Captain’s Log

• Moved to Panama: June 28, 2014

• First Day of Work: July 7, 2014

• Present Day: September 12, 2014

—

This week, on Monday Sep 8, 2014, marked the 2 months since I first started at Ubiqua. I moved to Panama on June 28th and started work on July 7th. Two months later, it’s been a fun ride with a lot of changes.

At the 2 week mark, what was predominant in my new role was the uncertainty and autonomy from starting a new job. Autonomy as a result of self-directed value creation; doing what I believe to be best for the company. Uncertainty from the lack of challenge-specific experience; trying to solve a problem you’ve never faced before.

At the 4 week mark, I was often overwhelmed; struggling with the feeling that the problems I was tackling were beyond the scope of what I knew. From a priorities perspective, my role had begun to take shape. I was getting better at identifying tasks that better fit my skillsets and are more influential to Ubiqua’s growth.

Fast forward 1 month later to the 8 week mark, I feel much more productive and confident than before. I’ve narrowed my focus to 2 major projects; both focused on the growth of Ubiqua’s client and user base. I’m building my own project management tools and sales materials. I’m leading projects, dealing with barriers, and keeping progress moving forward.

I still have ownership, autonomy, and am learning a lot of new things, fast… So far, so good.

These past 2 months have also been full of many “new” experiences and personal “founding moments”:

• Team Events:
  • UPenn “OutThink The Competiton” Event
  • CAPATEC Breakfast
  • Team Off-Site at Bijao Beach
  • Team Off-Site At the Anton Valley + Hiking the ‘India Dormida’
• Personal ‘Firsts’
  • First Sales Meeting, Pitch, Demo and Proposal
  • First Tech-Support Saturday
  • First Training Session for New Users
  • First Internal Debate (Priorities Meeting)
  • First ‘Wartime’ Period
  • First Time Leading a Client Account through the Sales Process
• And a whole lot of partying with friends and touring Panama City
  • Ruin Tour of Panama Viejo
  • Bar Hopping Casco Viejo
  • Bar Hopping Calle Uruguay
  • Paradise 507 Concert
  • Bro Trip: Buenaventura Beach + Valley

—

I’m looking forward to the changes and challenges to be faced in coming months. As processes and tasks get formalized, the next challenge will be to learn to automate them. As I focus on certain projects, my skillsets should become more specialized to certain functions; such as Sales and Ops. Finally, as we get better and better as a team and company, we’ll begin to scale our scope beyond the day-to-day fire-fighting into longer-term planning.

Salud, cheers and catch you next time!