37 days to go: navigating burnout + deciding on my core 'life' roles

A recap of week twenty seven as a full-time Founder.

Jade Buffong-Phillips

Apr 24, 2024

Hey there 👋🏾,

For those of you who are short on time, here are the sections of the newsletter you can skip ahead to…

Win🏅: Had good 2nd stage conversations with 2x Angels and 1x micro-fund
Loss🤕: I felt burnt out (again) and had no idea what life roles to focus on
Lesson💡: The power of choosing the right people vs. the cost of choosing the wrong ones
Resources 📚 : Start-up lists, KPIs and how to get your first 1k customers

🎯 Objective

Navigate burnout and decide on my core ‘life’ roles

I’m starting to realise there’s a pattern 😅 as every 3-to-4 months, I hit a bit of a wall.

All be it, the wall doesn’t hit me as hard.

This time, I couldn’t take time off as I had deadlines and investor calls in the diary to prep for. This raised a really interesting question for me on how many life roles I can realistically take up at any given moment in time. I’m a Founder, wife, sister, step-mum, advisor, training partner and many other things to different people. The biggest challenge I’ve faced so far is understanding how wearing all of these hats is contributing to burnout and what I can do to better manage myself (and in turn other people’s expectations of me).

While I don’t think there’s one concrete answer to this, I’ve shared my thoughts and I hope that helps any other Founders who are in a similar position.

As always, I appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave comments or reply to this email with your thoughts.

P.S. Next week, you’ll get to listen to the first episode of The Raise! I’ll send my next fundraising update in a couple of weeks.

🔋 Progress recap & highlights

Biggest wins

WIN 1️⃣: Good 2nd stage conversation with 2x Angels and 1x Fund 💰

Just after Easter, a few warm introductions and cold email responses led to initial conversations with investors.

Good news, the introductions went well. Two Angels and a fund agreed to continue the conversation and, within a couple of days, our second stage calls were in the diary.

A good call doesn’t guarantee anything, but some signs gauge how interested an investor is, such as:

Request to see more documents (e.g. longer deck, marketing plan, financial model): even if you’re pre-revenue, you should still have a financial model to demonstrate what you believe will happen when you start charging customers.
They ask questions about investment terms & valuations: this can often be a dealbreaker (especially in this tentative market) so make sure your valuation is in line with industry and stage expectations.
They want to bring another person onto the call (e.g. financial advisor, analyst): this is often a sign that they need the insight or opinion of another person to judge if the investment is right for them as an Angel or fund.
They request a follow-up call to get more details: this is usually a good sign that they want to ask more questions and gauge whether you’re the right founder to fix this particular problem.

I’ll keep you posted on our progress with these conversations, especially given we have one month to go until our 240 days are up!

TIPS FOR INVESTOR CONVERSATIONS: Guaranteed you will get at least 1 question that you can't answer on a call. Don't blag it, ask for some time to look for the answer and circle back to the investor afterwards. There's more risk in getting a providing a messy, on the spot, answer to a core question than there is to asking for more time.

WIN 2️⃣: We have a potential strategic advisor on the horizon 🥳

One of the many things I’ve loved about sharing my fundraising journey is the support I’ve received from so many Founders and investors in the community.

People have very generously offered to make warm introductions and three of those have led to us onboarding new advisors (who otherwise, I wouldn’t have met).

That said, I’m in the process of ironing out the details of another advisor joining the Mane Hook-Up team to help us strategically understand how to grow. I heard a great piece of advice at an event a few months ago and it's guided a lot of the decisions I’ve made about the people I’ve chosen to work with…

Think of your advisors and recruits as a sports team. You need people to cover a number of different positions so your business has both the offence and defence it needs to grow sustainably.

This really helped me to reframe my thinking when I sought advisors as I typically looked for people who had experience in the Black hair industry. While this has its perks (e.g. they understand the product/problem), it was limiting as there are other gaps to be filled that are equally as important. Ideally, I think you should have one person who can help with each of the core business functions on your advisory team: product, engineering, marketing and finance. That way, all of the bases are covered and so you can turn to someone when you have an idea or problem to solve.

