Nadia Matin
Strategic Ops
Choice and growth
When I was little, I collected stickers that I refused to use. I would have page after page of them, of gold stars and sparkling letters, animals and rainbows and rocketships, but would leave them in wait for the proper occasion of their use. I waited. And waited. And waited. I waited until, one day, I couldn’t find them. I knew I could only use each of them once and, not wanting to risk putting them in the wrong place, I used none of them.As I got older, I realized I would never find the perfect place to put a sticker. Instead, by placing one, I would learn where the next would go. I learned this by making choices about my university, my habits, my majors, and my friends. By pursuing my passions instead of waiting for the perfect path, I was able to make a choice that would maximize that which was important to me now to grow. This is why, when looking for opportunities after college, I began to look into startups.
When interviewing at DevRev, I was struck not by the cog in the machine type of career but rather an opportunity to be and improve myself while influencing the growth of such a new organization. Here was a company that believed in passion, believed in education, and believed in the pursuit of ideas so much that the founders were willing to risk leaving their previous billion dollar public company to start it. It was a team of inclusion and heart, one that exemplified the opportunities of the individual and the importance of having a community. When I received an offer, I knew that I was making the right choice in joining because this was one that afforded me the chance to keep pursuing different ideas, to interact with and grow from independently minded people, and to give my time to a cause where it was valued more than monetarily.
In a world where our choices after college often lead to careers many of us thought unimaginable our freshmen year, joining a startup has allowed the opportunity to continue growing and make meaningful contributions. Instead of a finite choice, a startup is the choice of many more choices. Choice to do something new and contribute something great. Page after page of stickers - so many that I don’t mind giving myself a gold star.