The Long and Winding Road
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” -Steve Jobs
I wasn’t in that category. There was a feeling I had, that there was something more for me, and that my passion for things was to strong to not be doing something I loved and cared about. That’s not to knock Accenture, its an amazing place, with truly amazing driven talented people. An excerpt of my goodbye letter says it best: “This has been the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, as I never thought I’d be walking away from this company this soon. However, you don’t know where life is going to take you or the opportunities that may present themselves. I can truly say that I have enjoyed every single person whom I’ve met within this company, and had an amazing experience here. There are days that are tougher than others and sometimes the work can wear on us, but in the end it is the people who you work alongside that get you through. The project teams I’ve been a part of have done quality work for the clients, and I’ve enjoyed the experience of delivering that work immensely. There have been so many people at Accenture who have gone out of their way to mentor me, unconditionally, and for that I will always be truly grateful.”
That brings us to Uber. I’ve had an infatuation with technology my entire life. I’ll never forget seeing the Internet for the first time in my elementary school’s computer lab. I’ll never forget my parent’s first computer, and coming home from school and seeing my family huddled around playing with the paint program. I’ll certainty never forget getting a 56k modem and being able to download music from Napster.
Even more so, that brings us to Uber. I read technology blogs regularly. When I read about an interesting company, I’d Google everything I could about the people involved and how they got to where they were. I was looking for the playbook, the instructions on how to be successful and create something. I’d go as far as to contact these people, mostly not hearing anything back and occasionally coming off as creepy (potentially). Even with a few decent responses, it still had gotten me nowhere. I needed someone to say, “alright, you’re a passionate kid, I’ll give you a shot to get involved in this great thing I’m creating”.
This was what I was truly looking for: an opportunity.
I was looking for an opportunity when I emailed the CEO of Uber. The company looked great, they’d seen insurmountable success in San Francisco, had recently expanded to New York, received over $11 million in funding, and were planning expansion into Chicago for late 2011. I had to be involved in that expansion into Chicago.
However, the dream email response from the CEO never came.
Through LinkedIn, I found an employee of Uber who was the General Manager in New York (figured I was aiming high with the CEO). I tweeted at him, asking to follow me so I could send him a private message, and he did. He was able to get me in touch with Ryan Graves, the VP of Uber and we talked soon after. For a number of reasons, the call did not go well and ended with a sort of “if you don’t hear from me then please send me an email next month.” After the work I did to get in touch with him, this was not the dynamite performance I was looking for. So I waited, and in some ways, didn’t think it was going to work.
About two weeks later, the scene was 5:45pm Thursday evening. I was reading a few tech blogs and randomly came across Ryan’s twitter account and his newest tweet: “I’m in Chicago. I’ll be at English bar from 6:00-8:00pm to discuss Uber’s launch in Chicago.” This was during a time of late hours at work, and at least an hour’s drive into the city. I decided to give it a shot, telling my manager I had to leave and raced downtown. Arriving a little over an hour later, I met Ryan and we had a great conversation. This however, was only the beginning. I spent the next few months literally tracking his whereabouts in Chicago. We laughed after I was hired, that I was border-lining enthusiastic and stalker during that time.
Even after all that, there was a final email in which he questioned whether or not I had what it took to be successful in the role. I was to somewhat of a breaking point (and so were my family and friends), so this response was more defensive, and described the elements of risk that I was taking on as well, and that I thought I had already proven my competency. The result: an offer from Uber.
It was an insane path to this job, which is part of the reason I’m so motivated to make it a success. Most importantly, I feel already, like it’s going to get me down the path to personal satisfaction in my work. Not only that, but I want the result of my work to change things, and to make a positive impact on others. This is what Steve Jobs was speaking about.
I can be selfish at times, there’s no doubt (we’ll see how long I can get away with the 20-something ego-driven male excuse). The people closest to me, parents, sister, roommates, family, friends, have put up with a lot over last few months. Most importantly, their advice, and sometimes therapy, is what has gotten me to this point. I would not be anywhere close to where I am, without the help of others.
Now I suggest, you Uber.
For reference: Uber is an on-demand private driver service that you enable through your mobile device. For more information please see our website at http://Uber.com or check out our twitter http://twitter.com/uber_chi