Once I’ve determined that someone has a skill set that covers a gap in the business, I ask three more questions:

Do they have any experience that’s super valuable to me (e.g. exited a similar business, 2x time Founder) — this can help with longer-term strategic decisions, plus I can learn from someone else’s successes and mistakes.
Do they feel like the right personality fit for the existing team — the last thing you want is a skilled person causing chaos because they rub everyone up the wrong way.
Does this role warrant equity? — some people will advise for a fee, some for equity and a few for nothing because they believe in your business. Do your research and due diligence first to see what you should be offering in exchange for their time.

That said, I’m having final conversations with our latest potential advisor this week so I’ll have more to share by mid-May!

TIP FOR ADVISORY CONTRACTS: get everything in writing so everyone is clear on what their roles are. Use templates like the Fast Agreement to guide your decisions when it comes to time commitments and equity (if you're giving any waway)

WIN 3️⃣: Launched The Mane Cut podcast and newsletter + interviewed 10 celebrity hair stylists 🎙️

For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about ways the team can start producing content that helps customers and stylists achieve their goals (and in the long term, builds up an engaged community for Mane Hook-Up).

After much thought and planning, we landed on producing a podcast and newsletter where we interview some of the best textured hair stylists in the world to give our community access to high-quality hair and stylist career advice.

As a result, I’ve now interviewed 10 celebrity hair stylists for the podcast and we’ve slowly started to shout about this on social media to build up our subscribers. With the first episode going live next week, this will be a great experiment to see if this is the type of content our community needs.

TIPS FOR COLD OUTREACH TO PODCAST GUESTS: lead with the mission and vision of the podcast to make sure the guests you're speaking to are aligned with the outcome your business is trying to achieve with this content. If you have some guests lined up, name drop in the outreach email.

WIN 4️⃣: Product progression has been made with the decision to go low-code👩🏽‍💻

Mane Hook-Up has been built in a few different ways since we first launched, but my team have now decided to move from custom code to low/no code. Mainly as:

We want to deploy features faster: building in low code will help us to change the entire platform in 4x weeks vs the 5-6 months it could have taken with custom code.
We want non-technical team members to have more control: myself, our Head of Product and any other team members we hire in the immediate future will quickly be able to make changes (e.g. running copy tests) instead of needing a developer to do so.
We want to minimise the cost of execution but maintain the quality: as a tech company, development is our most expensive cost but building in low code reduces this drastically, while still maintaining a really high standard of delivery for our customers.

This also has a domino effect on fundraising as I can tweak the financial model and (from my understanding) many investors see value in low/no-code solutions so it probably puts me in a better position to reach final conversations as well.

TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LOW/NO CODE PLATFORM: Do your research. Make a list of the core things you need the platform or solution to deliver and make a tick box comparison list. Then, choose your top two and register for a free trial to see which option is more user friendly as that will help with the ease and speed of building.

WIN 5️⃣: Attended the Founderland event in London and met some incredible female founders🔥

Founderland is a community for women of colour who are entrepreneurs in Europe. Their HQ is in Berlin so their events are typically held out there as well. But last week, the Founderland team finally hosted their first London event and I was lucky enough to nab a ticket.

As the venue was a co-working space, we were all able to power through and get work done or focus on connecting with one of the twenty women who walked in that day. The Founderland team also did a great job of pulling guests together for fireside chats and Q&As — we weren’t short of things to do or people to speak to.

Despite all of the good stuff happening, I was feeling pretty low on the day (more about that in losses), so I really struggled to find my place in the first few hours. In hindsight, I think I was reacting to stress and wanting to withdraw (in a typical introvert fashion). But, after lunch, I accepted the challenge of working around the room to meet some new people — all of whom were amazing businesswomen with plenty of stories to share.

This was a great lesson for me as I would have typically stayed at home to avoid being around people when I felt so low. Ironically, doing the opposite helped me far more as socialising with other people going through similar trials helped me to vent my frustrations and lift a pretty heavy weight from my shoulders.

