Overview

Welcome to CollegeVine! We're growing quickly and this document was originally conceived as a way to help new team members onboard faster—it's easier if you don't have to guess.

This is version 2 of the document, so I've taken all the feedback I've heard over the years and solved for the most common use cases. Basically, I made it so that you can get progressively greater insight into working with me, reading up to whatever breakpoint makes sense.

Think of these like plans in a SaaS offering, with better features at each tier 🙂

  1. Oumuamua: the best plan if you have never interacted with me before (it's free!)
  2. Comet: the best plan if you'll be interacting with me regularly, but not deeply
  3. Solar System: the best plan if you're in my org, but you don't report to me directly
  4. Satellite: the best plan if you're my direct report
  5. Syzygy: the best plan if we're on the same first team

(Parity check—in case you're not into celestial metaphors: e.g., if you're in my org, but not my direct report, you can read sections 1, 2, and 3 and skip 4 and 5, unless you're curious.)

đź—żOumuamua

(aka I have never interacted with you before)

What I do

I co-founded CollegeVine and currently inhabit the COO role. I do a lot of things, but for the most part, I think of myself as the owner of the CollegeVine “Work UX”. In fact, my goal is to create a going-to-work UX that is beloved—not just by those who are already here, but also by those who haven’t discovered us yet.

At a more operational level, I work with the leaders of each function in the company to make sure our people and processes contribute to an antifragile system; that is, one that gets better under pressure. I generally try to make it so that our business goals are the natural consequence of that system.

Here for an interview?

Statistically, this is the most likely reason you're considering the Oumuamua plan. I think most people would describe me as friendly, genuine, and curious as an interviewer. I've also heard people say that I'm easy to talk to and that I make people feel seen.

My approach is very much to separate the “getting to know you” part from the “are you right for this job” part, which I'll consider only after our conversation has ended. After all, how can I know the latter without being clear on the former?

I'll also appreciate that you'll likely be a little nervous, but trust that I won't be adding any nervous energy from my end. In my career, I've done something like 2000 interview motions at this point (be it a phone screen, interview, reference check etc.) and it's pretty natural by now.

What you can do for me as an interviewee (assuming we're on zoom):