Cellbreaker

Jules Hill was born in England, grew up in Mexico, and came to the US for college. After graduating early from Ackerman Flagler Business School and serving in the USMC Reserve, he was interning at a startup incubator in Durham, North Carolina when Cellbreaker came through the program. This early exposure during his final semester of undergrad sparked his interest in the company.

When Jules graduated, Cellbreaker had raised about $50K. He made the decision to join full-time as a co-founder and COO, despite lucrative offers from consulting firms and Wall Street companies paying $80-100K+. Instead, Jules accepted a $20,000 annual salary with 6% equity and the promise of more equity and salary increases based on hitting milestones. To survive on this salary while paying for a house he'd just purchased, Jules diversified his income: he earned about $600/month from renting out a room in his house, made $200-1,000/month doing freelance graphic design and web work on E-Lance, and supplemented income through his work as a Marine Corps reservist (about 4 days per month plus summer training and additional volunteer duties).

The company hit a major milestone by getting accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator program in California, which came with a $100K investment. At this point, Jules negotiated to trade some of his salary increase for additional equity, specifically to maximize their ability to deploy the accelerator capital into the business.

While the 500 Startups acceptance was a win, the company began experiencing growth slowdown—not due to product-market fit issues, but due to legal entanglements. Jules explained that they were in discussions with cell phone carriers, potential M&A partners, and investors, which forced the company to hold back on certain initiatives. Legal teams from major companies wanted to review deals, which created bottlenecks. For Jules, who thrived on fast-paced growth and execution, this was frustrating. He didn't blame the company; rather, he realized that the venture/acquisition negotiation phase wasn't the part of entrepreneurship that excited him.

After about 2 years with Cellbreaker, Jules decided to leave and join Windsor Circle, a Durham-based venture-backed startup helping retailers grow customer lifetime value and retention. He started as the company's first Analytics Manager when it was around 70-75 employees. Though still early in the role, Jules negotiated for equity and a significantly higher salary than his Cellbreaker days. He retained roughly 1% of Cellbreaker equity on a 4-year vesting schedule with a 1-year cliff, and remains optimistic about the company's potential despite his departure.