Kelly Vaughn: How to Navigate Career Transitions and Build Meaningful Relationships

Links

- Codecrafters (sponsor): https://tej.as/codecrafters

- React Brussels: https://react.brussels

- React Africa: https://react-africa.com

- Kelly on X: https://x.com/kvlly

- Spot AI: https://spot.ai

- Tejas on X: https://x.com/tejaskumar

Summary

Kelly Vaughn, Director of Engineering at Spot AI, shares her unique career journey from self-taught coder to entrepreneur and now corporate leader. She discusses running a Shopify agency, co-founding a venture-backed startup, and transitioning to her current role. Key points include:

- The challenges of running an agency and managing employee livelihoods

- Insights on bootstrapping vs. venture funding for startups

- The importance of genuine relationships and networking in career growth

- Adapting to different company stages and cultures

- Navigating the transition from entrepreneur to corporate employee

- The value of diverse backgrounds in tech leadership roles

Kelly emphasizes the importance of self-reflection, embracing change, and learning from failures throughout one's career journey.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro

00:05:08 Spot AI: Video Intelligence

00:12:46 Dealing with Rapid Growth

00:17:05 Getting into Tech

00:22:25 TapRoom Consultancy/Shopify

00:32:35 Running a Consultancy

00:39:09 Venture Capital or no?

00:40:08 Shutting Down Consultancy

00:41:11 Attention, Effort, Mistakes as a Path to Growth

00:47:26 The Pressure of Running a Business

00:52:05 How to find a job: networking

01:01:02 Being taken advantage of

01:04:59 How Kelly got her audience

01:08:31 Big audience problems

01:12:01 Therapist and Engineering Leadership

01:18:18 Boundaries

01:26:06 Advice for Founders

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