New Year, New Job

Why I left a publicly-traded company to join a startup

Author

Colin Walters
January 30, 2024

What is going ON y’all?! I know it’s been a minute… and I thought I’d quickly catch you up to speed on what’s been going down.

I got a new job 🎉

A former boss and mentor (and the greatest Sales Professional I’ve ever known) took a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) position at a high-growth tech startup, Recast Software, and wanted me to join.

After extensive consideration, I took the leap and jumped, deciding to leave the safety of DocuSign, a publicly traded company, and test the waters of the startup world.

A couple reasons why I joined a startup:

  1. The company was growing, exciting, showed good financials, and was a calculated risk I was willing to take.

  2. If there was any time to try a startup, it’s now. With no kids, no tie-downs, and an ability to take on more risk.

  3. I wanted to be a part of something special - not saying DocuSign wasn’t, but something smaller, more intimate, more connected, and “family-like.”

  4. I felt like I could come in and add value fast - make a real impact that was felt across the business.

  5. I LOVED the idea of being connected with all different team members across different departments. And direct connection to the C-Suite, individuals FAR smarter than myself, would only help me grow… fast.

  6. It made me nervous - in a good way. Starting something new, selling to new personas, and learning an entirely new industry (cybersecurity & endpoint management) was completely out of my knowledge and expertise. I was excited to test myself to learn new things.

  7. The ability to be on the ground-level of a startup that has the potential to takeoff, and I believe will, is super exciting… let’s go 🚀

  8. LEARNING - learning how a small business operates is extremely fascinating to me. I don’t know if I ever want to start my own business, but it does interest me, and I want to learn how everything works.

  9. The learning will also be fast, hard, and growth-oriented. An ability to get in, build new processes, break things, and keep moving forward with speed and agility.

  10. The people, culture, and energy was amazing - something I wanted to be part of, and people I wanted to be around.

  11. Ability to take on more responsibility that affects the greater business. Processes are still being built, we can be super nimble, move quick, and get things done fast.

  12. The values of the company immediately resonated upon reading them.

All in all, I was ready for my next challenge. One that was exciting, nerve-racking, made me uncomfortable (hovering around that ~4% discomfort zone), and will continue forcing me into the individual I’m trying to become.

I felt this was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will never be presented in this way again - with these people, this team, at this stage of the ground-floor startup. And I might have always wondered, “What if.”

The start to 2024 has been busy. Training, traveling, new job, wedding planning, working the ADU to launch another AirBNB, content creation, the LinkedIn 365 challenge, personal matters - the list seems endless. But it’s all great things and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

🌱 BRINGING IT BACK TO YOU:

What’s one decision you can make TODAY that is scary, uncomfortable, tests your limits, but will challenge and force you into a bigger, better, stronger version of yourself?

Write down a list of at least 10 ideas. Circle the top 3. Choose 1. And go take action.

Cheers to a 2024 that’s rolling along. February here we come 🔥

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