Why I chose Firstbase and why its the right choice for me. A lesson in taking the decision making process for your next role seriously

I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a room with so many capable, driven, caring, and incredibly intelligent people. Looking round the room at the end of the inaugural Firstbase all hands meeting in Charleston I had a real sense of belief that every individual was committed to our lofty goals of delivering opportunities to 1 billion lives by enabling remote work and promoting remote living. For me there was no thought that our hopes and aspirations were unattainable because of the talent and dedication we had in the room.

Since I have joined Firstbase I have witnessed incredible growth, unheard of market traction, continuous product/operational development and launches, individuals going above and beyond to honour customer commitments, an influx of partners and customers committing themselves to the Firstbase journey and a continuous stream of some of the best talent.

Our first day was focused on social activities to give us all an opportunity to meet those Zoom squares we saw on a daily basis in 3D. We ate, we drank, we walked, we sailed, we saw dolphins, we stretched and we started to build deeper connections with our team members.

On our second day we shared. As a team we saw plenty of tears as we begun our journey to get to know the why behind each of our individual stories. We saw laughs and aching cheeks as we bonded both individually and as a collective. We saw recognition for the great work and the great talent that surrounded us. We saw the most unlikely of individuals become the best of friends. We saw an unrelenting belief in the opportunity ahead of us and the drive and focus required to make it happen. We saw people calling out the great work done by others in the team. We saw people enabling one another to feel confident in their abilities and their deliverables and its value to our overall goals and missions. We gave everyone a platform to feel seen and heard.

We spent the third day understanding the journey from Firstbase as a concept on paper to Firstbase arriving at its first offsite.?We heard about Chris’s unwavering belief in fundamentally doing the right thing by delivering a solution that enabled people to be safe, comfortable and effective in their role and gave equal opportunities to those who never felt they could be at their best being in an office environment full time. We then heard about the product and operational changes that were coming and how we could do even more to help our existing and future customers. We heard feedback from the board, feedback from our customers and feedback from individuals in the room. We heard Firstbase acknowledge that as a rapidly scaling business we haven’t done a great job of building a diverse team but we heard in no uncertain terms its commitment to change that and for it not to just be a token gesture but a core value. We heard about the vision across our leadership team for both the future of remote work and remote living and the role Firstbase will play in it.

This is the 12th all hands meeting I have been to in my career and I can honestly say I have never been to one like this. The opportunity ahead of us at Firstbase is unlike anything I have ever seen. I’m extremely excited to see us execute on the plans presented in our sessions. The rapid scale of growth ahead of us is extremely exciting although truthfully a little daunting. We will need to continue to hire the very best talent in the market so if are or if you know someone who can do incredible things at a rapidly growing start up then please get in touch.?

I told many of my colleagues the story of the scoring sheet I had for prospective job opportunities when I was looking to leave my previous role at SAP. As I'm an analytical personality type it surprised none of them. Firstbase scored 4.7 out of 5 against my personal criteria which beat all the other companies on list of around 80 companies that were sent to me from various recruiters and there were some great logos in that list and I had offers from several. The next best score was 4.3.?

Some of my criteria included:

• is it a cross functional sales opportunity
• how competitive is the market place
• is it disruptive to existing business ideas or does it combine multiple business challenges in a unique way
• is the CEO and the leadership team someone I could follow into battle no matter what and do I trust they would support me when needed
• would I have an opportunity to contribute to strategy?
• will I be given free reign to run my go to market strategy however I wanted
• as a sales person would I have unlimited earning potential?with an ability to acquire equity
• was it an evil product or solution, how much social good did it do?
• could I speak to existing customers and ask why they bought and what life without it was like
• was the software code written in a sufficient/proficient way
• would I get the exposure I needed to develop my own entrepreneurial capabilities
• was it a customer and mission driven business

This week in Charleston has confirmed for me that Firstbase was the perfect place for me. It ticks all of those boxes and many more. We have a lot of developing and maturing and growing to do but I haven’t had a day since I joined where I didn’t love what I do. The opportunity in front of us is enormous and I haven't seen an opportunity of this scale previously. ?

Again, if you are or if you know of any rockstars in their career then please get in touch. Even if the job role isn’t there yet we want you and we will find a place for you. If I can be helpful when defining your own personal scoring mechanism for a new role then let me know. Life is too short to work for a company that you have no passion for and doesn't challenge you on a daily basis.