From Cybersecurity to the Food Industry (And Beyond!)
I finally took the leap and resigned from my position in a tech start up few weeks ago.
An IT start up that moved into Cyber
Straight after graduating from university a year ago, I joined an IT start up that eventually moved into cyber security, because why not. The founder of the company had spent nearly three years building the product in his bedroom, and I was coming in to start kicking out the marketing activities. What did we achieve? Well after three years of development, we finally showed the product to clients and realised they needed something else. So we were back in the development stage.
The highlight of this past year was definitely being part of the accelerator for start ups we joined last winter. An accelerator is where people who ‘have already done that been there’ come and give you presentation/advice (and lessons sometimes). You also end up meeting a lot more people than your CRM can store. Although we had a great experience, it wasn’t enough for us to grow.
When you evolve in such a fast paced, competitive environment, you need to move even more rapidly. And funny enough being a start up, without long corporate processes, we were not able to do it. We failed to develop quickly and achieve the objectives initially set. Not only we were not growing, but even more importantly, I was not developing myself. And that was the critical point in my decision.
Was I going to wait more? Accepting a lower salary for few shares that are one day (in a galaxy far far away) worth some $$$? The cost/opportunity just became too high.
During all this time, working for someone felt like it wasn’t me.
I always had the vision of doing something of my own, but for the past year, I was this quiet guy, hiding behind the founder. And I thought it would be fine, that I could be this guy, quietly staying in the room, helping the company get somewhere. I was just doing what I was supposed to, what was expected of my role. Once again.
Until recently, I have always done what was expected from my environment: study well, get a good degree, get a job, become stable and THEN you can think about doing something else. (Although during the process, taking a loan/mortgage would prevent me from starting up any activity in the next ten/fifteen years).
As a matter of fact, I took the decision for myself. I couldn’t wait anymore. I am thankful to be in the situation where I do not have long term commitments yet, it’s the perfect time for me. No more ‘I will do it later’, ‘It’s not the right time yet’. It’s time to start over, it’s time for me to start up.
Where am I heading to
So where am I heading to? Well my background is not in tech or cyber. And I am definitely moving away from that today. I am going back to my passion and what I love doing, food. Food is simple, authentic. Food is love, eat a Pizza. I think food in London is losing a bit of its excitement with all the ‘don’t eat this, can’t eat that’ healthy addicted lifestyles.
I am starting up an Italian inspired food business in London. Something good for the belly, good for the mind. My love affair with Italian food started four years ago during my first trip to Milan. I grew the desire to do something here ever since. And if you were asking, I am not a chef and don’t have any qualifications in cooking/hospitality. I don’t really know how to do things, but that’s when it gets fun and exciting!
More to follow…. I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, you can have a look at the website here and let me know your thoughts, any feedback is valuable:)
Thank you
Raphael
