Welcome to Founder Brew, the latest publication from the Morning Brew Inc. team. We’re here to help entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, co-founders, side-hustlers, and anyone else trying to figure out how to make a living on their own terms.

In 2023, the most recent year available from the US Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, there were 36.4 million businesses in the US, with the vast majority—82%, or 30 million—classified as nonemployer businesses. In March of this year, 491,941 businesses filed for an employer identification number, or EIN, according to seasonally adjusted Census data from last month.

Given the 2020 Census count of 331 million Americans, it feels safe to estimate that less than 11% of the population is a current company founder.

If that percentage includes you—or if you aspire to join that cohort—you’re in the right place. We understand that founding a company is personal. We want to be your resource for helpful, trustworthy information about starting an endeavor. For founders going it alone, we’re here to help you operate, not isolate. For founders with partners or employees, we’re here to listen to all the things you can’t share with the people who rely on you for their paychecks. You may be working individually, but you’re not alone.

Every company journey is different, but founders tend to travel through similar peaks and valleys that only their peers can understand. We’ll be sharing stories from founders who have been through it all and lived to tell their tale. We want to connect you with lessons from founders who have gone through dilemmas like the ones you’re facing and who can share their tips, tricks, and traps.

Whether you’re officially founding your startup, self-funding your family business, or simply finding your way, Founder Brew is for you.

We can’t wait to work together.—MM

Pricing decisions can make or break a startup. For Sarah Hum and her co-founder Andrew Rasmussen, those decisions don’t always stop at 5pm. Hum met Rasmussen in 2013 at Facebook (now Meta), where she was a product design intern and he was a software engineer.

The two “hit it off,” says Hum, and also quickly learned that they were good partners in product building. In 2017, they launched Canny, a feedback management platform for product managers.

At Canny, there’s no pricing expert in the room. Decisions come down to trade-offs, discussion, and, at times, disagreement. Hum has a philosophy for moments like these: disagree and commit.

“Even if we disagree, I can say, ‘I don’t fully agree with this because of this reason, but I’m willing to try it.’ And that’s the committing part,” she says.

Hum’s mornings start with a walk around her Seattle neighborhood with their dog, Emmy. By the time she returns home, Rasmussen is already on calls in his office on the third floor.

Read more.—JH

Avoca, the AI call center startup focused on home services founded by Tyson Chen and Apurva Shrivastava, raised over $125 million in seed, Series A, and Series B funding over the last few years from investors including Meritech, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, and Y Combinator. (Fortune)

VC firm Founders Fund has reportedly raised a whopping $6 billion for its latest fund, which will be aimed at funding later-stage companies. (Bloomberg)

UK-based Dex, an AI-powered recruiting startup, raised $5.3 million in seed funding. (Fortune)