What rapid, enviable growth actually costs with Colin McIntosh, founder of Sheets and Giggles

Colin McIntosh started Sheets and Giggles in 2017 and scaled it to $1.4 million per month by 2020. Last November, after eight years of building through COVID, supply chain crises, and a 2025 tariff shock that killed his first acquisition deal three days after Liberation Day, he sold the company.I couldn’t wait to talk to Colin. I came with pen and paper in hand poised to document his meteoric rise. I had to know how he did it so I could replicate it. But in our conversation, he tells me why he wouldn't build it the same way again.Colin is incredibly honest about the cost of scaling at that speed and right now, he’s a founder in recovery mode. I loved being able to pick his brain on all the mistakes he made, lessons he learned, and triumphs along the way. We talk about what strategic category selection looks like in practice, the three barriers that block new businesses (capital, complexity, risk), and why personal domain expertise is the only durable advantage in an AI era where the tools are commodity.But what I can’t stop thinking about is his perspective on why entrepreneurs don’t get enough empathy and the structural challenges to starting a business in America today. It felt like we were both realizing at the same time that the best thing you can do as an early stage founder today is build a brand that’s like yourself. One that comes from a passion, a mission to help others that only you're equipped to serve.So if you’re an early stage founder who doesn’t want to hear the raw truth of building, then keep scrolling. But the real ones know, entrepreneurship isn’t always glamorous.Connect with Colin:SheetsGiggles.com - my first company that we talked about a lot, sustainable beddingSheetsResume.com - AI Resume Builder and Job Search PlatformColinDMcIntosh.com - where people can go to learn more about meDive into ⁠The Well on Substack⁠! Buy me a matcha!playlist of what founders are listening to