New Chapter

Last night I closed my Zoom laptop for the very last time. It marked the end of an era. The decision to leave Zoom is definitely one of the most difficult ones I've taken in my life.

The journey started almost 4 and a half years ago in Amsterdam. Less than 10 people in an office smaller than my living room and an unlimited amount of energy and a dream. Fast forward to today with several hundreds of employees and teams spread around multiple countries, even in my wildest dreams could have ever imagined we would get to where we are now, and that I'd be living and experiencing everything that has happened in these 51 months. A book trilogy could truly be written and it'd still be short.

Having recruited and been surrounded by some of the most talented people on earth and helping the world connect and be able to continue almost as if nothing happened during the hardest pandemic periods are probably the two biggest highlights of this journey. From a university transforming the way they delivered thousands of exams over a weekend, to country-wide Ministry of Education projects that transformed education, to helping NGOs evolve and transform, government institutions, friends delivering their weddings all the way to helping some of the largest corporations in Europe in their digitalisation journeys. This job has had it all. And I couldn't be prouder and more grateful for the opportunity.

None of this would've been possible without some of our pioneer customers and partners. That trusted the best product in the market yet a newbie and unknown brand and company in Europe. The list would be immense, but you all know who you are.

As I always say, don't only be obsessed with trying to be the best, just be the first.

Over the years and as the brand and the company consolidated in the different regions and countries in Europe, the hard work of the teams and the constant execution of the company motto "Delivering Happiness" has brought a long list of new colleagues, customers and partners, many of them I can call friends today too.

And trust me when I say that I don’t leave a sinking boat. The team I started has a solid present and bright future as well as the company on which I fully trust! Solid projects, partnerships and pipeline!

• So why leaving despite all these successes?

This is what I meant that this decision has been the most difficult one, ever. Over the last years I have been working hard not only to achieve all those successes internally at Zoom, but also working on a deep journey to discover more about my mind/body . Whomever knows me has probably lovingly questioned my "sanity" after hearing about my "crazy habits" of ice baths/cold showers, breath-works, meditations and other parts of this incredible introspective journey into consciousness. As this journey progressed, the internal call to move on with other key aspects of life that I had somehow parked or negated from my life increasingly arisen, until a point where the decision became a reality. What people would think about this decision, me being perceived as a "quitter" when I'm truly the opposite, an till-the-end fighter, leaving behind a successful corporate career in the company, stakeholder teams, my own teams and other fears and thoughts have been present in this whole decision process making it even more difficult.

I learnt this a while ago, professionally when I decided to leave Cisco to embark on the Zoom journey and personally within so many other aspects; listening to your intuition will never fail you as your intuition is a true representation of the power of now. And you'd always win. If things go well, you'll live amazing experiences and if not, you'd take those lessons learnt too and shape your present to navigate those adversities. Of course, this is even more powerful when body and mind are aligned, thus it's key to take good care of each mental and physical healths with healthy habits and understanding that no matter how amazing a job is, there are other more important priorities in life that should never be forgotten and understate.

CEO and Founder Eric always guided the team with a simple message, that was to become 1% better person no matter what happened around us. Today, 1550 days after, I'm truly 45x better person (Thanks OpenAI for the super simple calculation! :P). I could not be more grateful for the opportunity and for all the experiences.

New chapter starts today. Excited to sit in front of these white pages ahead so that my intuition can start writing the next paragraphs.?

EDIT to clarify: Thanks everyone for the kind messages. This has been a PROACTIVE decision and not related to depression, anxiety or burnout!