Over and Out! Saying Goodbye to Piqniq… But it’s not a sad post, OK?!
As many of you know this August I left Piqniq (now Foodnotes), the company I co-founded back in 2014. This comes with a number of other decisions I recently made in my life. A life I now share with Zsofi.
decision 1
Inspired by the Japanese tradition of building a new home when couples get married, in January we both decided to sell our apartments, and look for a new home.
decision 2
Soon enough Zsofi found our dream home. We went to see it. Fell in love. Bought it. And six slow months later in July we finally moved in.
decision 3
About two weeks ago Zsofi and I got married.
decision 4
As I mentioned, a three year chapter of my life called Piqniq has come to an end.
One of the reasons I wanted to take your time with this — other than the fact that I am an occasional extrovert — is to remind us all what a great thing it is when people join or leave a team. Why? Because — in classic Obama fashion — it always creates an opportunity for C H A N G E!
People come and bring new qualities to the mix. Other people go, and certain qualities soon evaporate. As you add or subtract components, you never really know what happens next with your chemical mixture. But that’s where the magic lies. That’s why it’s always special when a team changes. My case with Piqniq is no different. So before anyone starts crying: me leaving is a good thing, OK?!
If I had to name a few qualities I added to our mix, I’d say they were probably speed, inertia, ambition, and a constant search for “bigger meaning” behind the things we did.
My leave opens up space for other ways of “modus operandi”. The slower, more analytical style of Richy (UI/UX Design) may have greater weight in the future. The quiet but often brilliant ideas of Miki (Code) might be heard more often. The nimble, sniffing style of Tamas (CEO) may help the team scratch and test many more directions than I ever would have allowed to.
Now let’s put chemistry aside. As Peter Arvai, our adviser for the last two years once said, if you want to explain why you didn’t function well with others, chemistry is not a very good answer.
But I didn’t talk about chemistry to explain why I left, did I? I merely used the chemistry analogy to remind ourselves of the many invisible ways we shape others in subtle, and other times major ways. But here now are the three most important reasons why I felt I had to leave:
- When I started in 2013, I gave myself a generous three years to prove we can build something the world wants. We succeeded with a lot of things, but not this, the most important one. The time I gave myself was up.
- Ultimately, it was me responsible for the “product”. To put that simply, I was the one responsible for producing an app that is used and loved by an ever growing number of users. I was not able to deliver on that promise. I want to thank everyone who gave me / us a push, either as a team member or helping from the sidelines while I was with Piqniq. You are all brilliant people, and I apologize for not having provided the catalytic components needed to WIN together.
- I was not able to line up my co-founders behind my vision for the app, but instead of accepting the reality of it and moving out of the way much sooner, I kept “pushing against the wall” for too long.
I think I can speak for all the fantastic people who have put their hopes and efforts into Piqniq over the past couple of years: the Piqniq team deserves to WIN! So give it another shot and try to win! Build something people use and love! For that work: I wish you good chemistry, good dynamics, and that you become catalysts for each other!
As for me: I’ve been in our weekend house overlooking lake Balaton this week. I’m on a silent retreat of sorts, letting the mud settle to the bottom of the water so I can see clearly once it does.
I’m having a great time an amazing indian summer. I’ve spent my last couple of days gardening, bathing in the sun and the lake, and cooking great meals for myself. Hoping that by the time I have to go home, I’ll more or less figure out what I want to do with the next 3 to 5 years of my life. Three sounds more realistic I guess.
I wrote all this by the fire, feeling really lucky for everything that “WAS”. Everything that “IS”. And excited for all that “WILL BE”. But as I like to say: the past, the present and the future in reality is ONE. So calm the fuck down Misi, and eat your pancakes!*
*I just baked some pancakes, and I have some amazing baracklekvár to fill them with, and when I press PUBLISH, I’ll eat them because that is my reward for writing this post tonight! Peace out!
