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What was the biggest difference when joining Vega from GS?
I worked alongside brilliant people at GS who taught me a lot about maintaining a high bar, delivering under pressure, and providing excellent client service, all of which is very transferable.
What’s different in a startup environment is how quickly you’re given real responsibility, and how broad the scope is. In my first week at Vega I was handed ownership of a new project, which is a bit like being given a trading book in your first week as an analyst. In a given week I’ll be running client calls, working with engineers on product specs, and helping with hiring or PR campaigns. That works because there are far fewer layers, which sounds really appealing until you realise that nobody is going to tell you what matters most.
You joined to do Product and Growth having done neither. How did that go?
What attracted me to this role was the chance to have an inside view of how a company actually gets built and scaled. Product and Growth sit close to almost every part of that, so you get to see how decisions get made and the rationale behind them.
Honestly, it was not easy at the start coming from a different background. The problems here are open-ended in a way I wasn’t used to, and judgement is required every single time. What helped was putting in the effort, responding to feedback quickly, and working alongside a talented and supportive team. You have to stay in learning mode permanently.
What would you tell someone sitting at their desk, wondering whether to make the jump?
First, work out what you are trying to optimise for in your career. Most people who ask me about this are really asking whether they can make the move without any trade-offs, and the honest answer is no. You trade structure and predictable progression for a much faster rate of learning and the chance to help transform how an industry operates. Whether that is a good trade depends entirely on what you are personally optimising for.
If you decide to do it, go all in, because the people who get the most out of it are the ones who stopped treating it as a de-risked bet.