What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I wish I had felt more comfortable in using my voice externally. I was terrified of my imperfections. I was awkward, and I didn’t want that on display. Once I understood, about two years ago, that my voice could impact those around me positively, I finally got the courage to speak.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Your own time and energy is the most precious resource you have. Use it wisely, and learn what gives you energy, and what saps you. In the early years of building something, you need to throw a huge amount of time at it - and do many things you perhaps don’t like doing. But as you scale, it’s vital to take a step back and build a business that can grow rapidly beyond the time you put into it.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
Literally that it's going to take 10 years to build a truly successful business! When we started we thought we were ‘in it’ for 2-3 years and then would be able to retire by the pool. Overnight success is a myth.
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What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?
After graduating, I worked for an extremely well-paying automotive company. But I always had the feeling that there was more out there. So I quit and went into research with the aim of becoming a founder.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
There are no overnight miracles, it's very hard work: both physically and emotionally. Requires resilience, grit, strategic approach and grind.
What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values is experimentation. Rather than get stuck in arguing about what solution may best solve a problem or play to our ego, we focus on the smallest step we could possibly take to learn whether that’s true. It moves our minds away from thinking too big without sweating the small stuff and from getting stuck in discussions rather than actually doing something to understand the possible solutions better.