In order to grasp my elatement when I got off a Skype call with Helen and Karien you need to first read about our <ahref="../fundraising/">road to fundraising</a>.
It was just a week prior when I got an email from Karien that I wouldn't receive a fellowship from the Shuttleworth Foundation.
> With a limited number of spots available, unfortunately we will not be offering you a Fellowship this round.
I was more than disappointed; the Shuttleworth Foundation was our hail mary. By this point I was running out of money and options. It had been over a year since I received a paycheck. Patrick and I still believed in OpenPhoto but we had failed to find a way to bring it to fruition.
That weekend I went to Austin, TX for my cousin's bachelor party. One of the worst parts of doing a start-up is when others ask how it's going and you're having a particularly bad day.
I returned home from the bachelor party on Sunday and received an email from Karien on Monday, July 31.
> Hi Jaisen,
>
> Upon reflection we would like to have another conversation about a possible fellowship.
Talk about a roller coaster. I quickly replied that I could chat on Tuesday.
It was a 20 minute call with Helen and Karien that changed everything. For the first time in 15 months I was looking at a personal credit card bill that was larger than the balance of our bank account. Rachel and I were literally out of money after surviving off our savings and liquidating everything except our retirement accounts. And just like that we saw the promise land.
We had received funding. Nothing else mattered.
I called Patrick immediately after getting this news and we were speachless.
What followed were 2 years of being a Shuttleworth Fellow and finishing what we started in June, 2011.