This is what 3 years inside of a startup looks like

In 2017, after spending a fair amount of years in the corporate world as a software engineer, I found myself slowly venturing away from the office more and more, looking for that next big challenge in life.

What began as small freelance gigs turned into larger consulting projects with bigger firms. This eventually lead to a web agency that I co-ran with friends and co-workers. But there was still something missing.

I don’t think that anyone ever really plans on starting or joining a startup ahead of time. It sort of just happens sometimes based on the people that you meet, the ideas that you have and where you find yourself in life at that particular moment.

My startup journey began when we answered the call of a local entrepreneur looking for a team to build his second startup. A simple request on a Craigslist ad.

We decided to meet on a Monday to go over details. We heard the idea, and agreed that we were the team to build it. Though at this stage, we were the team to build anything really. We needed the clients to continue with our side hustle.

But also, it genuinely sounded like a really good idea. I liked building architecture and custom software, and this was as custom as you could get.

“I want an AirBnB like…