What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Be passionate about your venture, but avoid becoming overly attached to it. Otherwise, you might be the reason your growth and the growth of the venture stalls.
What personal habit or behavior helped you accelerate your personal growth?
Meditation and reflection. As a founder you live mostly in the future, but life happens now in this moment.
What do you do to maintain balance in your life?
Curiosity often starts when you're bored. Make space for boredom.
What can we do to create a great workplace for our colleagues?
I strive to create a safe space for people and a dangerous space for ideas. Everyone should feel that they can express their ideas and suggestions to anyone, regardless of position. Every idea, no matter its origin, should be challenged, iterated, and refined.
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What's the biggest insight you learned in recent years?
It’s always a good idea to be connected to your product – even if you have to deal with high-level topics, always remember the things you offer.
What personal habit helped you accelerate your personal growth?
In one of the hardest times of my life so far, I started journaling for 1-2h on Sundays. Not digital, but with paper and pen. Always answering the same questions related to self, social life and work. This brutally honest and regular reflection once a week helped me identify problems early and iterate fast.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
My co-founders are my anchor in work-related topics. Having an environment where failure is welcomed with a helping hand and where weakness is valued as openness, once you are down those people will drag you up.
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
When I was 16 (way before the internet) I founded a travel-partner agency to connect people from different backgrounds seeking travel companions. After a year, I had to close the agency due to a lack of customers and the confusion some callers had regarding the nature of the “service.” Despite this setback, I gained invaluable insights into sales, communication and people’s needs, solidifying my desire to run a business that helps people.