We've made the hard decision to close Around. To our customers, investors, team, and community—our deepest GRATITUDE.
This was not an easy choice, but one we felt was the only responsible course of action given the challenges we faced. While the journey had its struggles, it was also filled with incredible milestones and meaningful impact—moments we're deeply proud to reflect on as we move forward.
Throughout our journey, hundreds of innovative companies and inspiring founders worked from Around spaces. We built Around to help companies grow faster and felt honored to learn from their challenges as they scaled. As we close this chapter, we want to share some of the key lessons we've learned along the way, in the hope they can guide and inspire others building their ventures.
As a founder, your most valuable resource is your time. If you decide to pivot, go all in—holding onto the old model, even if it generates revenue, will drain your energy and distract you from building what's needed for the next phase of your company. Once you decide to pivot, question everything: Is your current team the right fit? Are your channels still effective? Where should you focus your time, and what should you stop doing? A successful pivot means fully letting go of the old and reshaping your approach to achieve your vision.
We were incredibly fortunate to work with amazing people and are forever grateful to those who joined our mission. Keeping your team lean for as long as possible is key to staying agile and focused. Before bringing someone new on board, ask yourself: Can I clearly define the next three months of objectives for this role? If not, it's worth waiting. A lean team isn't just about saving resources—it's about maintaining clarity, motivation, and alignment as you work toward your vision.
Make sure you have enough resources to cross the chasm to broader market adoption. For us, broader adoption meant moving beyond startups on the demand side and creating a supply-side model that no longer relied on incentives. Crossing the chasm isn't just about survival—it's about building a self-sustaining business that only requires outside capital to scale. Market conditions will test everything: your team, customers, suppliers, and investors. Define what "crossing the chasm" means for your business early on and ensure you have the resources to get there.
Be realistic about your marketplace dynamics. Does supply and demand already exist and just need connecting? Is one side missing and needs to be built? Or do both sides need creating from scratch? These scenarios dramatically affect the time, effort, and resources required to achieve liquidity. If you can outsource one side of the marketplace, you'll gain critical focus early on. If not, be deliberate with your strategy, as building both sides demands intense execution.
In complex industries and geographies (like Commercial Real Estate in LatAm), building the right infrastructure is essential for long-term success. This requires a deep understanding of your industry's status quo and what it will take to disrupt it. At times, it may feel like running multiple startups simultaneously—but that's the reality of creating a strong foundation. Acknowledge this early, align your stakeholders, and stay patient. The effort is significant, but it will pay off in the end.
We’re deeply grateful to our customers, investors, team, and community for believing in us every step of the way. Your belief in us carried us through every challenge. While we didn’t reach our ultimate goal, we’re forever thankful for your support and proud of what we built together.
Around was built on a simple belief: more founders should take on tough challenges and create change in their industries. While our journey ends here, we still believe in that mission. To the entrepreneurs shaping the future, our advice is this: don't shy away from hard problems. Take the risks, make the mistakes, and embrace the learning. Success isn't always about winning—it's about growing and building the experience to try again, better than before.
We'll be back. See you around!
Gerry, Martin & Tino