When you’re working long hours with a small team for less than no money because you are collectively crazy enough to think you can change the world, personal relationships aren’t the icing on the cake—they are the cake. Jackson Solway and Miki Johnson learned this first-hand when they started dating, co-founded Parsecco, got engaged and then shutdown the company. With a founding team that went from two founders...to six founders...and back again, they learned more than their share of lessons about what makes teams work, and how to look out for the company if they don’t. Join them for an unorthodox Q&A as they quiz each other (for your benefit) about early team magic and all their mistakes.

Julia successfully raised over $8M to fund lark’s growth and landed her product on the shelves of every Apple store worldwide...but that was after months of "No's" from nearly every investor she spoke with. Through a candid conversation with her coach, Anamaria, Julia will reflect on her most painful fundraising mistakes. She will share the small-but-significant tactics a founder can employ to feel more powerful while raising money, and provide insight into how founders can develop skills to more confidently engage investors without sacrificing their personal authenticity to “playing the game.”

Victor Lombardi spent the past two years researching websites and consumer electronics, like Google Wave and Microsoft Zune, that were hailed as great designs at launch, then failed unexpectedly when people used them. Victor will analyze the difference between design and customer experience, and share how new founders can avoid these failures in our own work.

Founders are a unique breed - passionate, driven, and with boundless energy. But what happens when the very thing you may be using to identify yourself - your company - fails? How do you recover from that emotionally? And how can a founder deal with depression when needing to stay positive every day for their team? Psychiatrist and coach Michael A. Freeman talks with reporter Jess Bruder on how founders can handle depression safely.

FreshBooks changed its name after it had been in business for two years. In this talk, Mike will cover how that decision unfolded, how they successfully rebranded, and the repercussions that still reverberate today, 7 years later. Make sure your name and branding is done right from the start by avoiding some of these key mistakes.

Gleb Budman bootstrapped Backblaze to profitability without spending on marketing. He dreamed of having a real marketing budget to grow faster. Faced suddenly with $1 million to spend, things didn't turn out quite the way he expected. Learn lessons from his bruises that you can apply whether you have a marketing budget or not.

Every founder knows that you can't quit if you want turn your startup into a billion dollar company. But should "Never give up - no matter what" be the only rally cry for entrepreneurs? Two years after starting Ridejoy, the Y Combinator backed ridesharing community, Jason Shen and his two cofounders chose to wind down operations, returning half of the $1.3M they raised in their seed round. In this talk, Jason shares his story of how things came to an end at Ridejoy, why they chose to shut down, and what other founders might learn from his experience.