#24 The start-up phase. Chronicles of a Founder Dad.
Flat whites, focus, and the paradox of choice
Friday morning, 7:30am. Flat white in hand, waiting for the caffeine to kick in. I’m fried. A week of travel, high-adrenaline meetings, and some cortisol-charged mornings with Indi - I think it’s all finally caught up with me 🫠
Saying that… it’s been good. Really good.
Sunday kicked things off with a solo flight to Sydney and a burger from my favourite spot. I got a few hours to breathe, plug in, get some deep work done. No distractions. No messages to reply to. That alone felt like a win.
From Monday, it was game on. I reckon I told the story of the indi app fifteen times in three days. Honestly? I loved it. Storytelling is my zone - reading people’s reactions, navigating where their curiosity leads, pulling on different threads each time. Every meeting gave me something new. Only one felt like a ‘urgh’. And even that taught me something.
One of the best bits was just being in Sydney with Jeff and Brendan (our new dev). Watching them work in real time, hearing their conversations, chucking in a few product opinions, and asking for help when my novice vibe-coding fell over. Felt like a proper team in motion.
The real highlight though? Tuesday night happy hour at that tiny Japanese spot in Wynyard. During our Antler residency, we basically lived there - so returning felt like a throwback. This time, we had founders from Flywheel, Smart IT, Lyngo AI, and nearly all of Jeff’s family pull up. It was chaotic, hilarious, and a reminder that even in the intensity of building, there’s always room for joy. And a couple of bottles of Sake.
By Thursday, we’d wrapped most of the meetings and locked in a two-hour pricing strategy session with Dom and Dr Anna.
The core challenge: the paradox of choice. There are so many viable paths to make this work. Our success (or failure) will come down to our ability to choose, test, learn, iterate quickly, and stay ruthlessly focused.
Back home, we kept it low-key - nature trail with the kids, hot jam donuts in hand. Simples.
Today? I’m clearing the decks and trying a new sauna spot.
And for the first time in 24 weeks, i’m feeling a bit restricted by what to put in these updates!! Like there are so many stories i want to tell …. but too many of them are things i’d be stupid to give away. The challenge of building out loud and sharing transparently, without giving the game away. Open to tips and tricks from anyone out there nailing it!!
Have a mega week - Orrin xoxox
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