1. What were you doing before you quit your job?

I was a philanthropic consultant and marketing manager at a non-profit in Perth, Western Australia.

2. When did you realize you wanted to quit your job?

I had achieved a lot of success and been provided a lot of opportunities by a very supportive board and CEO, but the only next step was to either take over my CEO’s position or move to another similar role in another company. I knew I needed a new challenge, and felt unsatisfied by the opportunities that existed for me at the time. I always knew I wanted to run my own business – but wasn’t quite sure where to begin. I started out helping others with their companies (and started 5 companies in 4 years!). I was in the process of getting ready to take over one of the companies as the original founder wanted to leave, and a mentor gave me some great advice: “If you can look me in the eye and tell me that this (running this company) is what you want to do everyday for the next 10 years, I’ll help you with everything I’ve got. But if you can’t tell me that, I don’t want you to say yes to this role”. I knew and I knew in that moment that I didn’t want to run that company, but that I wanted to pursue running my own company and focus on creating experiences and events that left a lasting impression on hosts and guests alike. That was my “aha” moment.

3. What initial hesitations did you have about quitting your job and how did you overcome them?

I was so worried I’d fail! I still am sometimes! I received some great support and advice from mentors and friends, but the best way I found to overcome the fear of failure was to play what my partner and I call the “worst case scenario game”. We think through the worst case scenario of a particular situation, and if we can still handle it, then we know we will be ok. In taking the leap to start Voyager’s Table (www.voyagerstable.com), I thought through my worst case scenario which was returning home to Australia, tail between my legs, having spent all my savings and using up all the money I’d invested. My worst case scenario is/was going home, living at my parents place (at 40?), and crying myself to sleep on their couch until I could get myself back up and go out and get a job waiting tables or making coffees til I got my confidence back up to try something again (minimum wage in Australia is $19/hr, so you know, really, pretty good considering the free rent on mum and dad’s couch…haha). Since that was my worst case (thankful for all my privileges here!), I figured I’d better give it my very best shot.

4. What are you doing now?

Voyager’s Table has been running for almost 4 years now. What a crazy fast journey it has been. We have a team of 5 full time and a crew of regular part-time and contractor events, talent and media team members that are SO amazing and we’re so lucky to have them as part of our journey.

A bit about Voyager’s Table:

We’re an event production, media and talent hospitality company that specializes in designing experiences for powerful connection. Whether we’re hosting world leaders or helping companies keep teams connected in person and online, we take personal ownership of every event we touch. Pre-pandemic we: produce festivals and experiences for 60,000 ppl –> 6 person private dinners and everything in between and have a niche expertise in talent logistics and hospitality (eg. accommodation, scheduling and hospitality for 120+ celebrities and world leaders in South Africa for event headlined by Beyoncé in 2018). During the “Great Disruption of 2020”, we’ve been busy producing high-impact/engaging online experiences for teams and communities across North America, and curating local market kits & recipes to support our vendors impacted by downturn.

On the 12th of September, we’ll be hosting our annual night market, this year all online, with an incredible line up of creatives sharing their talents with you, with activity kits available for delivery/pickup in Vancouver, Seattle and New York so you can join in the fun from home. Details and lineup here: voyagerstable.com/nightmarket

5. Looking back on your experience of founding a company, what do you know now that you wish you knew before?  Are you happy with your decision?

I wish I’d done this earlier! But also, I’m glad I have had the path that I did – I learnt so much helping others with their dream businesses, and shouldering lots of responsibility as an interim or start up CEO. I’m so grateful for those opportunities and for mentors and past employers who saw my potential and encouraged it.

6. Any other advice you can share for others contemplating a similar path?

Surround yourself with solution focused and supportive people (one of the reasons I love the Venture Out community!). And most of all: if you know and you KNOW in your heart that this project or business is what you REALLY want to put your heart and soul into for the next 10 years – DO IT and DON’T QUIT. Get back up and keep going – hone your craft, grow, get better and smarter and wiser and learn, learn, learn. But don’t stop trying and don’t wait for someone else to give you permission. Good luck!!!

