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Read on for the journey that led me to Stir, why I joined, and why you should consider joining as well.
Hi everyone!
An exciting announcement — I recently joined as a Product Engineer at Stir, an early-stage company dedicated to empowering creators with tools to start, grow, and run great businesses.
I was first introduced to Stir in October 2020 by a friend and early investor, Li Jin.
At the time, I was a part of the On Deck Founder Fellowship and had been searching for a co-founder for the better part of the year, with little success. Consequently, I became open to the idea of joining as an early employee instead.
Li connected me with Joe and Kushal and from our intro call (which they took less than 24 hours after being connected) I felt a special chemistry.
I’d recently realized that my life’s passion is to help others succeed. In the past, I’d found the most joy in teaching and mentoring; in my next role as either a founder or an employee I wanted to create something that helped others achieve their goals. It became abundantly clear when we spoke that Joe and Kushal shared this passion and Stir was a company that was born out of a burning desire to help creators succeed.
But even more than our shared mission, I was amazed at how our conversation felt like talking to old friends. In my prolonged search for a co-founder, none of my conversations were as easy and free-flowing as this one.
The following week, I spoke to everyone on the Stir team and several of their investors but despite having nothing but positive interactions, I couldn’t shake my desire to be a founder. I’d seen the success that Joe and Kushal had in finding each other through the very On Deck fellowship that I was presently in, and thought (perhaps naively) that maybe things would be different in the coming months.
A few months later, some personal news forced my hand and I could no longer afford to take the risk of founding my own venture. Moreover, during that time I realized that I wasn’t quite ready anyway; I needed more experience. My focus immediately shifted to Stir as the best place to gain that experience.
Thankfully, Joe and Kushal were empathetic to my situation and incredibly supportive as we discussed how my thoughts had changed since October and why Stir was the perfect place for me to advance my career. Now, I’m thrilled to be a part of the Stir team, helping our creators day after day.
Why I joined Stir
After first receiving an offer from Stir in October, I had a chance to speak with Hunter Walk, another early investor in the company. One of his insights was, (paraphrasing for brevity):
“Sometimes, all that matters is working on a product you believe in, with people you want to work with.”
In retrospect, he was completely right. With each member of the Stir team, I’d felt a level of camaraderie that I hadn’t found in months of searching for a co-founder. Beyond that, I fully believed in Stir’s mission of empowering creators and their roadmap of how to achieve it. For me, it was as simple as building a product that I desperately wanted to see in the world with people that I believed I could have lifelong friendships with.
In addition, both Joe and Kushal were (and still are) incredibly supportive of my desire to one day start a company. Since I’ve joined, they’ve proactively included me in conversations with investors, and they continually answer any question I have about one day starting my own business. Whether I end up at Stir for the next four years or the next 40 — it was clear that joining Stir would help me grow both personally and professionally.
Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to work at a company whose raison d'être was to serve its users. From drops such as Presubscribe to the core product, it was clear from the start that Stir existed to serve creators. Each and every product decision is made by questioning how creators could better grow or manage their business. Personally, I haven’t seen that level of dedication to customer success at any other company.
Why you should join Stir
There are many platitudes that I could easily list for why someone should join Stir:
Speed
As a team, we operate with incredible speed — we design, build and learn from new features and products for our creators every week.
Ownership
Each person on the team has ownership over the product. As a small team in search of product-market fit, each one of us must take on responsibility for all aspects of the product and how the pieces come together.
People
Every team member is an authentically good person. Everyone is empathetic to each other, and to our creators. We all genuinely care about each other’s well-being. Like Hunter said, sometimes it is as simple as working with people you like.
Yet, all of those reasons pale in comparison to the most important one — at its core, Stir is a mission-driven company.
We envision a world driven by creators — a world in which each and every person can share their talents and knowledge across the globe. And powering that world, is Stir.
Not only will our tools and products help creators run their businesses but they will actively grow the creator economy by engendering new creators and helping them succeed.
We will achieve our goals. I’ve witnessed the dedication, grit, and passion that our team has and it’d be foolish to bet against us. We will help shape this new world driven by creators, and in servicing our creators Stir will change the world.
If you’re someone who believes in our mission and wants to help creators of all kinds run amazing businesses, there is no better place to be than Stir.
If you’re interested in joining Stir and helping creators succeed, or you just want to learn more about Stir please reach out! You can email me at hari@usestir.com, DM me on Twitter, or apply through our jobs page.
