The first call left more questions than answers.
I had been talking with Vimeo about its engineering organization. The conversation was interesting, but much of it got stuck on my Shutterstock experience in 2012. We never reached most of what I wanted to discuss about building a technology team.
The conversation had still been useful, even with the long detour into 2012.
I had run into this before. A few weeks earlier, I had described the Shutterstock history as too much for one call. Years of company building could easily fill the available time and crowd out the question in front of us.
I spent the weekend thinking about what I had heard. Vimeo's combination of company stage and business opportunity sounded compelling. It was more interesting than I had expected before the call.
That surprised me because I had also been honest about the kind of work I wanted. Early company building still had a strong pull. I liked forming teams, working through fast growth, and helping define the shape of an organization. A company that already had years behind it would need to offer a different set of problems.
The short call had not answered whether those problems fit me. It had done enough to keep the question open.
I wrote back that I was willing to have another conversation or two. I had more to learn about the organization and more of my own perspective to share.
My week was crowded, so the next step was basic. We compared calendars and found more time to talk.