Founder Friday: The Road Less Traveled with Killian Dunne
Killian’s journey from being an early team member at 82i to a startup founder offers a candid look into the challenges and triumphs of the entrepreneurial world. His story is filled with practical lessons, unexpected opportunities, and the tough decisions that every founder faces. As Killian puts it, “Starting a company isn’t just about having a great idea—it’s about finding the right people, pivoting when needed, and never being afraid to change direction.” Let’s dive into his experiences and the key takeaways he shared during this session.
An Organic Start at 82i
Killian first connected with the 82i team through the On Deck community, a space known for emphasizing a help-first attitude. He soon became an integral part of our team by offering assistance and engaging with others. Killian reflected on this, saying, “I wasn’t planning on getting a job; it just suddenly turned into me working with 82i. It was awesome—I just wanted to be more and more involved.” His experience highlights how opportunities can be found in unexpected places. At 82i, Killian took on various roles, leaning into projects ranging from operations to growth strategy, and even becoming the Notion expert for internal development. As he put it, “[Becoming more involved with 82i] was an organic process, one that wasn’t scheduled but ended up being a fantastic learning experience.” Killian’s adaptability and willingness to get involved underscores the importance of versatility and mindset to a founder’s journey.
Founding a Startup
After a successful tenure with 82i, Killian made a challenging decision: to make the leap from 82i employee to independent founder. He shared: “Leaving 82i was a big decision for me. It wasn’t just a job; it was a learning experience. But I knew if I wanted to be a founder, I had to go all-in.”
Killian’s first step? Joining an accelerator program to help bring his vision to life. Startup accelerators offer a unique mix of structure, support, and connections. Killian joined Entrepreneur First—which he describes as “Love Island for Tech!” Entrepreneur First’s distinctive approach brings together people with various skills and encourages them to team up before focusing on the business concept. This strategy emphasizes the importance of building the right team to support a business idea.
“The easiest way to become a founder is through startup accelerators; they de-risk a lot of things for you,” he mentioned, highlighting how Entrepreneur First helped him navigate those early, uncertain stages. Engaging in this process enabled Killian to explore several startup ideas with the support of an engaged community.
The journey to becoming a founder isn’t straightforward, and for Killian, it involved many conversations, iterations, and even changing paths when things didn’t pan out as planned. Initial Success, Pivots, and Resilience.
Like many startups, Killian’s company went through a few pivots. Initially, they pitched an idea to investors and secured a few customers, but the progress felt slow. “We had a couple of customers, but it was like going uphill,” Killian admitted. Recognizing that pushing forward on a difficult path wasn’t the answer, they made a tough call to pivot and explore a more feasible market fit. “Changing direction wasn’t easy, but it was the right move. We needed to focus on something that had a clearer path to market,” he explained.
Killian’s story also demonstrates that even after securing some initial success, it’s crucial to remain open to change if the current strategy isn’t working. Building a company requires patience and flexibility, and founders must be willing to adapt and pivot based on market conditions and customer feedback.
Finding the Right Co-Founder
One of the standout parts of Killian’s story is the search for the right co-founder, an aspect he became well-acquainted with. He went through several potential partners before finally teaming up with Matthias, whom he met through Entrepreneur First. The pair kept in touch for about a year before realizing they were each looking for a co-founder! “Finding the right co-founder is like finding a life partner…it’s about finding someone who not only has the skills but also shares your vision. ,” shares Killian. The takeaway? Identifying the best partner or cofounder for your business will take time and involve some trial and error, but it’s worth the effort to ensure a strong and lasting partnership.
Fundraising and Building the Company
Securing funding was a significant milestone for Killian’s startup. Killian attributed much of their fundraising success to his co-founder’s network, sharing, that Matthias had scaled a previous company from zero to $2.5 billion. Together, the pair raised $1.2 million in an angel round, bringing on founders and CEOs from companies like Perplexity, Slack, Miro, and Framer in the process. Then, he relocated to San Francisco—”a fantastic place for a startup”—to capitalize on the strength of the tech scene and its numerous opportunities to connect with investors, partners, and fellow founders.
