Anastasia Crew co-founded Founders Embassy after testing multiple names until they found a clear .com domain. The team ran extensive market research with mentors and advisors to validate the idea, then made the leap to leave salaried jobs and go full-time.
So let's talk about the first moment where Founders Embassy was a tiny little seed. You had an awesome co-founder, you have this idea. What was the first step that you took in building this company?
Well, let me tell you that Founders Embassy, the very first step and the very first idea, it was not what it is right now. It was— I can't say it was a completely different idea, but it was Definitely not what it is right now. So we played with a lot of ideas. It was a different name, many different names in fact. But then of course we were looking to, we have to get a .com, we have to get a .com. And all the ideas and names that we've had were taken. And I honestly don't remember that moment. I don't know if my co-founder remembers that. She's actually here today. But that moment that we kind of come up with a name, and the name that we don't need to explain to people because I think it's self-explanatory, right? Everybody understands the idea of embassy. But in a founder's embassy, it also makes sense. So I think when we nailed down the name, That was a big stepping stone for us. Even right now, it was like a name. You have nothing, you just have a name. But that was big for us. And also, we started talking to different people and we started doing a lot of research and get feedback from a lot of people, a lot of people that we trust, that had been our mentors, that had been our advisors, that know our work through our different accelerator. Kind of get feedback on the idea and understand, is it something that we're building important? Is it something that we're building doesn't exist? Or maybe if something similar exists, but there is that niche that we can fulfill, right? And that was really important for us to understand, to do that market research, because for me, there's so many amazing startups, and I think every Second, there's like 3 startups are born. So you can understand the competition, but it was really important for us to do something that not just doesn't exist, but it's valuable.
And what about that first leap? So you had jobs that were paying salary, got you a roof over your head. What was the point where you're like, this is our idea, here's what we're going after, we're gonna leave our jobs and go run after this?
Yeah, that was not easy. Especially, I'm sure you're not here the first day, so you kind of got an idea that Bay Area is very expensive to live, right? And so it was very difficult to leave that stable paycheck on the table and be like, okay, let's try, but what if it doesn't work? What are we gonna do? But I think I'm just very thankful for my co-founder because we were in it as a team. We work at the same company, so it's not like, oh, one can leave, but another one can stay, and we kind of do it half-assed. It wasn't gonna work like that. And there were times when we were talking to each other every day, because, I mean, you have your full-time job, but since we're working together, in our mind, we're constantly thinking about Founders Embassy, and Founders Embassy. And about, I would say, 6 to 8 months, we were working part-time. without anybody knowing what Founders Embassy is or what we're doing after work, right? So, but it's actually gonna be an anniversary in October, October 20th of this year, when we left our job last year to do it full-time. 'Cause we've been doing it part-time for a while, but we saw the momentum. We saw that whatever we're building, is needed and the demand is there. And a lot of our advisors were start telling us, if you're not gonna do it, somebody else will do it. And that was kind of a pivotal moment for us to, to kind of decide, okay, let's, let's do it and see if it's not gonna work. Well, at least we can say that we've put 100% in, but it didn't work and we'll do something else. We always were confident that If it never was gonna work, we would do something else and we'd find another job. But it was definitely not easy, and the first couple of months is like, oh my God, why is moving so slow? It's not how we thought it was gonna be. Why companies are not just knocking on our doors? So it wasn't easy, but you just have to give your 100%. Otherwise, it's just not gonna work.
