How my friend left his own company.
And went to travel through Asia to chill, pilot a drone, and find hist next passion.
In July 2020 my ex-colleague and friend Casper, together with his business partner, started their startup - Supplai. It has now grown (already!) into quite a successful company from a 2 person startup they were back then. Since Casper knew me well and we’ve trained not one hundred models together, he asked if I could join them to some extent and help with establishing some of the machine learning processes, hire people, help with the projects - all that.
I joined Supplai on a part-time basis in October 2021, and since then I am still working with Supplai. But Casper - doesn’t. He left the company, that he co-founded, at the beginning of 2023. I kinda felt it coming, but of course, wasn’t sure.
I think it is an intriguing phenomenon when the founder leaves the company, and fortunately, Casper wrote a post about it: why he left, what he felt, what is it like being CTO in a startup, what has ADHD to do with that, and what he wants now. I re-post it here, it is worth reading. Below is the original post as Casper wrote it.
𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐈 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐘
"Seriously?! You are leaving supplai? Why?"
This reaction I got from most people after I informed them about my decision. A reaction I fully understood, because to most -myself included- it seemed like I had everything I always said (and thought) I wanted; my own company, which was growing at a healthy rate and had a great team. 🚀
So how was I going to explain this to everyone, to myself even? The unexpected realization of the unhappiness about my job came some months earlier. As the CTO of a growing #AI startup my responsibilities were obviously very volatile. When Koen de Jong I started supplai almost three years ago most of my hours were spent writing code, but as we grew to a company of 10+ people that changed a LOT! 🤯
I became less of a Machine Learning Engineer and more of an actual CTO. My days now mostly consisted of managing projects and people, setting up infrastructures, strategic planning, creating frameworks, client and supplier meetings, writing proposals for subsidies and so on.
With this shift in responsibilities came my unhappiness. I've come to realize that I thrive when doing deep focus work, such as writing code, that I can put all of my attention into. This gets me in 'the zone'. On the other hand, I find it very difficult to have 'fragmented' days that consist of dozens of small tasks. It costs me a huge amount of energy to have to re-focus on a new task many times throughout each day. I believe a great deal of this has to do with my #ADHD. Although this is a big downside of ADHD, on the other hand it also allows for an unparalleled amount of focus and output when in the zone. ⚡
𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭?
That question has been going through my head frequently for the past few months, while Sophie van Bragt and me have been traveling through Asia. Creating content with my drone, freelancing as an #ML Engineer or starting a dive shop on some remote island? 🤔
While I don't know the concrete answer just yet, and don't know when I will, I'm trying to embrace the uncertainty and be open to every possibility. It's kind of scary and pretty hard most of the time, but also an amazing opportunity to learn about myself and figuring out what makes me happy. 🌱
I will always look back on my startup adventure with gratitude and pride, knowing I've learned SO much! From understanding what it takes to build a company to all the technical skills I had to learn to take ideas to implementation; truly an experience of a lifetime! ✨
Finally, I would like to express my thankfulness to everyone at supplai for the amazing adventure we shared these last years, and wish them all the best for the future. I am excited to see where the road will lead! 🙏
I think this picture I took with my drone while in Indonesia beautifully represents where I am right now; at the top of waterfall, ready to make the jump, with infinite paths to choose from.
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