Entrepreneur

3 Founders With Booming Businesses Share Stories About Their Difficult Early Days

Everyone struggles. You're not alone.
Source: Getty Images/Max Illy / EyeEm

Three entrepreneurs look back on the early days of their now-booming businesses.

Moblize

“I almost pulled the plug on my business.”

Growth hacker status: Growing despite its customer base in the oil and gas industry cratering by 26 percent.

Amit Mehta was living on pennies. In 2005, after pouring his into launching his Houston-based startup, , which provides analytics to the oil and gas industry, Mehta had $3.13 in the bank and not a single contract for his business. He’d spent the past 13 months living in a shelter that was potential clients in between free meals. “They thought I was crazy,” Mehta says of the shelter staff and residents. “They were like, ‘You’re educated! You studied at Cambridge! Go get a job!’”

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