Hi, I’m Pia.
Originally from California, I moved to London several years ago to start a new adventure.
With the exception of a short stint in banking early in my career, my background is tech, through and through.
For the past decade, I’ve operated in all sorts of VC-backed tech companies: I was the third employee of a mobility start-up, ran strategy & ops for a Series-B food delivery business and led the UK market for Europe’s most valuable unicorn fintech.
I’ve had to let go of entire parts of organisations and have even been made redundant myself. I’ve worked for incredible leaders and some pretty toxic ones too. I’ve had to beg investors for bridge loans to keep our company alive and also enjoyed the employee perks that come after a fresh round of funding. I’ve had to pivot GTM strategies more times than I can count and have witnessed and/or led the restructuring of legacy teams.
Some of these experiences were really tough. You might even say, chaotic…
In each instance, I felt alone - as if I was the first person in history to ever experience that type of chasm in a company.
What I’ve come to realize is that, not only was I not alone, this is entirely normal.
This is the secret that nobody ever tells you…
In much the same way that there is no perfect family, there is no perfect company. If a company grows, there will inevitably be chaos.
Finding product market fit, fundraising while also operating, understanding productivity, testing acquisition strategies, optimizing unit economics, hiring too fast, hiring too senior, waiting too long to fire the wrong person, and the list goes on and on and on…
But here’s the thing: chaos isn’t the enemy!
I promise that you will work in at least 1 highly chaotic company. Probably more. Lucky you. This is where the real experience (and fun) is hiding.
The second secret they don’t tell you is that chaos is entirely manageable - even enjoyable - if you have a great team.
I wish someone had told me that when I graduated and started my career. I wish someone had shared their war stories with me. I wish I knew that working in the messy middle wasn't the exception, but the norm. I wish someone had told me that what I was experiencing was actually what they teach you in the 2nd semester of business school (except I was getting paid to learn it first-hand. Lucky, right?!).
I wish I knew of the many great leaders who scaled through chaos.
So I finally decided to create a dedicated place for that: an almanac of stories from the people who have led companies through chasms of chaos - the good, the bad and the ugly.
Some stories of my own and many of those of others.