I just shut down my first startup. Here’s my retro.
<p>Three years ago, when I founded ShelfLife, odds were I’d be writing this post about shutting down. The greater majority of startups fail. Although the definition of failure is up for debate, <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/05/why-start-ups-fail" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">more than two-thirds of startups don’t deliver a positive return to investors<em>.</em></a></p>
<p>Couple this with the fact that in 2022, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/06/black-founders-still-raised-just-1-of-all-vc-funds-in-2022/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">just 1% of venture capital went to Black founders</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/12/13/look-past-todays-metrics-to-celebrate-the-growth-of-female-founders/?sh=4bd4995e73f3" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">less than 2% went to all-female founding teams</a>. And Black female founders raised…er, let’s not even go there.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@lilliancartwright/i-just-shut-down-my-first-startup-heres-my-retro-7a8a529b4ee4"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>