My favorite part of being an entrepreneur is being in a position of autonomy. For someone who’s overflowing with passion, creativity, and has high conviction in themselves, there’s no better feeling than being able to work with total freedom. Being an entrepreneur provides me with that. The most challenging part for me is needing to spread my time across many things at once, which comes from being a small team. Learning to juggle multiple projects simultaneously continues to be a big learning curve for me. The most exciting moment? Seeing a picture of Tiger Woods using our product was probably the most surreal moment. I’m a golf nut and grew up watching him, so seeing that happen was a dream come true. What Was The Fundraising Process Like For You? Tell Us About Your Investors And How You Use The Funds You’ve Raised. Raising our pre-seed was a wild ride. We started raising in summer of 2021 when we were ready to move forward with our new manufacturer on Luma 1.0 development. All we needed was capital. I remember being so naïve going into that first round. I’d never raised capital before, but I had a background in startup financing and I figured it’d be something I’d excel in, or at least get the hang of quickly. It was a stressful time. We were young, first time founders starting a consumer goods company in an extremely saturated market, and we didn’t have a launch-ready product yet. Heck, we didn’t even have a finished website up at the time. Needless to say, it didn’t go as easy as planned. We were just too early for most investors to give us the time of day, and we didn’t have extensive friends & family networks to lean on.In August, we closed our first investment from a solo angel. Over the course of the next 8 or 9 months, we pieced together a pre-seed of roughly $250k from angels and one small fund, all of whom were investing in the passion, scrappiness, and resilience we had as entrepreneurs. Looking back, I’m really grateful for what we went through. Raising that first round was one of most important stages of my growth as an entrepreneur, and we’re a much better company today because of it. Who Are Your Co-Founders Or People Who You Work Very Closely With? How Do Their Skills Supplement Yours?My co-founder, Willy, is one awesome dude. I think we have a really unique relationship because we’re so much alike in some ways and opposites in others, on both a personal and professional level. The thing I appreciate most about Willy is his commitment. It takes a very resilient, determined person to persevere through all the ups and downs of building a company, and for me to have that in Willy is something I’m extra grateful for.What Is One Thing About Building A Business You Did Not Know That You’ve Learned So Far Since Launching Luma?That things never go exactly as planned, and because that’s the case, there’s a fine line between adequate planning and over-planning. This has been a big learning curve for me. The more experience I’ve gained as an entrepreneur, the more I’ve learned that it’s nearly impossible to predict exactly how or when certain things will go. Embracing this more and more over time has had a huge impact on how we go about company planning. Our roadmap, strategy, and us as entrepreneurs need to be flexible. Fortunately, this is something my co-founder and I are both inherently good at it. Have Recent Supply Chain Issues Impacted Your Launch And Overall Product Development? Can You Share A Bit About Your Manufacturing Process?