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What did you learn moving from investment banking to product?
Investment banking is a great training ground to learn how to think and say smart things. Product forces you to think, say, and do smart things. In banking, the machine already exists and you learn how to operate it. In a startup, you operate while the machine is being built in real time. That shift changes everything. You learn to hold two lenses at once: vision and execution.
What is one thing you did not expect when joining Vega?
The general discipline toward problem-solving surprised me: there is a real culture around finding solutions which meet both short-term and long-term goals depending on business needs. It’s here that the talent density stands out. I’ve felt impressed in many different moments by my teammates: from sharp technical work to real social intelligence. It’s a privilege to work with people you look up to.
How did IB prepare you for Vega? What did you have to un-learn?
The obvious carry-overs are an obsession with detail and a very high bar. My previous roles reinforced the instinct to do things to impress myself first; those habits translated seamlessly to Vega. What I had to unlearn was consensus seeking. You often need to take a position before the room agrees, explain your logic clearly, and know how to accept being wrong if an experiment fails. You learn how to build real conviction.