This is all my co-founder Daniel and I ate for five months.
One year ago in October, we had both just quit our jobs, had zero income, and were trying to live on the lowest budget possible.
This Cevapcici – available at Rewe for €1.99 😇 – was perfect for us. It has 482 calories, 22 grams of protein and, combined with some nuts and Sriracha sauce, it’s honestly not that bad.
We were (unsuccessfully) iterating through ideas, drinking free wine from the fridge in the
@AntlerGlobal office (when available), and working 24/7 without any indication that this would pay off.
By January, we had completely exhausted our financial reserves. Daniel showed up for the incorporation at our notary’s super fancy office in a puffer jacket that was literally duct-taped together, and my shoes were falling apart.
We incorporated the company as a UG with €300 of share capital because we were too broke to pay in anything above €100 each. Our notary asked us about five times if we were sure this was a good idea and pointed out that we would be basically insolvent once we received the first invoice.
Tobi, our third co-founder who had already built a couple of businesses before, offered to lend me money a couple of times. I declined. This was part of the process, and looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it to come together any other way.
It’s crazy how far we’ve come since then – a fast-growing team of 20 people, a product we’re proud of, a beautiful space to work in, and more than 1,300 customers who rely on us.
If you’re currently in a phase where it’s time to eat €1.99 Cevapcici for a couple of months – push through.
Things can change faster than you think. 👏