Denver Start-Up Week is, frankly, a party. True, there are educational opportunities amongst seminars, panels, mentors, pitches, parties, etc. but it all ends with a hangover 6 hours later at a 9 am lecture about marketing after a very uncomfortable Lyft ride to repeat it all again. We were a bit more tame since we had skipped the previous year’s event due to launching Fermly. After nearly a year of work and knowledge under our belts, we felt it was time for a gut check (not of the hangover variety) on how we were doing. We don’t have time to just party like we once did.
“You know,” Danny said, “80% of the start-ups that are here are not going to make it.” as we left a panel discussing shortcomings and failures that CEOs and the like had encountered while creating their business. “We didn’t. We already succeeded,” he said with a smile as we arrived at Base Camp in downtown Denver for our mentor session.
The mentor sessions were bite-sized 20 minutes to tell someone who had found significant success what the business was, what you were trying to achieve, and what the obstacles were. It’s the moment we thought! This is where we find perhaps that extra wisdom nugget we feel is missing!
To say he was surprised by us is a bit of an understatement. We opened up about our challenges and what our goals were. He pointed out that we just needed to keep doing what we were doing because we had already proven that Fermly was not just a successful concept of using data in brewing, but a successful business with the ability to continue growing. Our skill sets were the perfect complement to each other. “People go for years trying to make an idea possible, looking for someone to help them achieve it. The fact that you two found each other, but you are married to your co-founder, is fortunate and has worked out well for you.”
Four years ago, when we made our marriage vows to each other, we did not conceive of working together on anything other than our relationship. Looking back on that moment in 2019, we have a great deal of pride in what we had achieved with Fermly at that point. Since that meeting, we pushed harder together to continue transforming our business into something that serves the brewing community and can one day share beyond the two of us. Every day presents challenges, but we chose to not just be together, but be co-founders on this wonderful journey of Fermly.
Thank you to everyone that has supported our relationship and our goals, because Fermly would not exist if it wasn’t for the choice we made to love each other 4 years ago.
Today may be our wedding anniversary, but we celebrate the community that has helped us get here! Cheers to all of you!
