Trust

You have to have a lot of trust when you’re a leader in a startup. Compared to big companies, at a startup, there are often no guardrails. Often times, you’re just going after it with the little to no guidance you have. Most of what we’ve done at Secfi hasn’t really been done before - there’s no way to figure out the best way to do things without actually going out there and doing it.

I think leaders often forget of the mistakes they made while they were learning and getting things up and going. I often have to remind myself how much trial and error there was to get to this point.

I’m entrusting a lot of my team to handle things while I’m out on vacation this next week. Yes, it scares me a bit, but I have full trust that they will execute. They are smart and we’ve armed them with everything we can. Sometimes the best way for people to learn is just to learn by doing. It may not be perfect, but they’ll be even better coming out on the other side of it.

This admittedly has been one of the hardest parts about growing Secfi. I’ve gone from doing pretty much everything to having to hire people who will take over these functions. It’s tough to let go often, but it’s also a beautiful thing to watch when someone takes what you’ve built and makes it even better.

I’m lucky to have an amazing team that’s going to keep things rolling while I’m out. I expect to come back to a lot of wins in just the week I’m gone.