It just goes to show that, sometimes, doing the thing we least want to do can lead to far better outcomes.

TIPS FOR INTROVERTS AT EVENTS (WHEN YOUR SOCIAL BATTERY IS LOW): It's OK to spend an hour or so to yourself and settle in. If you see a familiar face, start by easing yourself into a conversation with them. Otherwise, look for someone who is by themselves and bring them into a conversation.

WIN 6️⃣: I’ve been told to go to the US three times and I might just listen… 🗺️✈️

I believe in the power of threes.

If something happens, is said or experienced three times or more, that’s probably a sign that you should sit up and pay attention.

That said, in the past two weeks, four people have asked me if I would go over to the States soon to meet, greet and speak to potential investors and customers. While I originally planned to make this trip after closing the funding round, after a handful of conversations, I think it’s worth making the trip beforehand.

I think there’s merit to this idea as meeting people and speaking to them in person is worlds different to doing the same via Zoom. While I have had a lot of positive conversations with investors, advisors and founders over video calls, there’s something very meaningful about meeting people in person.

That said, nothing is set in stone yet but, as always, I’ll keep you posted!

TIPS FOR YOUR PITCH DECK: If you get recurring questions about risks and growth, tackle this with a slide. Many investors will appreciate that you've thought about this ahead of time and it shows how dedicated you are to solving the problem.

WIN 7️⃣: Automations update 🤖

Not much has changed with my latest automations as I’m still getting a steady stream of replies. Here’s what happened last week:

Performance so far

💃🏾 10 people added to automations
📧 124 people have opened my emails (19% increase WoW)
🖱️ 14 clicks on our pitch deck (55% increase WoW)
↩️ 10 people have replied so far (66% increase WoW)

A couple of Founders have shared their email outreach lists with me, plus some great lists have appeared on LinkedIn (more in resources), so I’ll be launching some new automations in the next couple of weeks!

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Biggest L’s 🤕

LOSS 😩: I felt burnt out (again) and had no idea what life roles to focus on

If there’s one thing you can guarantee when you’re fundraising and building at the same time, it’s burnout. And this is round three or four for me 😅.

Last week, I started to tap out again, but this time I didn’t have the luxury of being able to take a few days off to recover. There was so much to do (and deadlines to meet) so I powered through and ended up feeling like my tank was on 0 by Friday.

Queue attending a small Founder event and a few family things to deal with behind the scenes and let’s just say I was a giant ball of stress that needed to be deflated. I’ve noticed that each time this happens, it’s slightly less severe than the last, so that’s at least a sign that I’m managing myself better. But I will say that…

a) I don’t think burnout can be prevented, but it can be prolonged
and b) There is no magical one-size-fits-all approach to managing this problem

Each experience of burnout has taught me something new that has allowed me to last longer and not get hit as hard as I did previously. For example, my first bout of burnout happened in November when my investor outreach automations produced a tonne of no’s. It winded me pretty quickly but also built up my tolerance to hearing no and now it bothers me far less.

This round of burnout is a result of having an intense few weeks personally and professionally. I often feel torn between trying to be the best Founder, daughter, wife, advisor, friend, aunty, training partner, CMO etc that I can be. I’ve now realised that I can’t be the best at all of those things at once and I need to choose a few roles for the time being.

I’m opting to focus on being a Founder, wife, step-mum and training partner right now. Not only does this feel more manageable, but it gives me the power to say no, not now or another time when people ask for my time and help. For anyone who feels torn in fifty different directions right now, you’re not alone. Just remember to take the time and reflect on why you may be feeling that way. That moment of reflection is often where the answers lay.

TIP FOR DECIDING ON YOUR CORE 'ROLES': Make a list of all of the roles you play personally and professionally. Think about your top 3x goals for this quarter and who you need to be to make those things happen. E.g. if you're trying to get your first client and stay healthy/active, maintaining the Founder and gym buddy roles will serve you more.

