How I lost 50k and had to fire my assistant

Chapter 2: Lessons on Bootstrapping

If you read my first substack you already met Xavier, my assistant. He’s been rad, the best assistant one could have. But after a big chunk of my funding fell through last month, I had to cut my losses. Letting Xavier go was rough and would have been even worse had he been a real person (but hey, imaginary PAs have feelings too!).

So what happened?

A project I work on - $HARE - was close to receiving 50k in funding from a Swiss cultural foundation. Like very close.

In 2022, the same foundation jump-started the project with a 20k development grant (real money, not imaginary). I had applied for 10k. But the jury loved the idea behind $HARE so much that they decided to grant me double the amount. Yes, shit like this happens (hardly ever, though).

Having won last year, I was invited to apply for the second tier. Now the price money was 50k. Considering the jury loved my project the first time round, I spent half of October writing a new in-depth application. I aced it and was invited to pitch.

Six out of the 10 filmmakers who got to pitch got the money.

I didn’t.

I may write a post about pitching one day - what works and what EVIDENTLY doesn’t. But right now let’s focus on this:

It sucks to lose the race at the finishing line.

I applied for many grants in the last few years and have NOT received most of them. I’m sort of used to it by now. You just keep filing those applications. But receiving a grant, feeling seen and appreciated by a jury to be told a year later that they’re no longer in love with you?

That was a first.

So what do you do if you lose 50k that you already accounted for in your project’s financial plan?

Breathe.

Go for a walk.

Then cancel all appointments that take place in a coffee shop. Especially if you’re in Zurich where a watery coffee sets you back 7 CHF. So no more lattes but lots of meetings ‘walk and talk’ style. Healthier anyway, right?

Which brings me to point two.

Stay positive.

And look for new investors.

Luckily, I already had a startup financing event on my agenda. A Swiss venture fund held an information evening at ETH Zurich that week.

After losing 50k, not only did I go to the event, I told my son to come along. He just started studying in Switzerland. Now that you know what a single coffee costs in Zurich imagine what a hungry 19-year-old does to our family budget…

We approached the evening with a plan: I worked the room for possible investors while my son attacked the free buffet.

Result?

No new funds (yet) for Zenka Films, but my son cleaned up the buffet nicely and I got a packed lunch out of it for my train trip back to Tuscany.

Southbound in my rolling office: the sandwich was a little stale but the view was priceless.

Quite apart from the food, the true highlight of the evening was meeting a British-Chinese crypto wizard and future startupper who does countless events like this. I can’t give you his real name - you’ll understand further down - so let’s call him S.

S. generously shared his experience on how to get the best out of a startup event:

• Always come alone (unless somebody in your family has to eat).

• Don’t hang out with people you met before. Use every minute of the event to talk to people you don’t know yet.

• Study the event program beforehand and decide who you want to approach. Study their bio, and check what they’re working on. Prepare a couple of questions.

• Ask those questions. Make it about them (not you). Then have your smartphone ready and scan their LinkedIn QR code (do not bother them with your colorful business card).

• Connect with them on LinkedIn. Tell them how inspiring and fun it was to meet them (hopefully it was).

This was all excellent advice and I put it into practice right away. But since I attended the evening not just as a startupper but also as a mom I had an extra question for our new friend.

S. had told us that he had grown up in northern China not far from the border with North Korea. To cut a long story short - our son would like to visit North Korea one day (in fact, he wanted to spend his gap year there, but his father and I made sure THERE WAS NO GAP YEAR once we heard of that plan).

At last, I had found somebody who could possibly share some first-hand experience. I asked S. what he would tell a 19-year-old who planned to visit North Korea.

If only I hadn’t.

S. complimented my son on his brilliant idea. North Korea is a great place to visit. S. had many fond memories of the country. As a child, he’d visit often. He had even come up with an ingenious approach to do so regularly during his free afternoons. He’d tie a string of sausages around his tummy before he’d swim across the Yalu River to North Korea. He’d then hand the sausages to the border guards who looked the other side and let him roam the country freely.

My son took copious notes.

I was coming down with an anxiety-induced heat rash.

Leaving his childhood reverie to look at us, S. made a point of adding that, today, the sausage-belt-border-crossing-strategy may not be entirely safe. At least not for a white kid.

Thank you, S., for setting the record straight.

Once my heat flare had subsided, I started to work the room just as S. had recommended (if you bother to look up my LinkedIn profile you’ll know it worked).

By the end of the evening, I had an interesting conversation with a young man who was super interested in Zenka Films. I felt positively flattered until I realized that he was a startupper who thought that the only middle-aged woman in the room was likely one of the investors.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure whether to feel

a) offended, that he thought a 51-year-old woman couldn’t possibly be a startupper looking for investors

or

b) smug that this particular bootstrapping, middle-aged startupper manages to look stinking rich even when she’s broke.

I went for b) and called it a night.

See you next month,

Katja

Meet your new investor (next startup event, I'll remember to wear sneakers and a hoodie!)

PS. Xavier and I talked things through and he promised to return to work as soon as I’m back in a position to pay for coffee.

PPS. Don’t tell Xavier yet, but I have some exciting leads. More soon!