Significant Career Lesson From a Climate Venture Fellow at Early Stage VC
Nick, a Climate Venture Fellow, emphasizes the immense value of relationship-building, stating that "when things get tough...those tough times are a little bit easier" when strong connections exist. This was exemplified by their experience resolving a major bug quickly through informal communication with colleagues, demonstrating how cultivating personal connections, even beyond formal channels, led to faster problem-solving and career advancement.
Networking, Relationship Building, Communication, Problem-Solving, Teamwork
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Nick Rojas
Climate Venture Fellow
Early stage VC
UCLA
University of Michigan, Ross School of Business MBA, School for the Environment and Sustainability MS Sustainable Systems
Environmental & Related Sciences
Climate, Environment, Sustainability & Waste Management, Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Building strong relationships with colleagues, suppliers, customers, and investors is crucial for navigating tough times and achieving better outcomes. Strong relationships facilitate quicker and less stressful resolutions to problems.
2. A strong example is provided of how building relationships across teams (e.g., customer support and engineering) enabled faster resolution of a major bug, leading to a promotion. This highlights the practical benefits of relationship-building.
3. The emphasis on building human connections beyond professional interactions (e.g., discussing shared interests like the Olympics) is a key takeaway. It demonstrates how personal rapport can significantly improve collaboration and problem-solving within a work environment.
Transcript
What is one lesson you've learned that has proven significant in your career?
Generally, from my career, the biggest takeaway has been the importance of building relationships. In so many startups I worked at, and from talking with friends in various industries and roles—from medical doctors to lawyers, sales associates to engineers—when things get tough, which they inevitably do in any organization, having taken the time to build relationships with colleagues, suppliers, customers, and investors makes those tough times a little easier.
They are resolved quicker, less stressful, and you usually get a better result because you've invested in those connections. A good example of this was when I worked in customer support for an early startup. We encountered a major bug that we discovered through customer support.
This was an issue we needed to resolve with the product and engineering teams. Previously, there hadn't been a strong relationship between our teams; we didn't talk much. There was no animosity, just no familiarity.
I had always been curious to learn more about engineering or what was going on with them. I also found common ground by discussing shared interests, like the Olympics. You build those human connections.
So, when a major bug happened, I could reach out directly to individuals without going through formal channels. I could ask them to look into it quickly, assess its severity, and suggest meeting at lunch to discuss it. This was much more effective than filing a bug report and waiting days for a response.
We were able to resolve things quicker and even started a joint task force. My ability to do this led to a promotion within the organization. Part of that was simply building relationships to resolve issues, which felt natural to me as I enjoy meeting people, but it also proved very helpful in my work.
By far, getting to know people and building those relationships has so many benefits that you sometimes can't even realize.