My next act. Closing the curtain on P2Bi.

I always imagined that post-P2Bi life would find me drinking tequila on a picturesque beach celebrating my big exit. As it turns out, post-P2Bi life found me drinking tequila in my house drowning my sorrows while quarantined.

In truth, I was grateful for the enforced break from the world, it made it easy to hide and pretend everything was ok. Then a good friend reminded me that failure is part of the founder experience and being open about it is important because otherwise the loneliness and isolation can be crushing. She reminded me that I have always strived to be authentic about the ups and downs of startup life, and this incredibly difficult moment is an important one to share.

The short version of a very long story is that, in the fall of last year, P2Bi was severely impacted by a large, national fraud perpetrated over many years that impacted banks, other alternative lenders, and thousands of businesses around the country. As a result of our corporate exposure to the fraud we had to quickly restructure to protect our lenders, crowd, clients, and employees. Once the restructure was successfully completed, I made the tough decision to leave.

I’m grateful P2Bi was acquired and continues to help businesses access financing to this day, but I am disappointed it wasn’t the exit I wanted for myself, our amazing team, and the many angel investors who supported us over the years.

I spent 8 years building P2Bi. We grew revenue every year to over $10M, lent over $1Bn to growing businesses, created technology that set us apart, and built a unique brand in a crowded space. I also had the honor of working with an unbelievably smart, driven, and passionate team I miss to this day. I never imagined things would work out the way they did. Watching my business fall apart and have to restructure was a humbling and eye opening experience that I know will stay with me forever. I feel an incredible amount of empathy for every business owner struggling with the impact of COVID-19 because there is nothing worse than watching a situation beyond your control harm everything you’ve worked for. 

Knowing you don’t have control doesn’t actually make things easier. When you're the founder and CEO and your business fails it is downright impossible not to chalk it up to your own inadequacy as a leader. It has taken me months to write about my departure from P2Bi because a lot of people believed in me, invested in me, and supported me in countless ways, and I feel ashamed and embarrassed about the end result.

Thankfully, time (and tequila), has given me the perspective I needed to move on.

For my next act, I am leveraging my P2Bi experience, and partnering with four amazing entrepreneurs to launch a fund called Stage. It’s an early stage private equity fund that makes control-based investments in companies who find themselves in a tough spot, much like I did at P2Bi. These management teams have to quickly restructure their debt, equity, cost base, and approach to growth. We provide a fresh start by bringing in experienced operators who know how to handle these difficult situations with speed and, perhaps more importantly, empathy. Once the crisis is over we provide new capital to grow. I believe it is the perfect platform to leverage everything I learned at P2Bi.

I’m particularly proud that our new fund has two founding female GPs. This is a time of reckoning, and I believe it will lead to profound change in our approach to equality and diversity in hiring and investing. My cofounder and I are a longtime proponents of diversity in technology, and intend to bring that focus to Stage as we choose the companies we will invest in.

I know that almost every entrepreneur has faced failure. Turns out that doesn’t make it any easier when it happens to you. I didn’t believe all of the people who told me the experience of building a company would be valuable in and of itself even if I didn’t have the exit I wanted. 

The good news is they were right. I do look back on my experience and feel fortunate to have been through tough times because it’s made me a stronger, better leader as I embark on my next endeavor.