1. What were you doing before you quit your job?

I was working at Microsoft in their One Commercial Partner organization. It was a Business Development and Strategy role looking at the next iteration of the partner network. AI, IOT, Teams centric partners that are driving differentiation and value into the ecosystem.

2. When did you know that you wanted to quit your job?

The day I started.

I had planned on learning as much as possible and finding the right time to leave and start something of my own. As I was exposed to other leaders within the company I heard time and time again the same story. “When I joined I figured I would only be here a year or so and then I would start a company…That was 20 years ago.” These were people with wonderful careers leading large organizations, but I took that as a warning that if building a company was really what I wanted, I needed to be careful not to get too comfortable. So I started preparing from the very start.

Microsoft is an amazing place. It is filled with some of the smartest people on the planet. For the most part, if you have an interest, there is someone or a team of people doing ground breaking work around it. It is a place where you can find what is compelling to you, and dive into it. My area of interest was AI. I became fascinated by it, and they allowed me to dive into and just explore, have access to world class technology, learning, and a community. The only thing Microsoft could not provide me was the ability to build something from the ground up, and own it. For that I needed to venture out.

3. What initial hesitations did you have about quitting your job & how did you overcome them?

When my discussion with Ryan (our CEO) became serious in January 2020 I started to think through what a transition might look like.

My main hesitations were:

• Is the timing right on this? (Is there ever a “right time?”)
• What’s the real cost of what I am giving up? (Risk vs Reward)
• Health Insurance for my wife and myself. (Negotiating needs)

Thought Process:

Is the timing right? Who knows? I knew that I believed enough in what we wanted to build that I would regret it if I didn’t give it a shot. And if the timing will never be right, why not now?

What is the real cost? Calculating the future cost of unvested stock and bonuses is a necessary exercise, and on paper you would never leave. Cascading vesting schedule is a ride that gets harder and harder to get off of the longer you are there and better the company does. (For reference Microsoft Stock had 3x’ed in the 3 years I was there). I countered that in my mind with What is the cost of not betting on myself? To me, that cost is far greater than the value of my unvested options. Time and experiences are fleeting, and as long as I could cover my expenses and save a little money, it was worth the risk of leaving.

Insurance for my family? I did a lot of research into private policies and how much that would cost us. Special policies for my wife (she has a pre-existing condition). And what if we have a child? How will that factor in. At the end of the day I made it a negotiation point that Kurvv would pay my insurance. It worked out. And we got a group policy for the 3 of us that were full time.

4. Can you remember the day you put in your notice? What was it like? What was going through your mind? How did your manager take it?

Leaving Microsoft was a mix of excitement, nostalgia, and fear. The day I put in my notice was a Friday at the end of February. For 3 years I had a standing 1v1 with my boss at the end of each month, so the meeting was not unusual. I had conflicted feelings of excitement for finally being able to go all in, nostalgia for closing a wonderful 3 year chapter where I learned and grew as a person with a great team of wonderful people, and of course, fear that there was no going back. I was about to burn the boat on the shore.

My boss was very excited for me. We frequently had discussions around career development and what I wanted next, so he knew this was a big step in my life and was supportive. It was his genuine excitement and happiness for me that I will always appreciate.

5. What are you doing now?

I am the CRO of Kurvv.AI, and we are building tools that make Machine Learning easier to adopt and use for non-technical teams and organizations. We are finding great traction in Predictive Maintenance, Healthcare, eCommerce, and Hospitality. Any given day I am wearing the hat of sales, marketing, partnerships, strategy, or the contrarian. I do really anything that we need to establish PMF. All hands on deck. The first 4 months have been fantastic, fun, scary, intellectually stimulating, and freeing.

6. Looking back at your experience of Venturing Out, what do you know now that you wish that you knew before?

Being scared is fine. But don’t let it stop you. Create a plan and take action on it. Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from testing yourself and finding out who you really are. Taking the leap is a great experience.

I am a better, stronger version of myself, and it’s only been 4 months. I absolutely made the right decision.

7. Any other advice you would like to share?

You may have done the math already to calculate when I left. March 16th  2020 was my last day at Microsoft. By my calculations the world fell off a cliff about the same time.

