Welcome to BlueChilli, Pete!
“You will use everything you know.” — Steve Martin, Born Standing Up.
“I’m having a mild wardrobe crisis.”
It was Sunday night. I had just left the organisation and industry I had worked in for 14 years. Tomorrow I was entering the tech startup industry. A massive career change.
I had no idea what to wear.
My sister texted me back. “I wear jeans and converse and t-shirts. The devs do too. One of the product managers wears a button up shirt sometimes. Seb” — the CEO — “wears t-shirts and jeans.”
“So maybe not the suit I had picked out then…”
“Hahahaha. No suit.”
On Thursday afternoon an email had popped into my inbox. The subject line grabbed my attention: Welcome to BlueChilli, Pete!
Before I even walked in the door I was being made to feel at home. Some highlights:
- “This is a great place to take risks, make big plays and leave your mark. Founders count on us to do so.”
- “It will take you a little while to meet everyone and get to know them, so don’t rush it. It’s not your job to be impressive. It’s your job to change us for the better.”
- Your email address: pete@bluechilli.com
For 14 years I worked at an institution so large it had its own postcode. Email addresses followed the pattern firstname.surname@, and in my team of 12 there were two people whose standard email addresses were already taken by other staff with the same name.
Where I’m going, we don’t need surnames.
The tech startup world is not where I expected to be. The plan was to finish my MBA and network my way into a top management consulting firm. A suit was my go-to outfit as part of the strategy to enhance my personal brand.
When I saw the BlueChilli job advertised I scrapped my carefully-crafted professional CV and drew on my freelance experience and hobbies to start again: improv teacher; leadership development coach; co-founded a production company; sold out a 1600-seat theatre; makes chocolates. I was bringing together all the facets of my life. The application form wanted to know “What makes you awesome?”
I joined a parkour gym because I want to go on the Japanese gameshow Sasuke (aka Ninja Warrior) and that seemed like a fun way to train.
Parkour taught me that fear is something I have to face over and over even when I know I can land the jump.
I wanted to develop people and ideas. Create awesome things. Doing that gave me more satisfaction than anything else. I’d just always done those things on the side while I had a sensible job as a primary source of income.
It was time to take a leap.
“I would have told you to wear a suit,” he laughed. “That would have been the ultimate troll.”
I arrived on Monday morning in my pre-planned Tuesday outfit of trousers and pressed shirt. I bumped into CEO Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, aka Seb. He had just pulled up to the door, in t-shirt, jeans and converse, on his skateboard.
“As a brother,” he clarified. “Not as an employer.”
Later that morning I introduced myself to the whole BlueChilli team at the All Hands meeting.
“I’m Pete, the new Accelerator Manager. I’m really looking forward to improving the curriculum and delivery of our accelerator programs, and the founders’ experience, and looking at how we can scale that as we expand. Also, I nearly wore a suit today.”
The group, in jeans and t-shirts and hoodies, had a good laugh.
“Also, the rule is that he is ‘Cheryl’s brother’,” my sister chimed in.
“I am never to be referred to as ‘Pete’s sister’.”
The next day was the start of bootcamp. The biggest one so far, with 40 startups coming from New Zealand and around Australia. I was in the thick of things, introducing the group to our pitch deck, advising startup founders on their products. It was exhilarating and scary and exciting and I loved it.
Two weeks later, at the end of bootcamp, all the founders and advisors and staff came together for the announcement of who made it into the accelerator. It was a big deal.
I wore a suit.
This is the beginning of my journey in the tech startup world. I look forward to sharing my personal insights and reflections (which do not represent the views of BlueChilli) here. I am a month into the job, loving it, and finally comfortable wearing a hoodie and jeans.
Related reading:
- What happens at a startup bootcamp, and why? by me, on the BlueChilli blog.
- Xcelerate Week #1 — Insight by Tim Semple
- All of the Things!! by Elle Pacholski
- Startups at idea stage — STOP and read this by Surjeet Taank