💡 Lessons learned

Quote of the week
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
— Oprah Winfrey

LESSON 👩🏾‍🏫: The power of choosing the right people vs. the cost of choosing the wrong ones

Last week, I had my first Product Team call with Mane Hook-Up’s Engineering Advisor, Product Advisor and Head of Product.

And it was magic 🤩.

We strategized together and made a lot of progress on what’s next. Questions that I hadn’t considered before came up, problems were tackled and a lot of ground was covered in just over an hour. I loved the feeling of brainstorming with a group of people who care about the community and product as much as I do.

There’s a lot of power in choosing the right senior people to join your team — it can impact the trajectory of a start-up. Especially in the early stages when no one is getting paid, and you need the commitment and energy to survive.

Apparently, 20% of people leave a company within 45 days with some companies reporting losses of between $15k-17k per person. Apply this to your founding team and it’s a mistake that most start-ups can’t afford to make.

Having had the opportunity to recruit new team members across different departments (and made a tonne of good and bad decisions), I now routinely ask myself these questions before hiring:

Why do I need this person? No one wants to hire or onboard a great person with the wrong skillset. You have to be able to articulate WHY you need this role or person on the team and the value you envision them adding to the business.
Do I need to find this person now or later? Equally, bringing the right person in at the wrong time can be a crippling experience as you run the risk of permanently turning them off coming back once they decide to leave or, worst case scenario, after a layoff. Make sure there’s enough work and responsibility around for a full or part-time team member to take on.
If later, what is the critical moment that triggers the recruitment process? Planning for future hires is also a smart move. Ideally, you want to start recruiting when you (or someone else) are already taking on 25-30% of the role at hand.
What will they take ownership of? List everything that needs to be handed over to them. From responsibilities to projects, this should be clearly defined and not conflicting with anyone else.
What is the personality fit that we need? This isn’t an excuse to hire in likeness or sameness. Instead, this question calls you to ask what is lacking and what personality traits would balance out your existing team.

Ultimately, your team are your superpower. So it pays to do this thinking upfront and save yourself a tonne of time, energy (and potentially money) by making better decisions from the get-go.

TIP FOR FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE: Recommendations are great, but can be limiting as you're tapping into communities and connections that you're familiar with. Instead, look for groups that you aren't part of to improve the chances of covering the skills and personality gaps within your business.

💥 Hack of the week

Nothing new to add this week! Feel free to revisit some of the hacks from my previous newsletters:

📚 Resources

If you made it all the way to the end of this newsletter, you deserve a reward. So here’s a list of the best resources I came across last week to help you with your raise.

Fundraising

Start-up investor lists built by others: Guillermo Flor shares several investor lists that you can download or export to help with fundraising outreach.
Valuation multiples explained: Asif Ahmed offers insight into how valuation multiples and amounts vary as a start-up progresses.
Black Beauty Grant by Black Girl Fest & Glossier: BGF and Glossier are teaming up again to offer grants to Black-Owned beauty businesses in the UK. Apply before 10th May to be considered.
Useful investor lists: Asif Ahmed shares several investor lists that can also be used for fundraising outreach.

General advice

170 KPIs by department: Because there’s nothing worse than managing a department and not knowing how to measure what your team(s) doing!
Finding your first 1,000 customers: Hugo Rauch sheds some light on what start-ups can do to get their first 1,000 customers and how the best start-ups have done this in the past.

🧰 Founder’s toolbox

Anyone who knows me knows that I love finding tools, apps and systems to add to my arsenal. Here’s a list of the best tools that I found last week.

Bonjoro: collect video testimonials with ease

What’s it for: Bonjoro has several sides to its platform, including a video testimonial feature that can be used for free.
How it helped: I’m starting to use Bonjoro to collect feedback from stylists, customers and partners. These will be used across organic and paid media channels too.
Price: Free (for up to 10 videos) and $20 a month for up to 250 videos.

Questions? 🤔

Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below! Until next week,

J x

P.S. Here are some of my other posts:

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240 Days to Raise