In the early days, we struggled to raise money, which taught us to focus on solving real problems and to build an efficient, profitable business from day one.

In our first year, we faced significant challenges, including a tough go-to-market transition and hiring the wrong team for our stage of growth.

We bootstrapped for a year in San Francisco, which was tough, and when I raised our first round, it mainly went to cover expenses I was already paying personally.

I had to make tough decisions during a crisis, including shrinking the team and raising funds, which ultimately extended our runway and allowed us to launch successfully despite market challenges.

At HireArt, I faced a moment of potential failure when we hadn't raised any funding while others had, but my co-founders encouraged me to keep pitching until we found an investor who believed in our mission.

We raised our initial funding through a friends-and-family round, ensuring that only those who understood our vision could invest.

I didn't sell my story well to investors, which led to challenges in raising funds, but eventually, we built a strong case that made it hard for them to ignore us.

After Y Combinator, we struggled financially for about a year, living off savings and working out of a friend's living room, which was made possible by the generosity of his parents.

Not having a lot of money forced us to innovate and focus on making every dollar count, which ultimately helped us grow faster than competitors who had more funding.