How do founders celebrate the wins?

LinkedIn fam, it's been a couple months and a LOT has happened. So much that I had to make it a LinkedIn article instead of a post. (Warning: Humble brags ahead) But I'm actually wondering how my fellow industry leaders and founders celebrate the wins.

Two months ago, we closed about $1M in funding via Republic and an outside round, after 16 months slogging through a pandemic fundraise trying to raise $500k. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done professionally and a little mind-blowing to think about. This crazy buckwheat seed idea hatched on the beach in Australia now has one million dollars' worth of believers behind it.

Obviously I was pleased and endlessly grateful the right investors came along, and when people congratulated me I said "thank you" and "woohoo". But I didn't truly celebrate it. I got to work.

After over a thousand hours reaching out and talking to investors about our plans, I was more than ready to EXECUTE 👏 THE 👏 PLAN. I immediately hired our first two full time employees, our Marketing Manager Gabby Miles and Community Manager Jenni Burke-- basically building an in-house agency to power our brand. I spent after-hours building out our project management organization on Monday.com, and aggressively read up on being an effective startup leader. Our advisor Angi Rassi helped me design our first in-person "summit" to get to know each other personally and professionally quickly. We even got Four Course Media to do a photoshoot for the team and a limited time product we developed and are getting ready to launch July 19th. We also got into an epic accelerator that perfectly aligns with our growth plans and we'll be able to announce that on July 19th too.

Simultaneously, I was connected with Luke from A Frame Farm in Minnesota, one of the first regenerative-organic certified farms, and with our manufacturer we contracted our first field of fully regenerative-organic certified buckwheat (more on the partnership here!). I got to learn directly from Christine Biddle of Patagonia about becoming regenerative-organic certified; full circle as the first business book I read was Let My People Go Surfing by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. Of all that we have accomplished, this actually brought tears to my eyes. We made a huge step towards our mission of improving soil health in North America. I actually built something big enough to empower a regenerative farmer to include buckwheat in his crop rotation.

Once Gabby and Jenni had full ownership of their responsibilities (shoutout for being patient with me letting go 😂), I jumped into our retail sales to fill out distribution in California and the Midwest. I had our first in-person buyer meeting since Whole Foods in 2019 with Wade Yenny at Jimbos. We also began to redo the website under the guidance of our new direct-to-consumer advisor Josh Bezoni -- you can already see some of the updates taking shape.

Oh, and all this was also happening during 8 straight weeks of travel or hosting visitors as the world opened up again. I closed the round while on "vacation" in Sayulita, Mexico -- pretty on brand, at least. 🌴

All this, and I felt myself starting July with a case of bronchitis and a bout of impatience, ready to be at the next level. I don't normally distract myself by comparing Lil Bucks to other brands, but I found myself doing that--why don't we have 50k followers yet? Why haven't we done $1M on Amazon yet? Why aren't we winning those awards? Of course I have a growth mindset with the business, but it started to feel unhealthy.

I realized the bronchitis was likely a sign from my body to slow down, and as I was reflecting on that, I realized... did I truly ever celebrate all that we accomplished in the past two months? My gratitude journal is full of... gratitude... for what's occurred, and I would have a big smile and say "thank you" and "woohoo" when prompted, but I never truly celebrated.

I'm taking a moment to be incredibly proud of what's occurred in the past 60 days, and am grounding myself in the amazing point Lil Bucks is situated in, poised for growth in our key channels. Taking a deep breath and knowing we are on the right path with the right people (and money!) behind the biz.

I have three weddings and a family reunion over the next 9 days, but after that, maybe I should book a little celebration for myself. Wondering how some of my fellow founders and business leaders take time, even a moment, to celebrate the wins? Please share!