Leaving Dialexa
If you found this post after August 2021, I have an interesting update. I’m back at Dialexa and you can read all about it here.
Original Post Written in 2016:
By the title, you know what this blog post is about. It is about change. It is human nature to fear change. But I have always believed that change, especially when it is outside of your control, is the universe’s way of pushing you towards who you are meant to become. Those who follow my philosophical musings know that I believe in destiny. Some would argue that it is a coping mechanism to explain this sometimes cruel and unjust world but even Steve Jobs said, looking forward, it may seem like there is no master plan but looking backward; you see how the dots connect. My belief about life grounds me with peace.
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anaïs Nin
After months of searching for a new role within Dialexa, it has become painfully obvious that there is no longer a seat for me at the table. If you asked the founders and the rest of the founding team at Dialexa, we never imagined a day where one of us would leave. I often joked that after I retired, I’d still come to work (unpaid) and call myself “Employee Emeritus.”
I first hired Dialexa when it was only Mark and Scott to help me build my first startup Blurtt. Four years ago, I joined as employee #6, making less money over the last four years than I made at my first job on Wall Street almost 20 years ago — except now I had graduate degrees from Harvard and Northwestern and all the student loans to go along with that. I believed in the Dialexa team so much that I put my dreams on hold to help Mark and Scott build out their dream. I also, foolishly perhaps, hoped that someday there would be a place for my dreams within Dialexa.
Over the last two years, this inner tension continued to build. I am a multipotentialite and as the company kept growing, it became more important to specialize. This was particularly difficult for me to imagine as I never wanted to be pegged into a title or role. I wanted to do it all. I took on the title of “VP of Corporate Development” but I did everything from sales, marketing, business development, strategy and operations, training to helping Labs companies fundraise and work on their go-to-market. Generalists are typically undervalued in growing and large companies. Our skills are increasingly more valuable in change management, turnaround management and startup environments — where you are either building something from nothing or salvaging a wreckage.
Dialexa is no longer a startup. It’s a teenager on its way to becoming an adult. I helped Dialexa grow from two founders to 60 people, and it’s expected to hit 100 employees by next year. I helped launch Dialexa Labs, which gave birth to two startups: Vinli and Robin. No one could argue the tremendous value I added to this company over the last four years.
I could have continued the rest of my life, with this feeling of not fulfilling my true potential, out of loyalty to Mark and Scott. But to whom much is given, much is required. By me staying and agreeing to play a small role, it would have been a disservice to me and the company. We live in a world that needs healing. There are big problems that need to be solved, and there are too few people who have the grit and resilience to do it. The world calls us entrepreneurs, but I call us problem solvers. This is how I serve.
My passion has always been writing, speaking and solving problems that require honesty and beg for authenticity. I want to help people and companies see a better future. Where does this put me in a corporate setting? I need to be part of an organization that seeks to transform the way people do business. This could be either through product strategy, innovation strategy, new venture formation, corporate entrepreneurship or a well-funded startup with a big vision of changing the world.
If you know of an opportunity that meets this bold description of changing the world, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My email is jeanettec007@gmail.com. In the meantime, I am going to take my time with this search and continue writing for the Huffington Post and Entrepreneur Magazine and speak on topics that matter to me. I am working on re-branding my current blog to “Manifest Grace” which was inspired by a blog post I wrote in 2015 called “Paradox: Grace and Hustling.” This new platform I plan to build for myself will serve to help me do more of my motivational and inspirational work. I love writing because I want to use my life experiences to help others wake up and live out their fullest potential. Oh, the irony in this statement but at least I can now speak from experience — how difficult that is sometimes.
In the meantime, thank you all for your incredible support over the last five years. I have survived three startups during this time so I’ll be enjoying this well-deserved break. I will miss my Dialexa family.
