How I stopped lawyering around and became baking powder?
It was several years ago when I found out that I was accepted to one of the best law schools in Turkey; like everyone who had been watching the infamous TV series “Suits” at that time, who I wanted to be was no one but “Harvey Specter”.
At the end of the first year, I was already a board member of the largest law student club in the university right before attending summer law schools consecutively at the University of Barcelona, and the University of Maynooth while my peers were ready to enjoy their summer holidays.
In my second year, keeping in mind that being a board member was not enough for me, I decided to pursue board member candidacy in Ankara Branch of the largest law student platform in Europe, “The European Law Students’ Association -ELSA”.
Yet, for the first time, I lost an election. I promised myself, it will not happen ever again.
Being aware of the fact that power was given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up, I kept pushing, pushing, and pushing; two months later, I was the vice president for marketing of the national board of ELSA. After a month, my university started paying my trip expenses which I would have been going for ELSA; it was the time when I was also in the university’s newspaper on the same page with my dean for my success in the representation of the university.
I knew all the hustle was worth it when I received an e-mail from the most reputable law firm in Turkey in Banking & Finance Law offering me an internship that would last for three months in the next summer; results were coming.
A few months later, there I was, handling some important stuff while wearing a bespoke suit. I was, however, not satisfied.
In my third year, I was offered a part-time internship in one of the top-tier law firms and accepted it right before deciding to pursue the presidency in Ankara Branch of ELSA. I was elected once again; a few months before getting elected as the vice president for marketing of ELSA Turkey for the second time.
When my third year ended, I had my internships arranged in three of the top-tier law firms for my three-month-long holiday. I was nailing it.
Spending my whole summer in those top-tier law firms after having worked for an entire year as a part-time intern in the aforementioned firm, I had this feeling, never-ending-unsatisfaction… I didn’t like any of the work even though I experienced several different fields of law. My hands were always tied with laws. I wanted to create, I wanted to inspire, I wanted to innovate; in a nutshell, I wanted to use my brain. I then realized that it would not be possible for me in lawyering, at least for the next ten years.
In my senior year, it occurred to me that maybe I was not meant to be a corporate lawyer; maybe I should be working in a much more smaller firm. You know what they say, it is better to be a lion in a small place than a sheep in the jungle… To follow this ambition, my next stop was to try a firm that did not accommodate a hundred lawyers inside.
After a week, without having a second thought, I found my job, with an amazing paycheck.
At the beginning of June, a week after my last final, I started working because my boss needed me. I had to take annual leave to attend my own graduation ceremony.
Having worked there for five months, I, once again, understood that this was not I wanted. I just couldn’t see myself lawyering two, three, four, or five years later. The things I have been handling during my work were not satisfying me at all.
After having experienced many law firms, now I was able to understand that firms were not the ones that dissatisfy me, I was the one who could not fit into those. It was the bitter truth.
With a new answer, a new question arose… What was I going to do? I could not just resign and look for another job, I had rent to pay and a cat to feed. I was a law graduate and nobody would hire me without an MBA or some kind of a master's, this was the second bitter truth. The third bitter truth was, even I didn’t know what I wanted to do; what I knew was what I did not want to do.
Did I have to work for around three years to earn some money and get some experience in order to get rid of this world where I could not fit in? I was desperate and coward. I was desperate because job opportunities for me were so scarce. I was a coward because I could not let my paycheck go.
Three years later, there I was, checking LinkedIn every day and trying to find a job.
In October 2018, I was talking with, back then my friend -now both my friend and my boss (sorry for the spoiler)-, Engin who I became acquainted with a year ago by courtesy of a colleague, and who was the Head of Growth and Expansion Department in Mutlubiev / Cleanzy. After telling him how unsatisfied I was; he just stood there, look at me, and asked me whether I would like to have an interview with them. My first reaction was “when?”.
Four days later, I was at their office with my bespoke suit, tie bars, printed CV, and original reference letters in my briefcase.
First, I got in the wrong direction after getting out of the elevator. Second, the CEO saw me going in the wrong direction. Third, the CEO welcomed me with a t-shirt and jeans. Four, I got so nervous and started sweating. Five, the CEO saw me sweating. Six, I gave the wrongest answers ever possible. Seven, I had the worst interview in my life. After the interview was over, it was obvious that I ruined my chance.
Tayga, the CEO, still says that he had “the most remarkable” interview with me.
Two days later, I got a call from Engin. He was telling me that he had faith in me even though Tayga did not approve. I was given the second chance, and this time I was not going to ruin it.
I accepted the offer immediately and proffered resignation as soon as our call was finished. Yet, I had no idea what was I going to do in my new job. I mean what did being a growth hacker mean anyways? I would have around three weeks till my new job starts so I started reading, listening, watching anything I could find regarding growth, retention, and startups.
In law, you are given some deadlines for the questions asked by the clients; for instance, “research this and give me an answer in an hour”, “research that and give me an answer in a week” but here in startups, you just don’t have any time. You have to be fast, fast, and fast. “Move fast and break things”*.
Surely, what I mean is not that we don’t have some time to research and built up our projects; but in the first steps, when brainstorming, you have about ten seconds to come up with the ideas. Thus, in the beginning, my biggest challenge was to get adapted to quick thinking, I became aware that lawyering had slowed down my reflexes. It took a while to get adapted to quick thinking but when you have to, you do it.
My second biggest challenge was to get used to the non-hierarchical system. I was responsible for myself, there was nobody to double-check. At first, it was compelling since, when lawyering, I had always had some Senior Partner to check my work. On my first day, I was to send an e-mail to our country manager in Italy, I first wrote the draft and sent it to Engin and Tayga whether the draft is okay for them. A few minutes later I had a message from Engin, telling me that I don’t need to get them involved.
Letting fires burn was surely the third biggest challenge. I have always been a perfectionist so when every time I saw a problem, I always had the feeling urge to fix it. However, here, in startups, things cannot be perfect at the same time. You have to scale the problems. There will always be fires, what you have to scale them and start blowing out from the biggest fire. When your website is down, nobody gives a damn about a typo on your website.
I think the growth team is like baking powder — practically worthless on its own, yet very effective when there is a well-working operation thanks to departments such as marketing, business development, product, ops, etc.
During this three-month-long period, I was involved in both small and large-scale projects; such as rewriting the FAQs on the website or conducting business deals, but, for me, the most important was being part of the expansion process. Our new expansion to Barcelona, Spain… And as of tomorrow, we are launching in Barcelona; I’ve never been such proud.
Thank you for your time. I’ll hereupon try to write about my experiences in growth every month.
*Original quote: “Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.” — Mark Zuckerberg
