Last summer I joined Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda as Chief Growth Officer, with a straightforward mission: to build a high-performing growth organisation. A lot has changed during this time, and so has the scope of my role. After multiple conversations and careful consideration, I realised that I simply don’t belong to the crypto world, so I decided to step down from my role and move on.

The Bitpanda Adventure

Being a Panda took me on a personal growth journey and I’ve learnt so many things along the way. I joined visionary founders in their quest to break down the barriers and enable people easy access to financial markets. Working in a company with an unparalleled focus on regulatory compliance, that does things right and does the right things, was a fantastic opportunity. I met incredible people along the way and it was an absolute pleasure building alongside them.

Building a rocketship while flying it has been a wild ride, frantic at times, exciting nevertheless. During my time at Bitpanda:

• We grew from 2.5 to 4M customers amidst challenging market conditions;
• We became the investment platform offering Europe’s broadest range of digital assets;
• We built a growth department fit for scope and scale;
• We built the product marketing function from scratch and elevated our go-to-market approach;
• We built the workflows to enable us to deliver at scale.

I had the opportunity to partner with a really talented team, relentless, ambitious and incredibly resilient, and I’m always going to be grateful for this. 

Saying goodbye to the crypto world

Despite all these, there are things you simply can’t control. Such as market sentiment, which dramatically changed for the worse over the past months. As a result, Bitpanda made fundamental changes in how it operates and scaled back the company. I had the mischievous task of managing the communications of the restructuring process. It was a weird and emotionally draining summer.

Faced with the ongoing negative sentiment and the imminence of a recession, Bitpanda’s strategy also needed to change. The company shifted back its focus towards the community, optimising the user experience and broadening the product offering for a different target audience. I believe wholeheartedly that this is the best way forward for the company. Unfortunately, it’s not the right one for me. The shift back towards the innovators’ community requires a different go-to-market approach, one for which I lack both the skill set required, and the passion to acquire it.

As Steve Jobs put it in his Stanford commencement speech, life’s too short to do something you’re not really passionate about.

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. […] “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford University in June 2005

While the decision to leave Bitpanda is bittersweet, I am confident this is the right thing to do. I am deeply grateful for all the learnings, the things I’ve discovered about myself, and, most importantly, the lifelong relationships and friendships I’ve built.

My Way Forward

Before I joined Bitpanda, I took a 4-months break. That was a fantastic decision, and that time off gave me so much clarity and energy. This is why I plan to do this again, hopefully longer this time around. And I have lots of plans for my active break.

First, travelling has always been a great opportunity to truly disconnect and reconnect with myself and my loved ones. This is why I plan to chase summer and discover the world with my adorably annoying family. All while writing more often, since writing has always been therapeutic for me.

On top of this, I’ve always been a nerd passionate learner and I plan to focus on my learning journey. This spring, I enrolled in the Stanford LEAD Executive Education Program. I am really happy I will be able to commit more time to get the most out of this fantastic learning experience. 

Last, but definitely not least, this time around I plan to have a more active break. When I left Revolut, I started working closely with a couple of founders. I’ve been advising them and working on special projects on growth and product marketing, helping them craft their positioning, refine their go-to-market strategies, build their teams and solve different types of problems. I discovered I really enjoy these thought partnerships and the “heads-in, hands-out” approach, so I will continue doing this.

In the end, discovering what’s not right for you is equally important with understanding what is. In hindsight, I’m really grateful for having had the opportunity to work with Bitpanda. This is how I discovered that the crypto industry, no matter how appealing it might be, is a no-go for me.

I’m deeply passionate about all things healthtech, edtech, marketplaces and “the new mom” economy. I will keep pursuing opportunities in these areas, being them advisory & Boards, a full-time role, or even starting out on my own. I keep all options on the table for now and I’m genuinely excited to see what the future brings. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying a break before thinking any steps forward.