Back to a job

Restaurant waitlist & booking SaaS opened · Back to a job after 3 yr 1 mo

Ava Thomas, 46 · 3 yr 1 mo

“My old boss hired me back. That’s the whole review.”

Payday came back. My own decisions did not.

After 3 years and 1 month you wound down your Restaurant waitlist & booking SaaS and rewrote your CV. The interviewer found your “founder experience” interesting; the salary was lower than you hoped. Cash $6,194, debt $0, 0 employees, 4 customers. On the first payday, money simply arriving in the account felt strange. You still stop scrolling whenever a product like yours launches.

How it went

1. 2026 · preparing to openAva Thomas, 43. You have decided to try starting a company in Austin. No idea, no product yet. Savings $43,807, employed ($7,523 a month).
2. 5/2026: what now?Start a business: «Restaurant waitlist & booking SaaS» — You are going with «Restaurant waitlist & booking SaaS». Still no company, no product. Now find out whether the idea is real.
3. 2026 · year 1 beginsUS Rates Rose Again
4. 6/2026: what now?Interview 20 people — 5 of 20 said they would pay. 4 only said it would be "nice to have".
5. 6/24 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 5.77%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
6. 7/2026: what now?Decide to build it — You decided to build. Validation ends here.
7. 7/6 · A competitor movedA competitor shipped the feature you were preparing, first. Their price is lower.
8. 8/2026: what now?Build it yourself — You settled on how to build it.
9. 9/2026: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
10. 10/2026: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
11. 11/2026: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
12. 11/29 · Your mentorAn old mentor called. “What scares you most right now?” they asked.
13. 12/2026: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
14. 1/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
15. 2/2027: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
16. 3/2027: what now?Quit your job — You quit. The next morning, not having to go to work felt strange.
17. 3/9 · FamilyYour family packed you lunch. The note said, “Eat properly.”
18. 4/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
19. 4/18 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 5.77%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
20. 5/2027: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
21. US Rates Rose AgainSignals of Fed tightening strengthened the dollar, and this country's funding rates followed. When the USD rate jumped, costing got complicated again for anyone buying imported ingredients or parts.
22. Year 1 closeRevenue $0, loss $9,157. Your salary put in $28,643; cash $62,808.
23. 2027 · year 2 beginsGlobal Energy Prices Surged
24. 5/13 · Down sickYou came down with something. You took medicine and pushed through, but could not concentrate.
25. 6/2027: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
26. 7/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
27. 8/2027: what now?Launch — You pressed launch. 1 sign-ups on day one. You refreshed ten times.
28. 9/2027: what now?Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
29. 9/12 · A competitor movedA competitor shipped the feature you were preparing, first. Their price is lower.
30. 9/13 · HeatwaveA heat warning. The air conditioning ran all day. The electricity bill is on your mind.
31. 10/2027: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
32. 10/14 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 6.14%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
33. Time to hire?Hire a junior — The contract is signed. From next month, salary and payroll taxes go out together.
34. 11/26 · Service outageThe payment processor went down for two hours. Not your fault, but you wrote the apology.
35. 12/2027: what now?Take a job and run it on the side — You rewrote your CV. The interviewer found the startup story interesting.
36. 12/22 · Patent warning letterA cease-and-desist letter arrived claiming possible patent infringement. A lawyer needs to review it.
37. 1/2028: what now?Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
38. 1/20 · Security vulnerabilityAn outside researcher reported a vulnerability. You have to check whether personal data leaked.
39. AI redrew the marketAdopt fully — You learned the new tools. The same work took half the time, and the quote got smaller. It cost a few nights of learning.
40. 3/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
41. 3/8 · FamilyYour family packed you lunch. The note said, “Eat properly.”
42. 3/15 · A signal from your bodyYour chest felt tight, so you went to the emergency room. The result was “overwork.”
43. 4/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
44. 4/22 · Your mentorYour mentor sent a link to an article. “This sounded like you.”
45. The “$20,000 a month or your money back” courseBlock the ad — You block it and another account posts the same ad. The money is still in your account.
46. Global Energy Prices SurgedTension in the Middle East pushed international crude prices up. Ships loaded with oil could not pass, and freight and packaging costs rose with them. A war in the news became a number on next month's cost sheet.
47. Year 2 closeRevenue $2,115, loss $18,471. Cash $17,823.
48. 2028 · year 3 beginsA Competitor Copied You
49. 5/14 · A competitor movedA big company bolted a similar feature onto its product, free. More customers now ask, “How are you different?”
50. 5/28 · Down sickYou came down with something. You took medicine and pushed through, but could not concentrate.
51. AI redrew the marketAI tools changed the industry’s cost and speed. Companies that adopted them move cheap and fast; the rest pay twice for the same customer.
52. 6/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
53. 6/3 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 6.21%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
54. 6/19 · Service outageAn alert at 3 a.m.: the disk was full. Fixed before morning; nobody noticed.
55. 7/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
56. 7/6 · Security vulnerabilityAn outside researcher reported a vulnerability. You have to check whether personal data leaked.
57. 7/14 · Patent warning letterA cease-and-desist letter arrived claiming possible patent infringement. A lawyer needs to review it.
58. This time you sell the courseWalk away — The agency probably sent the same pitch to another owner the next day. You opened the books again.
59. 9/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
60. 10/2028: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — No new customers this month. The channel has to change.
61. 10/8 · Covered in an articleAn industry outlet wrote about the product. Sign-up inquiries rose a little.
62. 10/16 · Server bill spikeTraffic grew, and the server bill came in far above what you expected.
63. Do you pivot?Full pivot — Half the existing customers left. The new customers have not arrived. The only thing left in the meeting room was the question of whether this was right.
64. 11/8 · A competitor movedA competitor shipped the feature you were preparing, first. Their price is lower.
65. 11/18 · A signal from your bodyYour chest felt tight, so you went to the emergency room. The result was “overwork.”
66. A year back at workKeep it running on the side — On Sunday night you answered three support emails.
67. 12/5 · Service outageAn alert at 3 a.m.: the disk was full. Fixed before morning; nobody noticed.
68. 1/2029: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
69. 1/10 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 6.21%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
70. The competitor made it freeFocus on differentiated features — You built a feature the large company would struggle to copy. Customers stayed for that one feature.
71. 2/7 · Your mentorAn old mentor called. “What scares you most right now?” they asked.
72. 2/27 · Global growth forecasts fellWith the IMF and World Bank forecasts diverging, global growth came down to 2.3%. Replies to overseas inquiries got slower.
73. 3/2029: what now?Keep going — Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
74. 3/20 · Security vulnerabilityAn outside researcher reported a vulnerability. You have to check whether personal data leaked.
75. 3/24 · Down sickA sore throat and a fever. You got through the day in a mask.
76. 4/2029: what now?Incorporate — The company is registered. Your business card now says CEO.
77. “We just need your name on it”Send them away — They left a card: “Call if you change your mind.” There was no company name on it.
78. A Competitor Copied YouA competitor duplicated your landing page and features almost exactly. The parts you can contest legally are fewer than you expected. The market remembers who does it well more than who did it first.
79. Year 3 closeRevenue $4,882, loss $1,627. Your salary put in $11,446; cash $5,494.
80. 2029 · year 4 beginsThe Tech Investment Cycle Came Back
81. 5/8 · A competitor movedA company solving the same problem announced a funding round. Nobody in the comments mentioned you.
82. 5/20 · Patent warning letterA cease-and-desist letter arrived claiming possible patent infringement. A lawyer needs to review it.
83. A year back at workWind it down and focus on the job — You sent the shutdown notice. One customer replied, “Thanks for everything.”

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