Why Cyrius Failed
How I crashed my first start-up in four years
TL;DR
- Year 1: Launched our cybersecurity startup in 2021, while still at school and using no-code tools.
- Year 2: Secured our first major contract (150k€) and hired a CTO.
- Year 2: Reached 20k€ MRR and raised 700k€.
- Year 3: Expanded to 10 team members and faced organisational issues, tough competition and difficulties to sell.
- Year 4: Eventually had to let the team go and try to pivot for 6 months.
- Burnt out, unsuccessfully attempted to sell the company, shut it down.
Cyrius is the company I launched at 23 while still in business school. We were selling cybersecurity training software for employees. It has been an outstanding journey: we signed clients from day one (and 50 overall), raised a pre-seed round, and assembled a stellar team of ten. After four years, we are shutting down the company.
I wish I could write a celebration article about how I achieved X million ARR or raised an X million round. Entrepreneurship is often celebrated through stories of success and triumph. However, not all journeys end in victory.
It is easy to share a story when you are the hero.
In a world where everyone brags about their feats on social media, I believe it's important to show that failure is a common part of the entrepreneurial journey. If my story can help even one aspiring entrepreneur avoid the pitfalls I encountered, it will have been worth sharing.
I want to share a different kind of story - one of ambition, hard work, and, ultimately, failure. I hope to shed light on the realities of entrepreneurship, including the mistakes I made and the lessons I learned. Above all, I want to keep track of my own growth, both as an entrepreneur and as a human.
Here are the tales of Cyrius.
Chapter I: Getting 4,000€ checks from day 1 with a no-code product
- Spotting the cybersecurity gap
- Building the first version of the product
- A first business opportunity
- Hustling for early customers
- Transitioning from students to full-time entrepreneurs
2021 journal entries: What I learned from taking my dreams seriously
Chapter II: Closing a €150,000 deal & becoming a real tech company
- Opportunities and limits of no code
- Prioritizing features
- Beginning of the marketing
- The first enterprise deal
- Hiring a CTO
2021 journal entries: Learnings from twelve months of trying to launch a startup
Chapter III: Reaching 20k€ MRR & raising 700k€
- The first full-time employee
- Gaining traction & visibility
- Our first salary
- The funding roadshow hell
- An updated vision
Chapter IV: Scaling to 10 people
- Finally new employees
- Driving a racing car
- Investing in inbound marketing
- Back to traditional outbound sales
Chapter V: Pivoting 4 times in 6 months
- A product not differentiated enough
- Leaving the team behind
- Why not stop?
- Back to square one
- Two people with cash in the bank
Epilogue: How to shut down a company: Finding acquirers & dealing with debt
- Trying to sell
- Discontinuing a company when you have debts
- Was it worth it?
Curious about what Cyrius looked like? You'll find a 5-minute demo there (in French, sorry 🥐).