After selling the business, I found out how much of my purpose had been tied to building it. The money didn't give me a replacement for that work.
I'd spent years making decisions about the product, helping customers and working with the team. Once we'd sold, those decisions belonged to someone else. I stayed for a period, then was made redundant.
That was difficult for my ego. I'd built the thing, and now the company could move on without me. There was pride in knowing the work would continue, but it also left me wondering what I was supposed to do next.
I took time off and travelled around Australia. After the gym, a cafe and a fairly relaxed morning, there was a lot of day left. I found that boring much sooner than I'd expected.
I started making coding content because I wanted to help people who were learning, as I had. Then organising that content became another problem to solve, and that led towards Clipflow.
People ask why I started again. I like solving problems, building something useful and doing it with people I enjoy working with. Those are reasons to get up and work that still matter after an exit.
I'd want another founder to think about what they value in the business beyond the price before deciding to sell.
For me, handing it over removed a lot of the things I liked doing every day. Starting again gave me somewhere to put that energy. That's a part of the exit I hadn't understood until I lived through it.