In the 4 months I have been at Kurvv we started with a global pandemic, economic recession, my wife got laid off, and massive societal unrest spread across the world. You can not play life backwards, but if I could, would I go back to February and make a different decision? Knowing what all was about to happen?

No. Absolutely not. I am better for it. Kurvv is better for it.

If we only get one shot at life, I’m playing all out. Win or Lose. That is the advice I would give my kids, why wouldn’t I take it myself?

Take the leap. Build the company. Venture Out.

1. What were you doing before you quit your job?

I worked as an Electrical/Systems Engineer for the Boeing company where I automated detailed test procedures, analyzed systems, and did fault isolation.

2. When did you realize you wanted to quit your job?

From the very beginning, I realized that corporate wasn’t for me. My initial game plan was to venture into entrepreneurship after touring several companies for 10 years to build by network and domain expertise. In reality, I wasn’t that patient.

3. What initial hesitations did you have about quitting your job and how did you overcome them?

Initially, I wasn’t too concerned with quitting my day job. As neu began to pick up speed, the traction was too distracting and it was difficult to focus at work. Eventually, I felt that every day that I walked into the office, I was lying to myself and to my team. As a person who strongly believes in speaking things into existence, my wife (or fiancé at the time) discussed these feelings extensively and came to the same conclusion: we put a date on our calendars and July 13, 2017 was officially my last day at work.

4. Can you remember the day you put in your notice?  What was it like, what was going through your mind, how did your manager take it?

Yes and it was definitely an interesting story.

About a month before I terminated my employment, I was called into a private room by my manager to discuss my recent performance.

At the time, Boeing was laying off a significant number of employees and my manager had made it clear that although historically I was a strong performer, I seemed disinterested, that he didn’t think I was in the right place, and that a change would need to occur. He offered me an opportunity to transfer to a different group with more interesting work coupled with a raise and noted that declining his offer would result in my termination. To him my decision was a no-brainer but to his surprise, I didn’t immediately accept and asked to have the room. I called family, friends, and my wife to get their opinions: they all affirmed that leaving Boeing was the right move and in my heart, I knew what was the right decision.

Shortly after, I called my manager back in and declined the offer.

He smiled and then told me that I reminded him of his son and that I should look into startups. I agreed. Later that day, I shared this with my team who celebrated my decision and shortly afterward, gave my official notice.

On July 14, 2017, I was no longer a Boeing employee.

5. What are you doing now?

I am one of the co-founders and CEO of neu, a reliable platform that provides quality cleans, on-demand. We’re working tirelessly to bring cleaning into the 21st century and with the help of a phenomenal team, make high quality, on-demand cleaning a pain of the past.

6. Looking back on your experience of founding a company, what do you know now that you wish you knew before?  Are you happy with your decision?

Absolutely! Extremely satisfied with and would happily repeat my decision.

7. Any other advice you can share for others contemplating a similar path?

Three things. 1. Plan, plan, and plan some more. I think the Venture Out community is an excellent resource for professionals to become more educated about what to expect with being a founder or leaving your day job but it’s paramount that you have a strong idea of your goals and how you’ll be spending your time.

2. Save $$$ (seriously). I strongly recommend having (at minimum of) 6 months of personal runway saved in the bank coupled with a secondary source of passive income. You should also adjust your lifestyle, become more conservative, and find ways to mitigate or reduce your expenses. For example, my wife and I downsized from our new construction home to a rental nearby and then turned our home into a rental just to get an additional passive income source. Househacking, Airbnb, or finding a roommate can be great alternatives as well.

3. Love what you do. Leaving your day job is a huge decision that will have a tremendous impact on your life and those around you.

Everyone sees themselves in a Geekwire or TechCrunch post with a writeup talking about them being (or building) the next big thing but there’s a looooooooong road ahead of you, it’s not all that glamorous, and can be quite capricious at times.  Odds are you’ll fail, pivot and face problems and pressure non-stop all while facing personal challenges as life doesn’t stop because you decided to join a startup.

However, if you love what you do and work with others who feel the same level of passion, you’ll remain motivated, disciplined and determined to succeed but most importantly, you’ll enjoy the journey and find the sacrifices worthwhile.