The happiness – and loneliness – of raising a child and letting it go

Digibee is in full expansion and targets even bigger flights for the coming years. Letting the company paddle its own canoe required me to fully rethink my goals in life

Rodrigo Bernardinelli

It was a professional twist that made me start Digibee. After years of working in big companies, I thought of nothing but owning my own business. Vitor Sousa and Peter Kreslins were on the same page, so we came together to satisfy that aspiration (and inspiration). That was five years ago.?

Over that time, we have achieved so much that we have been compelled to develop our aspirations. "Compelled" is the exact word. When I started Digibee, I wanted to change my life. A simple, individual goal. As we grew and conquered people and customers we admired, as we heard from those who know a lot about business and technology that our idea was transformative, as big market players started funding our operation, then I began to understand that Digibee was much bigger than my little, naive dream. And the experience of managing a scaleup, a task as fantastic as it is complex, has changed my idea of life achievement.?

Weeks ago, a strategy meeting was held among Brazilian and American executives of Digibee for more than twenty hours, precisely to define our winning aspirations. That is: our goals and the benefits that come along with achieving them.?

One of the goals was clear, unanimous and documented: Digibee wants to be the industry standard platform. Worldwide.?

Okay! We know it's not that simple. But we also know that the bridges we build can handle it.?

That is, for a startup to leave “the drawing board” and gain scale, it is necessary to cross an abyss. And there are basically two bridges that cross the cliff: the conquest of reputation, proving that the solution created is scalable; and the financing of investors. We have both, like this contribution that we have just announced, of USD 25 million, made by SoftBank Latin America Fund, a global leader in investments in technology companies around the world and a pioneer in Latin America, with the participation of the G2D Investments fund and Kinea.?

The endorsement of success

In this trajectory, I struggled with the Impostor syndrome – who hasn't? But with the support of these first investors, the syndrome became less compelling, and I had to recognize that our work was really good. We had created a platform that solved a big business problem. Admitting this was not only fair, but necessary. Startups that, before us, built smaller solutions made IPOs and boast market value in the billions of dollars.

So why not Digibee?

More than thinking big, we needed good people who thought big along with us. Better: professionals more capable than us, more qualified and versed in building strategies, who thought big when away from us.

Whoever has a child will understand what I say: it is wonderful to see it take its first steps alone, but... it makes us feel lonely! Deep down, you already know what's coming: it won't stop anymore. And it's never going to need you like it used to.

The higher you go, the lonelier it gets

The other day I was with the Digibee team at a global business fair. A salesperson was talking to a customer - a customer like those who generate a lot of potential for the company. He presented our value proposition and, although admired for the impeccable way he conducted the conversation, I was really eager to be there together with him, participating in that important moment. It's always been that way, every event Digibee attended. I was on the front line, tackled to the ground with the salespeople. But it's not like that anymore. For the sake of the company, it can't be like this.

How hard it was to control myself - especially when the customer asked a question for which there was no ready answer. My heart rate increased when the salesman said he would check the question – which he did immediately, but not with me: with his direct superior.?

They closed the deal there, in front of me, and I… well… I was sure that my child, Digibee, was already taking large steps on its own.?

Nowadays, I go into meetings and I listen a lot more than I talk. I let that bunch of over-qualified professionals come to their own conclusions and make decisions – the right ones and the wrong ones. It is a sweet feeling of pride, but it ties the corner of the tongue by the feeling of loneliness that leaves as a trail.

Child aims for larger flights

It's exciting to realize how many extremely talented people we're attracting. They leave high positions in large companies to join Digibee and help us achieve our goal.

And what is our winning aspiration, established in those twenty grueling hours of meeting? Besides making Digibee the standard integration platform, we want to consolidate ourselves as a great place to work, capable of attracting the best professionals in the market.?

As the creature's father, I add to my winning aspiration: make an IPO in the coming years.

We have the capacity; after all, the problem that Digibee solves affects not only Brazil and the United States, but the whole world. We sped everybody up. And, for me, the IPO would be a final proof that I won (goodbye, impostor syndrome!), a huge demonstration that Digibee does not walk alone – but flies with a lot of people!

Other Digibee leaders also have their winning aspirations, of course (no wonder we are, together, giving wings to the company). I invited the founders (Peter Kreslins ?and Vitor Sousa) and also CFO Rafael Nardelli, country manager Marcelo Silva (aka Guina), COO Marcelo Souccar and CSO Flavio Pripas to tell what their winning aspirations are too. Follow, in the coming days, the respective profiles on LinkedIn.