Farewell, Even
I joined Even in 2017, compelled by the mission and impressed by the founders. I thought I was putting my career on the backburner, not expecting to learn or grow too much, but boy, was I wrong. Over four years, I learned & grew more than I ever expected, as an engineer, manager, leader, and teammate.
I left Even this month for another opportunity (which I’ll share more about soon). Below is an excerpt of the note I shared internally to express my gratitude.
Dear Even,
As announced in Q&A today, I’m very sad to say that I’m leaving Even. 😢
I never expected to write this so soon! I wasn’t looking to leave — I love everything here from our mission and our culture to my day-to-day work and especially all of you. We’re also perhaps the best set up for success now, with David, Sam, and Preston now on board, than we’ve ever been before. An opportunity just came up for my own personal growth that I ultimately didn’t want to say no to.
I can’t express enough gratitude to all of you for how fulfilling you all made these 4 years for me. I especially want to thank Jon, Quinten, Ryan, and Jenny for building something so special and letting me be a part of it, Olivia & Will for being such high-caliber peers to work alongside & learn from, every member of my team who gave me the privilege of leading them, and every other engineer & Evener whom I had the pleasure of working or partnering with.
But I especially want to thank Evan. Evan has consistently been both one of my biggest supporters and one of my most challenging critics. He never hesitated to praise & thank me for what I did well, but also never hesitated to push me to do & be better. And even when his feedback was uncomfortable, it was usually valid — and it was always thoughtful and well-intentioned. Most importantly, he gave me so much opportunity to thrive, through ownership, sponsorship, and mentorship, for which I’m so grateful. I’ve learned & grown way more at Even than I ever expected to — and that’s in largest part thanks to Evan. Thank you, Evan.
The opportunity that I’m leaving for is to lead all of engineering at another (earlier-stage) startup, so I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my lessons learned at Even and what I want to take from my experience here and bring there. I’ve already written >50 lines of notes, and every day I keep adding more. Even has set a high bar, and I’m both so inspired and so daunted by that bar. I can only hope to create something as special as this.
So thank you all again. I wish you all an amazing next chapter, and I hope we all get to cross paths again. ❤️