30 days ago I walked through the (virtual) doors of Uncapped - a global fintech funding high growth ecommerce and SaaS businesses via non-dilutive capital.
It’s an industry I’m familiar with, but that did nothing to calm the new job butterflies.
It’s probably because I’ve admired the company for so long that being brought in to lead Uncapped’s community, brand and content efforts felt…well, surreal.
I’ve experienced a lot in these 30 days and I thought it would be fun to reflect on and share what they’ve looked like for me.
Kicking off with a remote onboarding
I couldn’t wait to get started and begin helping some of the world’s most forward-thinking founders and businesses 10x their high growth trajectories.
Uncapped is a remote-first company which meant my onboarding would be virtual.
Despite the pandemic having made WFH the norm, it still felt strange to begin a new role without physically seeing another person. And I was a little concerned about what a remote onboarding would look like, whether I’d really get to know the team and - candidly - if the culture would be what was promised in the interview process.
Culture can be difficult to maintain with distance. I mean, how many long distance relationships actually work out?
But I’m happy to report that after the first hour of being online, those concerns were long forgotten. I was blown away by the number of welcome messages I received and felt immediately welcomed despite the sometimes thousands of miles between us all.
Set up for success
From minute dot I felt looked after and set up ready to succeed. In fact, my laptop had arrived the day before along with my company swag and an onboarding schedule. Not to sound cheesy, but the hoodie is…unreal and felt like the company was giving me a warm embrace of welcome.
And to top it off, I was given a ‘home office budget’ to help me make my space as productive as possible.
I could tell that organization and employee wellbeing was at the forefront of the People Team’s minds.
Being brought up to speed
After I’d read through everyone’s welcome messages, it was time for my formal orientation or as I like to call it, information overload.
It was a lot to take in but thanks to the specialist decks with links to our company Notion page (our internal wikipedia) I had a place to refer back to. I’ve already learned, forgotten, relearned only to forget again, a lot so I’m eternally grateful this Uncapped encyclopaedia exists.
After initial hellos with my direct manager and the exec team, it was onto the tech stack setup and process run throughs. I’d like to take this moment to apologize to all who held my hand through this part—despite working for fintechs, I’m shockingly tech illiterate.
A fellow newbie summed it up perfectly by saying, ‘I never knew security awareness training could be so fun.’ Neither did I, and I totally get if you don’t believe when I say they were. Props to Rudy for leading an informative and engaging session on what could have been a boring topic.
After that, day one was in the books. I collapsed onto the sofa, brain completely foggy and unwound in front of a Friends episode I’d seen for the 35th time..
An unusual week 1
I couldn’t unwind for long because the next morning I was up early to catch the train to London.
I know, I know. I just said that Uncapped is remote first. They are! This week was a little unorthodox because I had tickets to attend a fantastic event thrown by our friends over at Sifted where I was able to meet members of the team in real life. I felt doubly lucky as I also would see our CEO and Founder, Piotr, speaking on stage.
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While Piotr had been part of my interview process (amazing to see the c-suite actually involved in the recruitment process - it’s rarely seen these days), it was amazing to hear the story of Uncapped’s founding from the founder himself in a room full of people.
Seeing how many people were interested in the speech made me proud and excited to be on this journey too.
The event might have made my first week unusual but it gave me a chance to hone and perfect my Uncapped elevator pitch.
It was a baptism by fire with a lot of ‘erms’ ‘ahhs’ and ‘I’ll get back to you on thats’. But it was also a great learning experience that left me more confident than I would have felt otherwise.
Getting stuck in
My first week at Uncapped zipped by which is indicative of how the company operates. Speed is the name of the game and a major reason for their expansive growth since being founded in 2019.
I find the best way to learn is by doing. So I was pleased when that sentiment was reciprocated throughout the business.
Over the next few weeks, I dove head first into tasks. There was a lot of trust and autonomy shown from the onset.
Sharing a growth mindset
Too often in corporate life, responsibilities are withheld for a period of time or there’s a distinct lack of appetite to allow new hires to run with an idea. The opposite is true at Uncapped where I was encouraged to get stuck in, experiment, and just crack on.
The mantra fail fast and learn quickly is upheld here and balanced by a follow-up of nurture, review, and support.
It gave me the confidence to run. By the end of week 3, I had planned campaigns, sat down with key customers, and met some of our investors. I’d contributed to strategy meetings, written content that had gone live across all channels, been given the reins of our social channels and even started planning a large Uncapped owned event. ←Hit me up if you want an invite!
I’d even taken 3 days of holiday. Taking time off so early into my tenure here could have been anxiety inducing but Uncapped’s unlimited holiday policy made me feel encouraged to take it without fear of being judged.
I was able to get away for a few days and still accomplish a great deal at work.
Month 1 reflections
As I reflect on my first 30 days, I think it’s the support and encouragement from Uncapped that I’ve really come to respect and love.
This is a fast moving and fast growing business in an equally fast moving industry and I easily could have gotten lost in all that speed.
But the infrastructure and ecosystem that’s been put in place shelves those worries and instead you’re given the confidence to lead the charge, compete in the industry and act in ways you think best.
A side effect of this is that all ideas are listened to, responded to, and respected. From CEO down, ideas flow freely. It’s an open culture where every Friday we have a company call to address the issues of the week and plan for how we can, as a collective, progress together.
Join the rocketship
And as we progress the business, we need more thinkers and more doers to help us accelerate the journey.
So have a browse of the available roles via the link below and come join the rocketship.
We’re only just getting started.
https://www.weareuncapped.com/careers
I can’t wait to hear about your first 30 days over a virtual coffee.
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