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By Eldar Damari, Co-Founder & CTO at Entor
It’s been a unique quarter and an eventful month for many of us. For me, it surely has been one to remember: Just a couple of weeks ago we welcomed to the world my new baby boy, Harel, and if you think a startup is a challenge like no other - guess how is doing that while taking the first step in parenting.
As a Co-Founder & CTO of a bustling startup and a new dad, my life has been a whirlwind of exciting challenges and learning experiences. Balancing the demands of leading a high-growth tech company with the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood has been an enlightening journey. Surprisingly, I found out there are quite a few similarities between the two realms, something that also helped me try and combine them - or let each one positively influence the other.
1. Navigating without a Roadmap
In both the tech world and as a parent, I often navigate an uncharted path. Every day is a new adventure, whether it’s responding to my son’s needs or making strategic decisions for our product. It’s about embracing the unknown and making the best choices with the knowledge at hand. In both capacities, I’d always opt for trying to know more, having more visibility, and relying on experience - but also accept that time is of the essence and decisions have to be made quickly and without full control over consequences.
2. Tuning into Feedback
Just as every little signal from my son provides valuable insights into his needs, customer feedback is crucial in guiding our product development. It's about being attentive, interpreting the signals correctly, and making adjustments that nurture growth and satisfaction. At Entor we are embracing the idea of dogfooding and use our software to make sure we strategically and proactively respond to feedback from our customers and market intelligence. Thankfully, they scream much less than babies do (for now).
3. Celebrating Every Milestone
Every achievement is a stepping stone towards larger goals, no matter how small. Be it Harel mastering a new skill or our product reaching a new benchmark, these moments are worth celebrating. They remind us of the progress we're making and keep us motivated. A baby grows so fast in the first few weeks, just like Entor is at the current time when we accelerate - it’s easy to forget we have to stop, celebrate, and take a breather.
4. Making Decisions on the Fly
In the realms of startups and parenting, swift and impactful decision-making is vital. Every choice, from the day-to-day care of my little one to prioritizing features in our product, has significant implications. Developing the skill to make these decisions efficiently is crucial. At Entor we always use technology as a “decision supporting system” and try to make sure all the information, including impact, is visible - but the decision eventually has to be made by the human in charge. In parenting, decisions are swift and perhaps more emotional.
5. Embracing Flexibility
Whether it’s adapting to my son's ever-changing needs or the dynamic demands of the tech market, flexibility and being agile is key. It involves balancing well-laid plans with the readiness to pivot when necessary. At Entor we’ve had to make some hard decisions and make changes along the way - driven by changing market conditions. It changed everything: our team structure, our focus, our pace. Similarly, being a parent changed everything in my personal life - and the change keeps coming as we learn more elements of parenting.
6. Keeping the Bigger Picture in Mind
Both in raising a child and in leading a company, the long-term vision is essential. It's about making choices that not only address immediate challenges but also lay the groundwork for future growth and success. I keep thinking about the future I want to create for Harel - and similarly, how the technology we build is made-for-scale and will support increased amounts of data from bigger customers and advanced use cases; I know founders using the toolkit of their companies in personal life might be annoying - but just like we work with every new customer on defining what good looks like a year from now, and diving into their OKRs as a way to tie our product to their desired business goals - my wife Noa and I are painting what our future together will look like as a family, and driving towards that.
7. The Power of Teamwork
In both family life and at work, the support and collaboration of others have been invaluable. Whether it’s friends and family helping with my son or my team at the office, their support is what makes navigating these challenges possible. I can’t imagine how much harder it would have been to keep Entor R&D running these past few weeks without both our amazing team in the office and our “Parenting backoffice” of devoted friends and the new grandparents helping with our little one.
As I juggle the responsibilities of being a brand new father (for the first time!) and the challenges of being a CTO and Co-Founder at a tech company during trying times (also, for the first time!), I've come to appreciate the journey's ups and downs. And while nothing beats the joy of a child's smile, I’m also relieved that my work team sticks to tech problems and leaves diaper changes out of it;
Here's to embracing the adventures of parenthood and startup life, step by step, while always pushing to become better and grow from each experience, especially in this interesting year ahead of us.