I was born and raised in Flourtown, a suburb just outside of Philadelphia. I attended Germantown Friends School (GFS), a small liberal Quaker school that, as hippy dippy as it may sound, has had perhaps the greatest influence on the person I am today (I’ll come back to that later). At GFS, I learned important things like: 1) it’s ok to be weird; 2) chase your passions, and; 3) embrace diversity. With a wide array of passions and interests (ever heard of beat boxing???), I was fortunate to be in a school that allowed me to straddle a number of different communities/groups at GFS (sports, music, art, etc.), and I grew comfortable interfacing with the incredibly diverse individuals who made up these worlds - something that’s proven to be immensely helpful and rewarding as I’ve gotten older
When I graduated from GFS I headed up to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, or as we liked to call it: “Wes Tech”. Wesleyan was a larger, more eccentric version of GFS, eloquently captured in the student mantra: “Keep Wesleyan Weird.” As an outdoor enthusiast and recreational scientist (going hiking or camping? - drop me a line), I naturally fell in love with Earth and Environmental science (E&ES), my eventual major.
Determined to find work in the clean tech industry after graduating from Wesleyan in 2011, I was lucky enough to find a job at Performance Systems Development (PSD), a local energy efficiency software and consulting firm. At PSD I had the opportunity to work directly under the Chief Strategy Officer, and was responsible for a wide variety of things, including: software product design/development; market analysis; website design & development, and; branding and marketing. While I learned a lot of great things at PSD, perhaps my proudest accomplishment during my tenure there was a gut renovation of a house in East Passyunk that a work buddy and I tackled on weekends over a span of two years (check out the pics).
Anyway, after leading a sales call with the Public Utility Commission of New Jersey that didn’t go as planned, I decided that it was important that I learn how to sell. So in 2014, I left PSD in pursuit of a client facing role and landed as a sales rep at RJMetrics (RJ), a prominent tech startup in Philadelphia providing business intelligence solutions for online businesses. Within my first year as a rep at RJ, I was promoted to a Team Lead position, through which I had the opportunity to grow and manage a team of 20 reps. As one of the most successful tech startups in the city with over 20M in funding, it often felt like we were on a rocket ship heading to the moon. However, there was a dark side to being a venture backed company: pressure, and lots of it. During my tenure at RJ I forgot about life outside of work and the things that mattered to me (i.e. exercise, family time, cooking, etc.). Despite early growth of the company that led to a successful series B, we struggled to find our niche overall. In an attempt to find this sweet spot, RJ made a strategic shift to build out a more self-serve SaaS product late last year, and I -- along with 25 others in sales and customer success departments tasked with selling our enterprise platform -- was laid off. To say that it hurt is an understatement. But looking back on it now, it was a blessing in disguise. Enter stage left: Natalie Nagele.
Natalie was one of the first people to contact me when news of the layoffs hit the Philly tech scene, which was a huge pick-me-up. I visited the Wildbit offices the same week the layoffs took place, and she and I had an engaged conversation about her desire to introduce sales to Postmark. I love building things and processes so this definitely got my creative juices going. The most memorable part of our conversation was her commitment to bring sales to Wildbit in a way that would complement the company culture, not disrupt it. This resonated deeply with me, as I believe that a good sales process should inform and be informed by customer success, product development, marketing, strategy - not exist siloed away from rest of the company. Also, remember when I said I’d get back to GFS, well, Natalie also mentioned that she was sending her daughter, Sophia, to GFS…this hit a special chord for me. Like many of the others who have joined the team here at Wildbit, I knew after my first interaction with Natalie that Wildbit was a different breed of company.
When Natalie and I first spoke, she was months away from wanting to bring someone on for the role and I, still reeling from all that went down at RJ, told her that I needed to take some “me time” to reflect on what I wanted next in my career. I told her about my rather insane plan to conduct that reflection off-grid at a collaborative maker space in South Philly called NexFab - something that she was wildly supportive of (yet another sign that Wildbit was special). What became clearer and clearer to me as I taught myself how to use CNC routers, laser cutters, and pursued conversations with dozens of companies of all different shapes and sizes was that Wildbit was the right next step for me.
I’m thrilled to be here and can’t wait to meet everyone on this team in person. Most important, I’m thankful that Natalie came knocking on my door 3 months ago. After only a week on the job, I feel at home with a group of people committed to building great things, staying true to themselves, and living values that most other companies only talk about.
There is a lot of work to be done, but as the old adage goes “life is about the journey, not the destination.” I couldn’t be more thankful and excited to be on a journey with all of you.