Every company runs into obstacles. My company, Zango Inc., has encountered more than most. One minute we’re down, a dot-com crash victim; the next we’re up, augmenting our employee base 200 percent. Then we’re down again, the subject of a government investigation; then we’re back up, named as one of America’s Top 100 private media companies by AlwaysOn Media. Being at the helm of such a topsy-turvy company has taught me many valuable lessons, some of which I’ll share here.

In June 1999, I founded Zango (as 180solutions) with four partners. The five of us have been together since, demonstrating Lesson No. 1: Choose your partners wisely, since they will likely be closer to you than family. When we closed a $1 million investment in April 2000, we patted ourselves on the backs, issued congratulations, and bolstered the company to 20 full-time employees, wholly unaware of the Internet crash ahead that would nearly wipe us out.

By June 2001, postcrash, we had run out of cash and were forced to lay off all our employees. We were back to where we began and fell behind on payments, beginning every work day convincing vendors to give us time, to have more patience.

It would have been very easy to give up, and thousands of other Internet companies were doing exactly that at the time. Indeed, it would have been smart. Instead, we doggedly pursued our vision, which brings me to Lesson No. 2: Never give up on an idea you truly believe in.

By February 2002, we discovered a winning formula: By partnering with software and content publishers for whose products consumers were willing to view timeshifted ads, we earned enough profits to supply our partners with a healthy revenue stream, with margin left over to fund our corporate growth and enjoy positive cash flow. Revenue exploded, growing from $2 million to over $50 million by 2004.

We began growing again and adhered to stringent hiring practices, on average interviewing potential employees a dozen times. Such an investment may seem like a waste, but consider the cost of an employee who doesn’t work out, for both parties. Lesson No. 3: Be picky and only hire the very best.

While we’ve made a lot of mistakes, one thing we did right from the beginning was to not only allow, but actually require, our employees to own our corporate culture. Every new employee hears the same speech, which goes something like this: We all have our core job here, but in addition, we all have a responsibility to try and make this a better place to work. It isn’t just a right, it’s a responsibility. Lesson No. 4: Give control of the corporate culture to your employees.

By early 2004, we had our pick of investors. When we received $40 million in private equity funding, the largest Series A in Washington state history, making us media darlings. Since we were reluctant to cede too much company equity, the investment involved a debt offering. The good: We were able to preserve ownership for employees and founders and ultimately lowered the interest rate by refinancing the debt with a consortium of banks. The bad: When we hit tough times, we were beholden to covenants that restricted our freedom to operate as we thought best.

Debt as a companion to equity financing has proven highly beneficial, but experience demonstrates it should be used in moderation so that it doesn’t limit operational flexibility. Lesson No. 5: Be aware of the pros and cons of every financial option available.