When I left Morgan Stanley to move to Felix Capital, a very senior MD reminded me of this British saying. The grass is not always greener on the other side ![]() Somebody very wise told me it was called entrepreneurial spirit. What is it that makes us always want to chase the next move in our careers? Why is it that as soon as we feel professionally comfortable somewhere, we feel the urge to look for the next big thing? Why does it never seem to be good enough? Some - especially older generations - call it lack of focus and impatience. It´s not lack of focus, it´s called entrepreneurial spirit And there’s value in that experience as well.Ģ. Others, like myself, have to explore a lot till they find it. Some people have a clear vocation and know exactly what they want to study, where they want to work. Tech is an industry where there’s a lot of pressure to achieve great things at a very young age. Reading about John Goodenough’s story helped to put things (and age) into perspective Recently, at 94, he and his team at the University of Texas at Austin filed a patent application on a new kind of battery that, if it works as promised, would be so cheap, lightweight and safe that it would revolutionize electric cars and kill off petroleum-fueled vehicles ( read more here). In 1980, at age 57, he co-invented the lithium-ion battery that shrank power into a tiny package. You have to draw on a fair amount of experience in order to be able to put ideas together.” - John Goodenough.Īt the age of 23 John Goodenough was told by his professors he was already too old to succeed in physics. But the turtles have to keep on walking (…). “Some of us are turtles we crawl and struggle along, and we haven’t maybe figured it out by the time we’re 30. It´s ok to be a turtle and take time to explore.What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger they say. And they have become the foundations of my professional (and many times personal) decisions, my most precious takeaways from difficult times. I learned them the hard way but they have helped me understand better myself and the career crossroads I have faced. ![]() So I thought I’d share some of the key learnings I have gathered so far. I have become one of those annoying people who love their job.īut it hasn’t always been easy - not easy at all in fact-, I’m a WIP and I sure know there are still many bumps ahead. I see myself building a career in VC and at Samaipata I feel empowered to thrive, surrounded by a team I admire. I can now finally say I’m in a really good place. Please don´t do the math but since I graduated I have worked in politics, I have been an investment banker for almost three years, launched two startups (RIP) and I have been in Venture Capital for the last two and a half years. To figure out what industry you want to build a career in and find the place and team to thrive is not an easy ride for many of us. The truth is that the perception of others careers is very different from reality. What strikes me the most when speaking to young and driven professionals who are looking for a career change is that most share the same frustrated expectations and feel equally lost, but think they are alone in this. Freaking out in August is understandable -) A random Spanish beach on a day like today.
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