I chose to cofound CREx Software in part because I got to choose my cofounder and teammates. In many roles, you don’t get to choose who you work with. In startupland, that choice is always yours.
Each Job Is a Chance to Level Up the People Around You
I interviewed for a LOT of jobs over the years. One particularly memorable interview was with a fast-growing real estate tech firm. The interviewer said he’d been involved in so many interviews that he didn’t remember the role that I was interviewing for. And when I told him the job title, he asked me why they needed someone for that. 🤷🏻♀️ In retrospect, he probably knew what he was doing and used ignorance as an interview tactic. Smart…
At one point in the interview, I asked him why he chose to work there. He said, “I use every new job as an opportunity to level up the people around me. I liked the team at my last position, but I liked the team here even more.”
That idea – using each new job as an opportunity to level up people – stuck with me.
It’s important to identify new and interesting opportunities. However, the #1 reason that people leave jobs isn’t because of the lack of opportunities; it’s because they did not like their boss.*
*Based on a factual old wives tale.
Leveling Up the People at CREx
I cofounded CREx because I wanted to level up the people around me. Yes, we solve a huge problem for a large market. Yes, I couldn’t go another day without solving that problem. Even more yes, I had worked in environments where I didn’t enjoy the people and couldn’t wait to work in a more welcoming, inclusive space. I wanted to choose the people that I worked with.
What did leveling up the team at CREx mean for me?
- Remembering that we are people first and then employees and treating each other as such.
- Supporting each other in non-work endeavors.
- Being inclusive and intentional about having a diverse team.
- Having reliable team members who get our work done based on goals, not on the outdated 9-5, M-F schedule.
- Good vibes only. We all go through tough times and will support each other; most days, we aim for positivity. Startups are hard enough without any Negative Nancys.
You could say this is having a good culture. I say this is common sense.
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