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What was the biggest difference when joining Vega from BCG?
In many ways, BCG provided an excellent training ground for a high-growth startup. Jumping into unfamiliar areas, getting to grips with details quickly, and managing lots of different stakeholders are all skills which are not far off what is required to, for example, contribute to product, run demos, or hire a team.
What was quite different, however, was the approach to consensus. In places like consulting or banking, you have multiple layers of review and inputs before getting to a final state. Vega is not a consensus-driven organisation. In fact, on my first day, Alexis told me that success in the role would mean being able to own things as independently and completely as possible. You are empowered, and trusted, to take views and execute on them without waiting for approval. That also means a fundamentally higher sense of responsibility than I had before.
If you could pick one thing, what is most exciting about Vega?
The rate of change. The company I joined just ten months ago vs. today is completely unrecognisable, in the best way. It can be easy to lose sight of that in the day-to-day, but none of the problems that we had then are the same ones we are working on now. There is an incredible sense of progress knowing that we simply keep moving on to bigger and better challenges.
It feels like last year was just the start. This year, that rate of change is only going to accelerate. It creates an environment where there is so much scope to make your mark, no matter what your role in the team, and that is definitely the most exciting part.
What has your development looked like since joining Vega?
I joined as a Founder’s Associate back in March because I was looking for an accelerated learning curve and I wanted to see what building a company actually takes from the inside. Moving into that role was a bit of a risk because it can be very vague and undefined, but I was immediately trusted to take on as much responsibility as I was willing and able to own, and got involved with absolutely every area of the business besides coding (which is definitely for the best).
I got a huge amount of exposure, such as building out our GTM motion, developing new product bets, and hiring a generalist team, and I was recently promoted to Head of Strategy and Growth. My development is a testament to just how fast people can progress at Vega. We focus on talent over tenure; there is no promise of progression without performance, but for those who embrace it, there is endless room to grow.