Did you have the self-awareness at the time to realize that what you were building is something DHH would be proud of, or was that only in retrospect? I'm asking these questions, because I struggle with listening to outside advice vs listening to my gut, and Ive been trying to strike a balance as of late.

This always confuses me: sure, you needn't have gone through VC funding, but how far could you have taken the company without it? What would have the alternative been?