The final decision to shut down came after realizing that the business model was not sustainable and that it was time to start fresh. I was tremendously lucky to have supportive investors who believed in the mission of Poppy, which made it easier to communicate the difficult decision to shut down.

The decision to shut down Poppy was made with the understanding that it was better to conserve capital and provide some breathing room for employees rather than prolonging the inevitable.

I felt a grieving process after shutting down Poppy, as it was a significant part of my life and identity for several years.

The decision to shut down was influenced by the realization that our initial hypothesis about the business model wasn't panning out as expected.

I realized that the childcare market is inherently margin-challenged, making it difficult to scale Poppy effectively.

I shut down Artifact because, despite loving the product, it wasn't growing as expected and I felt it was time to pivot to more impactful opportunities.

When considering a pivot, assess whether you can still grow. If you find that your user base isn't retaining or the business model isn't working, it may be time to change direction.

Even though we had a solid growth rate, it wasn't enough to sustain the business, leading me to consider shutting it down.

We decided to stop working on our initial business model and pivot to something else, which involved a lot of difficult decisions, including letting go of our team.