Top Quotes
The human side to the journey has been tough. – @mattmuns
This is my first time running a venture backed company where the pressure for growth becomes kind of an all-consuming thing. – @mattmuns
The expectations on ourselves of these folks really took a big bet on us. – @mattmuns
I’ve carried a burden of a need to do big things. – @mattmuns
The voice that has always said you better do great things or else, you are nothing. – @jerrycolonna
I’m either great and living up to my potential or I’m a piece of shit. – @jerrycolonna
The true strength of a leader has both a strong back of a warrior and the open heart. – @jerrycolonna
A really successful leader embodies a whole bunch of things that may seem to be in conflict. – @jerrycolonna
Companies are hard to rebuild mid-flight. – @mattmuns
Profitable businesses create optionality for themselves. – @jerrycolonna
It’s been really powerful return to different team size and gets to rebuild with the lessons learned. – @mattmuns
I spent the first couple of years running this business feeling like I had to show up for board meetings with the answers to the problems. – @mattmuns
Maybe we can redefine a little bit the definition of success. – @mattmuns
Leaders are not born in easy times. – @jerrycolonna
Key Takeaways
Matt Munson is a co-founder and the CEO of Twenty20, a marketplace for authentic stock photography.
Twenty20 recently made a strategic decision and a personal decision to open up the company’s inner story and share it publicly hopefully for the greater good.
Prior to the recording Matt published a piece on Medium called I Burned 10 Million Dollars So You Don’t Have To. It is the story of how Twenty20 raised over $8M in capital in 2014 and then spent that capital without reaching profitability/sustainability.
The original impetus to raise the money was that despite some success, the company had been unable to reach profitability. They decided that to move forward would require drastic measures, changing the business plan from a B2C model to a B2B model. The team raised the capital on the precipice of this pivot.
