startup journey - update 3

i write my experiences by running a startup in this series and this is the third note.

the past two weeks have been some of the hardest and most heartbreaking times i’ve ever faced since we began medx. it started with an unfortunate turn of events, and one of the best people i’ve known, aref, left us. we started medx together with the same purpose and mission, but as time went on, things changed, and we reached a point where continuing together was costing medx more than it could afford. in a selfless and proactive move, aref chose to step away to help medx move forward. i truly know how much he meant to medx and to me, both as a co-founder and as a friend, and i’ll always appreciate the dedication he put into building this project.

since then, the challenges have been real. we’ve had to rebuild parts of our product and rethink how we work, as we’re now a different team and company without him. this shift has demanded a level of flexibility i didn’t know i had, but we’re adapting, and we’ll continue to adapt in the weeks ahead to make medx not only a great product but a really successful startup.

but after all of this, i want to share something more personal, a kind of meta insight about what i’m going through these days. i posted this tweet a few days ago:

after posting this, i thought a lot. it’s true. it really is. “everything” i’m doing these days is just pushing my tolerance for hard things further, from the difficult decision to lose a co-founder, which is the heart of this update, to all the other challenges. these days have been the toughest yet, but from what i’ve heard from older (and wiser) people, even harder days are likely ahead. it’s honestly daunting to think about. but i’ve learned to be okay with pain, and i believe it will make me a better person in the end.

over the last week, i’ve also been doing a lot of post-mortem sessions by myself since my co-founder’s departure. here’s a tweet that captures how my view of these sessions has changed from a “nice-to-have” exercise into a really powerful tool for every product guy. i wrote this tweet a few days ago:

i’ve written a lot. i don’t even know how much. i’ve never written this much in a week, but it’s been how i make decisions and a really useful way to clear my thoughts and figure out the options. i highly recommend it, especially if you can write as much as possible.

all of this has been incredibly hard - one of the toughest periods of my life - but i believe that this journey, as challenging as it is right now, is shaping us into something stronger. these hard days are paving the way for medx to become something truly remarkable, and i’m committed to seeing us through to that success.

thank you for reading. it means a lot to me!