⚡️ Founder Diaries Vol 1 Ch 4: Yael Shemer, Co-Founder of TULU - From $2 in Her Bank Account to Closing One of the World's Largest Retailers

We celebrate the unfiltered BTS stories of today’s founders - from their highest highs to the lowest lows and how they powered through it all… or didn’t.

😊 Welcome to Volume 1 Chapter 4 of Founder Diaries. Now, Why Founder Diaries?

In an era where founders’ lives are glamorized and their stories are romanticized narratives of seemingly endless success, the behind-the-scenes reality of the highs and lows of being a founder often don’t come to light.

Alongside the startup with a high valuation is the string of risky decisions, maxed-out credit cards, and grueling late-night chats.

Alongside each polished story, there are real challenges, unsung heroes, and unique highs & lows that make every second of the founder's journey worth it. Or maybe not? We will let you decide.

These are the true, unfiltered short stories behind the founders of today. Enjoy :)

👋 Introducing Yael Shemer, Co-Founder of TULU - From $2 in Her Bank Account to Closing One of the World's Largest Retailers

Yael went from losing one of her biggest commercial deals to raising a $24M Series A round.

TULU helps people rent the things they need instead of buying them. Its in-building smart platform provides tenants with on-demand access to the day-to-day things they need: home essentials, printers, scooters, and much more.

My co-founder and I met at OGS, the DesignX MIT fellowship, through our shared passion for innovating buildings. As millennials living in small apartments, we observed how many people have similar needs, but extensive underutilized space. My background in environmental science started my mind turning around the idea of consumption while my co-founder had an architecture background. This ultimately sparked our idea - enabling people to share household items and get access on-demand.

Today, we've built a physical and digital platform for sharing items like vacuum cleaners, scooters, power tools, and more in residential, student housing, hotels, and office buildings. There's also a shop component to buy snacks and essentials without leaving your building!

In the early days, when I was living in Tel Aviv, my co-founder and I got a small grant from our accelerator program to build our pilot product. Instead of paying ourselves a salary, we allocated the entire grant to building the product since we believed in our idea so deeply. So, as many startup founders do, I moved back home with my parents which allowed me to fully focus on building TULU.

At the time, my parents kept referring to what I was doing as "volunteering" and saying I was working for free, even though I was building a real business.

To get by, I lived very minimally, didn't splurge on anything, and worked all day. I remember multiple times seeing my bank account drop down to $2. When the company finally got its first investment, there was a stark difference between my finances and the company's - it was jarring. I can’t tell you how relieving it was to see my salary stream into my bank account - no longer needing to stare at the dreaded $2 left sitting there.

For new founders, I'd advise taking a salary faster instead of waiting and risking personal financial stress like I did. What you’ll realize is that the founders of a business need to be taken care of before you can focus on building a successful business.

One of my highest emotional highs came when we finally hosted an in-person launch event after months of COVID-19 restrictions limiting physical gatherings. We threw a launch party at Sky, a 1,200-unit building we'd been operating in for almost a year without residents being able to meet us in person. 350 people came. I was honestly overwhelmed, it was incredible to see the community we'd built around our service. People were so incredibly excited to connect face-to-face that it made me realize in that moment, we were facilitating something much larger than just a utility product.

Image credit: TULU. A TULU Unit in Brooklyn, NYC. 

The lowest point came soon after. We had been piloting with a major manufacturer for months, pouring hours of work into impressing them.

I left our final meeting certain they'd want a commercial deal, but instead, they said no due to internal difficulties. I tried negotiating, but they held firm.

I left the office to get a coffee and fresh air - I felt an urge to call home to my parents, even though I never talked to them about work. I was so used to doing things on my own. 

At first, it felt strange even sharing this with my parents. They tried to problem-solve, but I stopped them and told them that I just needed to feel upset. They ended up being really supportive, which was the nicest thing about that entire experience: it was a rare moment where I was able to talk to them about my hardships.

Everything truly happens for a reason because three months later, that client came around and we now work together! The important thing is to learn quickly and not give up, make room for being upset, but be comfortable with moving forward.

Our Series A was the highest high for us. Scaling our vision required more capital than we ever expected. It was thrilling getting our first lead investor on board and validating our ambitious plans. On the client side, we recently signed a 3-year upfront contract that was one of our largest checks ever. Seeing the sales translate to real money felt like a massive accomplishment.

One of the craziest stories I have while working on TULU was when we were working on a partnership with one of the world's largest retailers.

Their CEO was speaking at a conference I was attending. I awkwardly tried to intercept him, but he was completely surrounded. I thought I had lost hope. But, as I was walking through the crowds, out of the corner of my eye I saw him alone! I didn’t even think. I immediately seized the moment to say hello and after a 20 minutes chat, he gave me his email and said to contact him. A few days later, I got an email back: he greenlit our partnership.

Looking back, I wish I had focused earlier on playing to my natural strengths and interests instead of stubbornly trying to improve at things that didn't come naturally to me like data analysis.

Now I finally feel like I'm in my zone of genius - working closely with customers and partners.

When you're genuinely interested in something, you learn faster and more sticks. Now I know more about what our developers, product team, and data team do because I engage with them casually instead of stressing myself to master hard skills just because I should.

I used to take every failure in our metrics personally. After repeatedly feeling crushed every quarter we didn't hit goals, I was forced to evolve my mindset to not view missed targets as a personal failure. I've learned to openly discuss struggles rather than waiting to share defeats. ‘No's; are part of the business. The goal is to quickly move on to the next 'yes.'

Another challenge I had in those early intense days was prioritizing friends like I once did. I was surprised that many people were understanding about me not checking in as much and didn't take it personally.

This showed me who my true friends are - the ones who realized I wasn't being selfish but was just focused on building something meaningful.

While startup life required sacrifices, I knew I eventually wanted to reprioritize relationships and invest more time in the people close to me. When I turned 30 last year, I asked myself what truly mattered to me. I knew I cared more about what my team thinks than arbitrary people I don’t know on social media. I asked myself what would investing in a friendship look like and sometimes it can be a small thing like a weekly check-in.

This journey has taught me how exhilarating the highs and how terrifying the lows can be when you deeply care about your mission. The community we've built makes the difficult founder journey an honor to be on and I’ll keep persisting.

-Yael Shemer

Learn more about Yael Shemer and TULU below:

Yael Shemer: LinkedIn | Instagram

TULU: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

If you know someone with a unique founder story who would like to share their BTS journey of founder life - the highest highs and the lowest lows - please feel free to refer them at diariesfounder@gmail.com.

— Michelle Kwok & Christine Lu Hong (The Founder Diaries Team)