Even after two failed versions of Gobble, I believed in our mission to provide busy people with home-cooked meals, which kept me motivated to find a solution.

After my engineer quit, I felt lost and worried about the future of Gobble, but I reached out to trusted investors who helped me find a replacement. I learned to code and eventually hired great engineers, but this delayed our launch and was a significant setback for Gobble.

Our first employee recognized that we persevered through tough times because we were passionate about our mission, which is essential for success.

I manually promoted Gobble by distributing coupons in coffee shops and personally following up with new customers to encourage repeat orders.

I started Gobble while managing another startup, and I was working 16 to 18 hours a day, often eating alone and feeling unhappy.

When faced with the decision to lay off employees, my co-founder George and I chose to uphold our core values instead and kept the entire team together, asking everyone to take deep cuts to weather the storm.

Candidates who are genuinely excited about the company's mission are more likely to stay longer than those who are primarily motivated by salary.

When a company cuts back on perks like free lunches, being transparent about the reasons fosters trust rather than treating employees like children.

After rejecting the offer, I focused on hiring people who were committed to the long-term vision of the company.