Sometimes, it becomes necessary to face the fact that startup life is not all successful funding rounds and upward growth trends. And when these times arise, it takes grace and humility to examine what’s going well, what’s not working and what happens next.
Kate Glantz, founder and CEO of Heartful.ly, the wedding registry for charitable giving, exudes both of these qualities in a recent Facebook post in which she announced that she’ll be stepping back from Heartful.ly.
In the post Glantz explains why she’s going to scale back her work on the startup to nights and weekends. “I have not been able to scale the company to a place where a) I could raise significant outside capital or b) it would be sustainable on its own,” she writes. “While we continue to experience positive growth and every month is better than the last, it’s still not enough. This will not effect any of our weddings/birthdays now or to come as the site is totally automated. It simply means I won’t be pursuing growth opportunities for the company right now.”
Kate Glantz, CEO and founder of Heartful.ly. (Courtesy photo)
What’s next for Glantz?
She’ll be joining SEED SPOT, the Arizona-born, social impact-focused accelerator that recently expanded to D.C. “As Director of Entrepreneur Initiatives, I’ll be leading all programming and serving as a spirit guide of sorts for the entrepreneurs as well as a bridge to the tech and social enterprise community,” Glantz writes of her new role.
It takes courage for any founder to step back from a startup they’ve worked so hard on, and even more to know when the time to do so is right.
We’re excited to see what you do next, Kate.
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