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 your favorite ritual in your team?
No backlogs are good logs. Just delete it. If something is not a priority now, it most probably won’t be in two weeks. It will just drain brain capacity from you having it on some list. Truly important matters will pop back to you anyhow.
What was a pivotal moment where your business made a big leap forward?
The team culture drastically improved once we started to be transparent. Transparent about our runway, about salaries, about challenges and about our personal level of stress.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
Paying for some SaaS products is not the end of the world. If they get you to speed and solve a problem you would spend days on solving for free, they are worth the bang.
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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.
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.
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.