Originally written for Angry Ventures at 16 April 2020.
Hello there. I would like to start by giving you a bit of background about me. My name’s Rui and I joined Angry Ventures’ team a bit over a month ago. For the last eight years, I’ve been freelancing and building my own projects.
I used to work mainly alone and with that came the need to learn a bit about everything and a lot of stress too. When you don’t have anyone to resort to or a team, times flies and deadlines seem more and more oppressive. Ultimately, there is no knowledge in the world that can save you from feeling overwhelmed by it all, especially if you have to switch from design to development to marketing to business development at a moment’s notice.
Last year, I had the luck to enter an entrepreneurship program. The project enabled me to join forces with two people (a videographer and a marketeer) to try and develop a new app. Long story short, the app was shelved, but the feeling of wanting to join a bigger team remained.
I was honestly tired of trying to be a one-man army and I wanted to see how much further I could push my skills with a great team by my side. It was then when the universe heard my silent screams and brought Angry Ventures to my path.
A brand new opportunity
“Angry Ventures is the consequence of people from diverse backgrounds coming together to idealize, craft and grow tech products.” I was dumbfounded to know that a place like this could even exist. I didn’t want to join a big company and be just another cog in the machine. Angry Ventures ticked all the boxes I was looking for and I went for it.
Fast forward a month and I can’t phantom going back to the ‘single life.’ It’s so much better and inspiring when you realize that you’re surrounded by masters of their craft: Tiago with his ninja marketing skills, Michel, who’s excellent in using the Force on project management, Fernando, who is like a mixture of Professor X and Nick Fury, and so many more. I could spend this whole post just praising every individual member of our team because we’re positively like the avengers – everyone’s different but so much stronger together.
This new experience has genuinely transformed my views about work. When you can ask for help, join forces to fix problems or get new solutions, everything is easier. A situation like this is only possible when you have a shared mindset of greatness, ownership, transparency, humbleness, in which everyone wants to see everybody succeed and grow, not be inferior, dumber or weaker.
Furthermore, possessing the possibility to focus on doing what makes you happy is truly transcendent.
The most important thing for me is the way that these principles — that Angry Ventures instills and are at the core of what makes us different — create a feeling of family, an “I’ve got your back” attitude. No one is isolated; everyone is always available to hear you out, to help you even if they’re full of work.
Now I don’t have to ‘turn on’ my ‘marketeer brain‘. I can just ask Tiago, Carolina, Telma or Joana for their insights and help. It removes such a heavy load off my shoulders to know I’ve got them by my side, that I can’t imagine going back to a reality in which I’m alone again.
For some, it may be challenging to have different inputs when all they comprehend is their way. I feared I could be like this, but now I think one of the most essential things in life is having an ‘open’ mindset, that is the only path to really grow, to be able to receive feedback in a positive light, instead of feeling criticized or that your skills are being downplayed.
A ‘people first’ approach
These conditions are only possible by having a ‘people first‘ approach: we’re not merely cogs in the machine; we’re human beings that have feelings, challenges, victories and defeats and, most importantly, everyone is unique and brings something unique to the table. When a team puts its members first, it gets the ‘superpower‘ to see any problem with different scopes and schools of knowledge.
We at Angry Ventures don’t merely have the ‘developers view’ or the ‘designers view’ or the ‘marketeer view.’ We’re an orchestra of brains working in unison to bend any challenge to its knees.
With this mindset, our selves can truly shine. There’s no unnecessary peer pressure or a rigid way of producing things. Everyone is free to share anything that’s on their mind, whether it is about a project, our internal processes or something that’s been bothering them. I think this is crucial for a group of people to come together and reach new places.
Conceivably it’s because of that that being remote for the prior month hasn’t been difficult. Having in mind the sundry examples of companies struggling to organize themselves with this new pandemic, it’s inspiring to know we’re prepared for anything and that together everything can be overcome.