16: Friends, Family and Startups with Robert Sweeney
- Author
- Kevin S Lin
- Published
- Mon 06 May 2019
- Episode Link
- https://folkstories.org/16
Robert Sweeney is CEO of Facet, the premier platform for hiring senior contract software engineers.
Before becoming a founder, Robert was a senior software engineer himself at companies such as Netflix and Microsoft. Robert knew from an early age that he wanted to be an entrepreneur from working at his grandpa's grocery shop. Robert left Netflix with a friend to start a software development studio with an initial verbal contract from Western Digital.
In 2014, Robert founded Numetric, a SaaS based analytics startup. After working on the company for close to four years, hiring over 40 employees, and raising over $16 million in venture capital, Robert was fired from the very company that he founded.
Today, Robert is working full time on Facet and helping other engineers make the leap from full-time work to doing their own thing.
In today's episode, we talk about negotiating contracts, hiring and firing friends, and that time Robert's house almost burned down.
Quote
We had to make the decision that day… That didn't give us enough time to sign the contract. So we quit our jobs on a verbal yes.
– Robert Sweeney
Closing
- inspiration
- being fired from my startup - changed my perspective on startups and venture capital and also provide extra motivation
- surprising
- deal with anxiety
- principal
- complete transparency
- anything else
- successful entrepreneurs out there don't have anything that you don't have
Notes
- working at grandpa's grocery store
- early years at Microsoft and Netflix
- first startup and quiting Netflix on a verbal agreement
- working with western digital and communicating expectations
- hiring and firing friends
- that time when the house almost burned down
- keeping a family together while doing a startup
- Numetric, working with family, and getting fired from a company that you founded
- facet, how it came to be and where its going
Links
These shownotes are also available at http://folkstories.org/16
