The soul of startups : the untold stories of how founders affect culture

"In the middle of the pandemic when the world was turned upside down overnight, some of us out there were still so consumed by the notoriety of startup behaviors while most of us were mourning the loss of freedom, a social life and some, families and friends. I thought to myself, surely people stuck at home don't need to read more about who's done what wrong to who, but I was clearly naie. I was still getting calls from journalists asking if I could comment on why Revolut was being a malicious employer yet again. So, I picked up a pen (yes physically at first) and started writing down what would have been my answers to their questions. It began to look like a long overdue angered letter by a bitter, bitter ex-employee who might have felt they had missed out on riding the waves of something bigger than a unicorn. But the more I wrote the more I realized, it was me that was too at fault. I circled at my own behaviors, my misperceptions, the allowances I made as excuses for poor behaviors of leaders that continued to encourage their disrepute. I was half the problem there. This book is about the journeys of startup operators in both the bad and good forms. Some have had the luxury of being in healthy, thriving environments but I credit this to their ability to set boundaries for both themselves and their leaders. They clearly knew what they were doing, what fitted them, not because they were lucky. I sadly did not learn this until after I survived a train crash in this ecosystem. Since then, I continued to learn from my mistakes (I genuinely hope you will too) and was able to stay a mile away from those who weren't suited for what I needed."