My STINGerella story comes to an end on February 28 because the day after, I join a brand new adventure.
Shocking, right? You are not alone. It is, even for me.
Why would I leave my dream job? Heck, a job I created for myself and in such a short time? In the Startupland, 10 months may look short on paper but if I look at how much I achieved in those 10 months, it’s kinda big.
STING may not be the sexiest of brands but it is the most professional one and the best at what it does. When I went to the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) summit in Denver in September 2016, there were a lot of accelerators from all around the world and I felt extremely proud to be a STINGer as it felt we did what we did to support founders and not to just make exits and fill our pockets.
I won’t tell you today what my next adventure is (patience is a virtue), instead I want to share what I love about each of my STING family members whom I will miss dearly.
Marianthi — We didn’t work so much together but I encouraged her to do couple of tweets and posts on social media. I hope she continues with it.
Olof — Very friendly and enthusiastic about working with disruptive health startups.
Gisela — Iron woman. She says it as she sees it and thinks it. Gisela is very direct and I love that about her.
Karin- Diversity. Karin is an advocate for diversity not only when it comes to gender but also to diversity in culture and that is proof of how successfully she runs the Go Africa program.
Raoul- Elegance. When I watch Raoul speak, I feel like I am watching an orchestra maestro. He is an artist. Unlike me, he is undigital but more aware of all the latest high tech and digital happenings. It’s like no Twitter, no problem!!
Magnus — Where should I start? A gentleman and a smooth operator. What makes Magnus stand out is the type of founders he chooses to work with. Don’t underestimate the white hair, he has 10 thousand times more energy than most 21-year-olds I meet.
Göran — Göran the rescuer, I don’t know what I would do without Göran. Finance people are not the favorite ones in a company usually but Göran is really the best finance person I have ever worked with. He had me at ‘Hejsan’.
Linda — She can transform all emotions into dance movements. We cooperated on different events and it was so much fun working with her and even more fun watching her reaction when things pop up last minute just before a big event, that’s like every event manager’s dream, eh?
Ivar — Mr hug. I get hugs from Ivar every time we meet as if we have not seen each other in a very long time. And if I am lucky, I even get those cuddles more than once a day. He always comes to me with tips on romance and love. I already loved him since Peppy Pals was in the Accelerate program in 2013. He is truly caring, and puts a smile on my face every day.
Freddan — The party coach. Freddan is still like an entrepreneur. He gets excited every time we meet a startup that is trying to do something crazy. He is a friend and the only spontaneous coach, always ready for an AW, sorry STINGers, but it’s a fact, Freddan is the most fun to hang out with! He’s also my favorite traveling work partner!
Jill — Structure. Jill has an eye for detail. Let’s get it out in the open, organization skills aren’t my thing. With Jill, we were like a power couple in comms. Complementary skillset. Jill made one of the biggest contributions to my writing skills by introducing me to the em dash ( — ). I will miss working with her and miss her spamming my inbox 😛
Peo — I call him ‘The Golden boy’. Peo has it all. I learned a lot from him. Every time startups come to pitch during the Accelerate program, their eyes shine when they see Peo in the room. I understand why! He is bright and very empathetic. I loved working with him and it was the most rewarding experience in those past 10 months. I will miss him coming 20 minutes late to our 5-minute meetings… Well Peo, sorry but you know time management ain’t your thing ❤️
Raman — Family. Raman is family. I love Raman. I can write a book about how great Raman is. He is a blessing in my life. The best at what he does. He is the master of the art of recruitment for startups and he turned our talent department into one of the pillars not only in STING but also in Stockholm’s tech ecosystem.
Pär — Last but not least. I will forever be grateful to Pär because he was the first one to hire me in my so exciting full-time startup life. He also previously hired successful women in our community like Adiba Barney (CEO of Silicon Valley Forum) and Jessica Stark (co-founder and CEO of Startup People of Sweden (SUP46)), and hopefully I will follow in their footsteps. He is a great empowerer. We are lucky to have him in Stockholm’s ecosystem. He started all this 15 years ago, and I can’t wait to see what STING will become in the next 15 years. Tack Pär!
Thank you all for being great colleagues… It was not an easy decision, but at the same time, I have been doing this since September 2013 (listen to my podcast), the only difference is STING made this officially my job during the last 10 months and by this, I mean:
- Promoting Stockholm’s startups to the world via social media — imagine, my Twitter handle existed before the 2 major media tech outlets in Sweden
- Connecting startups to whoever they needed
- And of course, supporting the founders unconditionally
In other words, I am comfortable in my role — a role I created for myself from a hobby, so how am I supposed to scale it or grow? #MovetoSiliconValley… Maybe? #StopTweeting… that’s a possibility too!
When the opportunity came knocking so unexpectedly, it was a ‘fuck yeah’ moment. I love the founder of my future workplace, the position will take me outside my comfort zone and I feel very very special. It all happened so quickly and the way I was recruited could easily be turned into a Netflix series. #ActingCareer? Nah…
I am sad to leave STING and I know I would not have gotten the new role without my adventure at STING… yet I have never been so excited about anything as much because this founder has inspired me to see something I never knew was possible… #StayTuned
Puss och kram STING!