Launching and Going to Market
After several pivots and product development, Killian’s team launched their current product: an autonomous sales representative for websites that helps companies engage visitors, qualify leads, and integrate them into their CRM.
Launching marked an exciting chapter for the team, who immediately began onboarding their first customers. Killian described that week, saying, “The first week was a mix of excitement and nerves. You never really know how the market will respond until you put it out there.” It was a moment of both validation and learning, as they gathered feedback to continue refining their product.
A Founder’s Perspective
Killian’s experiences offer a unique perspective on the pivotal moments that define a founder’s trajectory. Check out his take on some of the biggest milestones in his journey: Making the leap from employee to entrepreneur: “Leaving 82i was a big decision for me. It wasn’t just a job; it was a learning experience. But I knew if I wanted to be a founder, I had to go all-in.”
Startup pivots: “Pivoting was tough. We had customers, but it felt like pushing uphill. Changing direction wasn’t easy, but it was the right move.”
The co-founder search: “Finding the right co-founder is like dating. It’s about finding someone who not only has the skills but also shares your vision.”
The challenge (and thrill) of fundraising: “Securing that $1.2 million angel round was huge. It was more than just money; it was validation from people we respected in the industry.”
The first week of product launch: “The first week was a mix of excitement and nerves. You never really know how the market will respond until you put it out there.”
5 Questions with Killian
1. How did you end up meeting your current co-founder?
- “He’s an advisor at Entrepreneur First and actually advised my friends. We kept in touch for about a year and found out we were both looking for a co-founder. That’s how we paired up.”
2. What was the toughest decision you had to make during the startup process?
- “Honestly, deciding to pivot after our initial launch. We had to let go of our early concept, which wasn’t easy, but we knew we had to make the change to find product-market fit.”
3. How did you navigate the challenges of securing your first customers?
- “It was a lot of trial and error. We learned quickly that building trust is key, and we focused on that in our onboarding process. The excitement of onboarding our first customers was incredible—it felt like validation of all our hard work.”
4. What’s your take on startup accelerators?
- “The easiest way to become a founder is through startup accelerators. They bring together people who are all exceptional in their own way and help you explore different ideas.”
5. Any advice for finding a co-founder?
- “Go through accelerators like Entrepreneur First; they facilitate connections. It’s a trial and error process. Finding the right fit might take time, but it’s worth it to ensure a strong and lasting partnership.”
Conclusion
Killian’s story from a team member at 82i to a startup founder offers valuable takeaways for anyone in the entrepreneurial space. His journey shows the power of saying “yes” to opportunities, the importance of being adaptable, the value of finding the right co-founder, and the realities of raising funds and launching a product. Every founder’s path is different, but lessons like these can guide others who are looking to make their own mark in the startup world.
What’s your experience with starting a company or finding a co-founder? We’d love to hear your stories and thoughts.
Meet Killian
Killian is a mathematician turned entrepreneur who builds cutting-edge technology that transforms how we interact with software products. After studying at Edinburgh and Berkeley, he joined Ark as their #2 employee, leading the engineering build through the proptech’s growth from 23 to 1000+ homes. Later, as CTO at Homeland, he built complex tools like VOIP, CRM, chat widgets, and co-browsing/task routing solutions that help remote agents provide on-demand, pay-as-you-use customer service for hotels. Killian is hard at work building his own company. Follow him on LinkedIn and be the first to know when it launches!
About Founder Fridays
Founder Fridays is an innovative presentation series designed by and for 82i’s internal team. Every month, we invite a successful founder to share their unique story and perspective with our team. These rich, candid conversations allow our team to learn valuable insights about the founder’s journey from the founders themselves. By sharing these stories more widely through articles like this one, we extend the value of Founder Fridays beyond our internal team to the broader community of entrepreneurs and founders.
If you’re a founder with an interesting story to tell or want to learn more about participating in our Founder Fridays series, please reach out to us!