Quimby Melton on LinkedIn: These are the most important questions for early
Quimby Melton
These are the most important questions for early-stage teams (founders, investors, and first hires):

1️⃣ &quot;What would make you stop?&quot;
2️⃣ &quot;Are you willing to…
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These are the most important questions for early-stage teams (founders, investors, and first hires): 1️⃣ "What would make you stop?" 2️⃣ "Are you willing to invest 5-7 years in this, no matter what?" It’s important that we founders answer these questions honestly and authentically and that we do so both introspectively and interpersonally. If founders can't answer these questions with an honest, authentic "Nothing" and "Yes," everyone's better off doing something else. Teams should work on other things, and investors should deploy capital elsewhere. But when founders say "Nothing" and "Yes" authentically and honestly — when they really mean it and then live it — great things can happen. Bruno and I have lived Nothing/Yes for the past 36 months. We have an amazing support network with our friends at Echelon. We have wonderful customers who spend time with us, challenge us, make us better, and validate our mission. And we have partners that enable us technically. Today, I’m excited to announce that we're joining the IBM Hyper Protect Startup Accelerator’s sixth cohort along with 14 other companies. Like us, these companies use highly-sensitive data to improve the quality of, and access to, a wide variety of different services in verticals such as marketing, education, healthcare, finance, and insurance. (A complete list of cohort companies appears in the comments below. ) IBM runs the program in collaboration with DC-based Village Capital, and the program's mission involves unlocking capital for early-stage companies tackling global-scale, data-sensitive problems. We're grateful to have these two new, well-aligned partners who believe in our own mission: Helping ground-level marketers at SMBs around the world take control of their primary digital data sets. In the comments below, I've included more information about VilCap, the HPA and its benefits (including substantial IBM Cloud credits), and the ways our participation in the program will benefit Confection customers. If you don't have it already, go find the thing that makes you say, "Nothing" and "Yes.” So many wonderful people, customers, and partners have supported our journey. Once you find your Nothing/Yes path, once you're living it, I'm always around to talk shop, give pep talks, and otherwise do what I can to support you. Keep fighting forward forever, champions.