As I receive farewell messages, calls and texts from founders, I can’t help but feel a tinge of imposter’s syndrome.
Every message I’ve received is from someone who took the leap. Dove in. Put in the hard graft and battled through the hard days. In comparison, what I’ve done is very small. Every night I fell asleep with no responsibilities to shareholders, or employees and the security of my next paycheck. It’s felt easy.
Yet I hear that my minor contribution made a significant difference to their journey. Things as easy as listening, challenging, and encouraging have been enough. It’s strange to hear the impact those seemingly small actions have made. It doesn’t feel congruent.
Six years, countless memories, and endless innovation - all captured in these startup shirts and merch! See any familiar faces (or logos?)
So instead of “You’re welcome.”, I say Thank You.
Thank you to each founder that chose to take on their dragons.
Thank you for letting me watch.
Thank you for letting me contribute.
When I arrived at Startup Dunedin almost six years ago, I had a full head of hair and I thought I knew everything. Neither of those things are true anymore, but every step I’ve walked alongside a founder has helped my confidence. Much of my self-esteem has been derived from delivering real value to founders. No fluff, no nonsense, just actually useful connections, resources and support.
Integrity is important to me, something which I can thank Casey Davies-Bell for role-modeling and Rachel Butler for reinforcing. Showing integrity allows you to be proud and I’m proud of Startup Dunedin. I’m proud that in a startup scene which can be hype before substance, that we consistently chose integrity. I’m proud that we chose (and still choose) to be founder first.
I’m also very proud to say I’m from Dunedin. I’m proud because of the dozens of exceptional people that choose to call this small city home. I can’t list everyone that has contributed to my time in this great city, but you know who you are. Thank you for showing me how to carry myself. Thank you for showing what it means to represent our town.
Anyway, that’s all a bit melodramatic. As they say: “Work is just work. Don’t confuse your colleagues with your friends. And don’t think it means anything more than the paycheck.”
“Only fools do that.”
Well I might just be a fool for the rest of my life.
So long for now.
Angus Pauley
Pictured: Merch from Spout, Scannable, Cheeky Hard Iced Tea, VentureUp, Kitt, Next Farm, Startup Weekend, Geia, Young Enterprise, Blackbird