I quit my startup — And it’s OK

Last month I told my investors, employees, family and some friends about a major decision I made. I decided to step away from my own startup. I am moving from a #9 position to a sports director if you’re into soccer or from a starting running back to an offensive coordinator if you’re into football. I will no longer act as a COO of the company but I will be moving to be an advisor for the company and its #1 fan.

The process of letting go has been a learning experience and I know this decision is the right one at the right time. We grew and made a few great hires in the last year and I know I will be leaving the company in the capable hands of my co-founder, Mohamed, and the team.

I had some amazing conversations when I shared the news with people I work with and with our investors. I felt a lot of love and support which made me feel much better during this phase.

I’ll always remember the day my co-founder and I agreed on this together as it just felt right. I was not excited about the decision or concerned, not happy or sad but it was more of a neutral feeling and getting ready for some unwinding and a peaceful mindset to recalibrate and decide on what is next.

The Right Time

Going back to “the right time”, I believe that timing the decision was a very hard step in the process. It was very hard to come to the realization that now is the right time! But like Bezos once said “All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart and intuition — not analysis. When you can make a decision with analysis, you should do so, but it turns out in life that your most important decisions are always made with instinct, intuition, taste, heart.””.

It was very hard and scary for me to write this public post but I just felt I want to write it so I did. It is just like many other decisions I make in life when I follow my gut and enjoy the consequences :)

The Next Step

After around 3 years with my startup, I believe the company reached a good stage and it is now in great hands with my co-founder and the team. I believe that for me it is time to pursue something else.

I have a few areas I am very interested in tackling but before that I need to take some time off to recalibrate. During this time off I will try to enjoy and observe everything around me as much as I can and this might guide me to the next step. I am planning on having many coffees with people that know me to learn from them more about myself and to spend more time with my family. I also started painting last summer and found out that it is a great way for me to meditate and I now have more time to spend doing that. These are some of my finished and in-progress pieces I’ve been working on.

Thank you

After all, it’s been a great rollercoaster ride with tons of learnings and memories and I would like to thank everyone that was part of it. My co-founder and all team members , advisors, mentors, investors, the amazing community and of course my lovely family and friends.