I lost $30,000 on my first business. Two years later, I built a business worth over $9 million — these are the lessons I learned.

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
Close up portrait of hand holding cash in front of a female office worker isolated.
Michelle Hu says shutting things down when they're not working is key to a successful business.

DeanDrobot/Getty Images

After 3 tech layoffs, I knew I had to lean into being a founder

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Kelly Withers
Kelly Withers

Courtesy of Kelly Withers

I founded a company while on maternity leave. In 2022, I hired my husband, and last year, we did more than $4.8 million in revenue.

Tech Insider : Business
Carinne Meyrignac with her husband and two children.
Carinne Meyrignac founded her company while on maternity leave.

Courtesy of Carinne Meyrignac

I felt pure happiness when I was laid off from Microsoft after 14 years. It was the green light I needed to start my own business.

Tech Insider : Business
headshot of a woman in a black shirt and blue blazer
Tatiana Teppoeva.

Courtesy of Tatiana Teppoeva

After my double mastectomy, I turned my side hustle into a full-time business. We did $60,000 in one month.

Tech Insider : Business
Bette Bentley holding a box of Skimpies against a pink background.
Bette Bentley went all-in on Skimpies from her hospital bed after her double mastectomy.

Skimpies

An entrepreneur who leveraged books to build a 6-figure window cleaning business shares the hack that pushes him to finish a book a month

Tech Insider : Business
kyle ray
Ray, circa 2014, when his side hustle started gaining serious traction.

Courtesy of Kyle Ray

My sister and I were raised to be entrepreneurs and started a business together. We keep each other's egos in check.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
Bobby and Brianna Bitton
Bobby and Brianna Bitton are siblings and cofounders of women's health brand O Positiv.

Photo credit: O Positiv

'Shark Tank' casting director reveals her key rules for making a pitch stand out after watching 250,000 entrepreneurs try

Tech Insider : Business
Shark Tank casting director Mindy Zemrak at the Clover x Shark Tank Summit at The Venetian in Las Vegas on Monday.
Mindy Zemrak said the perfect Shark Tank pitch isn't about money but about clarity, passion, storytelling, and showing the "it" factor that makes investors believe in you.

Clover

I quit my six-figure Big Tech job to start a business and earned back my income 2 years later. Here's what I wish I'd known sooner.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Woman standing in a desert wearing a red dress.
Entrepreneur Aliena Cai said she learned from four business mistakes that cost her time, money, and energy.

Photo courtesy of Aliena Cai

I quit my finance job and built a cereal brand from my kitchen. Now we're sold in grocery stores across the country.

Tech Insider : Business
Krishna Kaliannan smiles as he holds a pack of Catalina Crunch

Photo courtesy of Krishna Kaliannan

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