expects ($10B present day, actually) taught me everything I needed to know, and the requirement was to learn it the hard way. The goal for any founder today, in a world where the money feels fake, should be to work hard with real passion for the product, and more than anything else to do that without collecting regrets. Those regrets become ghosts that haunt every decision you're required to make until you can expel them from your life and put the blinders back on - which is what I’m trying to do better every single day, now. You can’t compare anything you’re building to what others have, or pocketwatch the fundraising headlines, or any of the bullshit. It’s really gotta be blinders, healthy focus, and get to the top of the next mountain. Because I’m speaking for every real first time founder, specifically - there’s still NOTHING that compares to seeing strangers get excited by what you made, and you'll keep getting that feeling if you're motivated and happy and focused... The 1st time I saw someone on the train with Rally on their phone I cried. The 1st time I saw someone in a Rally t-shirt on the street I followed him for 10 blocks before I got the nerve to stop him and thank him. The first time our picture showed up in the Sunday New York Times on the cover of the business section I bought a copy for everyone in a 300 foot radius of Morgan’s Market on Reade St. I cleaned the rack out then went back and did it again 2 hrs later. Those feelings of “the first time” are impossible to replicate, and I’ve been chasing them ever since. I see so many founders just blow right through those moments now and it’s heartbreaking because you will never get those back. I’m thankful for every day of the last 10 years. If I could go back I would change a lot of it, but I'm reminded as I get older that making something as trivial as an app is not “important” by any stretch of the imagination... But a purpose driven life is the *MOST* important. If you start building something new, and you realize at any point you aren’t living for that true purpose, then there is absolutely no shame in getting a “real” job where you can leave the work at the front door when you get home, and live your purpose off the clock. As of now, I’m Short busy-work / Long things-that-I’m-passionate-about-that-provide-that-purpose. And I’m forever thankful for the hundreds of thousands of people that came to Rally or even gave it a second of their attention. More to come. Hopefully the best of it. 🙌