Every client invoice is a small investment in our product
We've had investors since day one. They just never asked for equity. How 300 € and client invoices paid for every product we've built.
Leer más →Money I don't need is money I can wait with
I talk a lot about patient money in the company. It took me longer to see that the same idea applies to my own money, and that the patience isn't in the money. It's in not needing it.
Money has a mood.
The money you need is nervous. The money you don't need is calm.
Same euros. Completely different personality.
Patient money starts at home
I talk about patient money a lot when it comes to Foxnice. Client money doesn't have a deadline. Investor money arrives with a clock attached. A funding round doesn't buy you time. It sets a timer.
What took me longer to notice is that the same thing happens with my own money.
When I started, there wasn't any. 300 € to start a company and no one to ask for more. No business owners in the family, no contacts, no cushion. In that situation every euro is nervous, because every euro is already spoken for.
Nervous money makes bad decisions. It takes the first client who says yes. It accepts the discount. It says "we'll include it" at midnight. Not because those are good ideas, but because it can't afford to wait for a better one.
The patience isn't in the money. It's in not needing it.
What waiting buys you
Over the years, slowly, some of the money stopped being needed. Not a lot. Enough to change its mood.
And that changed how I make decisions in the company too. When I don't need a specific client, I can say no to the wrong one. When I don't need a specific month to go well, I can let a product take the time it takes.
I think that's the real return on not spending everything. Not interest. Options.
A small company without investors lives or dies by that. If the founders need every euro the company makes, the company can never wait for anything. It will always be in a hurry, and hurry is a terrible negotiator.
Only what I understand
I'm not going to tell you what to do with your money. I'm not qualified, and I don't want to be that guy.
I can only tell you what I do. I put it into things I understand. Mostly property, because a building is something I can walk around, look at and, ideally, not be fooled by.
Ideally.
In 2022 I bought commercial premises that turned out to have hidden defects. So "things I understand" is a goal, not a guarantee. Even the things you can touch can surprise you.
But I'd still rather be surprised by something I chose with my eyes open than by something I never understood in the first place. At least I know which questions I forgot to ask.
The quiet advantage
None of this is glamorous. There's no screenshot of a portfolio, no "how I made X in Y months". Just money that sits there, not being needed, doing its one job: letting me wait.
And waiting, for someone who runs a small company, is a superpower. It's what lets you build products slowly. Choose clients carefully. Say no to investors without drama.
Money you need tells you what to do.
Money you don't need lets you decide.