March: Self-doubt pulled up a chair
Let go of the outcome, hold on to the work
We all know how new beginnings usually work. You stumble first, figure things out, and then success follows. It’s almost a rule.
Ours started backwards.
The first two events we organized in New York were a great beginning. People showed up, we connected with the amazing community there, and the atmosphere felt intentional. We left confident about going back to the States, organizing an event with even more intention, now that we had a feel for the ground.
We are doing something unusual for a small company from Cluj, taking our community-building work to the United States. We believe that exposing ourselves and our team to different cultures and different ways of thinking is how we break the ceiling of what we think is possible. New York confirmed it. We left knowing there was more to do, but we caught a glimpse of what’s happening there and how we could start building something.
So we went to Austin.
SXSW. One of the biggest conferences of tech, culture, music, and ideas in the world. We set up our event the day before it started. We promoted it. And then, 70 people signed up. Seventy. Many were still signing up that same day. We’ve got this.
The day of the event came. Seven people walked through the door. Seven.
Cris, Deni, and Gabi stood in a room that was supposed to be full, looking at chairs that weren’t. None of them knew what to say, because none of us had been there before. Not like this anyway.
That specific kind of disappointment has a name, but they didn’t have words for it then. They just felt it. And so did we, from miles away.
It’s hard to face an empty room after people were signing up by the dozens. You just see the number, and you become confident about what comes next.
After New York, we were already riding that confidence, and 70 sign-ups only raised our expectations higher. On top of that, organizing an event during one of the biggest conferences in the world felt like an advantage. The city was full, the energy was there, and the opportunity felt real.
We later find out that during SXSW, people sign up for dozens of events and attend only a few. A cultural nuance, and a local rule nobody told us. Things you only know if you’ve been in enough rooms to learn them.
We hadn’t been in enough rooms yet.
For us, the empty chairs don’t tell the whole story.
A lot of what made that week possible was our collaboration with Linnify. Cătălin and the team helped us find the venue, organize the event, and connect with amazing people. But beyond the logistics, what we’re really grateful for is how that collaboration grew into something more. Cătălin took the team to live concerts, showed them the city, and created the space for those informal conversations that are actually the foundation of any good long-term relationship.
Through him, in that same trip, they got to meet Mir. A founder running a business that makes millions, and still the most humble, human presence. Someone who leads by investing in people first, who stands by the same principles as us, proving that you can do business and keep humanity at the center.
Meeting someone like him, in the middle of what felt like failure, reminded us why we do this in the first place. These experiences (the full rooms and the empty ones) exist to expand what we believe is possible. And being around Mir made it clear that you can grow a company and still stay grounded in what matters.
We have a big appreciation for Cris, Deni and Gabi who were there through all of it, staying late, joining meetings, working on projects and the event at the same time. It’s cool to be in the States, but it comes with a lot of hard work behind the scenes. And they showed up for it. A big shoutout to you, mates!
You know, life doesn’t move in a straight line. You don’t fail your way to success in a neat, predictable order. Sometimes you win first, then lose. Sometimes you lose twice in a row. Sometimes you think you’ve figured it out only to realize you’re just getting started. It’s uneven. It’s unpredictable. It has twists and bumps.
But if you pay attention, if you stay aware of what’s happening around you and inside you, every moment, good or bad, becomes part of the process.
We know we have more rooms to fill. More cultures to understand. More questions to ask before we assume we already know the answers.
By any means, we will fight for what we do and for what we’ve built. We’ll keep trying. We’ll keep failing. We’ll keep doing it. Onwards.
Berlin told us to keep going
After Austin, we were left thinking about what it really means to create events in a place that’s not yours, where you’re still learning how things work and how people relate to these kinds of experiences.
We organized an event around the theme “Culture under pressure” together with Irina, the founder of Brightroom, who took care of every aspect of the experience with a lot of intention, making sure everything, from the setup to the conversations, felt meaningful.
We also brought our book with us, as we do wherever we go.
People signed up. And most of them actually showed up. There was also a ticket price and it naturally created a different kind of commitment from the people who decided to be there.
Berlin had a different feel to it. The energy felt compared to what we’d experienced so far was different. People were more engaged throughout the whole experience, whether in the panel, in the conversations after, and in the smaller groups where they took the time to actually go deeper into topics that mattered to them.
We loved that the discussions didn’t stay abstract or general, but they moved into real situations, things people are going through at work, challenges they are trying to understand better, and decisions they are still figuring out.
For us, the idea that you can’t make a difference between culture and behaviour resonated the most. Culture is behaviour. How you show up, how you speak, how you treat the person next to you, that’s the culture.
We’re still learning what it means to build community across cultures. But we’re more convinced than ever that it’s worth figuring out.
Leading yourself through self-doubt
We ended the month with an event at home. Thunder Talks, our fifteenth edition.
After Austin and Berlin, coming back and organizing an event with our people felt different. Familiar, but in a deeper way. Like you understand more clearly what you’re trying to build and who you’re building it with.
This time, we had Iulia as our guest, someone who has been part of our community for a while and who carries a mix of care and humanity.
Since we started building this community, we’ve always had this intention in mind to create a space where people actually grow, and where they invest in who they’re becoming. Seeing Iulia there, in front of everyone, sharing her journey, felt like a small but real confirmation that we’re moving in the right direction.
Cris opened the conversation with a perspective on self-doubt, as an emotion you don’t need to fight, but one you can learn to understand differently. We’re so used to seeing self-doubt as a problem, as something that blocks us or pulls us back.
But when you look at it from another angle, self-doubt can also mean you care, that you’re paying attention, that you’re willing to prepare better, to go deeper, and to take responsibility for what you’re about to do.
Iulia continued from there. She talked about the first time she remembers feeling self-doubt as a child, and how that feeling kept showing up in different stages of her life, in different forms, but always there in some way. Over time, she learned to reframe that story.
A lot of us grow up with the same kind of ideas, even if they’re not always said out loud.
That if you’re scared, maybe it’s not for you.
That you’re either good at something or you’re not, and that’s just how it is.
That life happens to you and you just have to deal with it.
That if you’re not sure it will turn out well, maybe it’s better not to try.
At some point, most of us have heard at least one of these. Iulia didn’t deny them, but she looked at them differently.
“I want to do this and I’m scared.”
“(Almost) everything is a competence I can build.”
“Life is happening and I’m creating it.”
“If I can’t guarantee the result, I will guarantee my involvement and my character.”
We loved every part of it, the vulnerability and authenticity she brought into the talk. Iulia, you have always been an inspiration for us, and you continue to be. We’re rooting for you, beautiful soul!
A Q&A and networking session followed. People asked questions, shared their own thoughts, and connected the ideas to their own experiences. One of those evenings that actually moves something inside you.
Self-doubt doesn’t disappear, and maybe it’s not even supposed to. It just changes meaning depending on how you choose to relate to it. And if you keep showing up, if you stay involved in your own process, it becomes part of how you grow, not something that stands in the way of it.
Writing about this whole month, going through Austin, Berlin, and then coming back home, it brings me back to the theme we explored at Thunder Talks.
We started the month in a way that could have easily made us stop. An event where almost nobody showed up, a moment that makes you question what you’re doing and whether it even makes sense to keep going. You could easily take that as a sign that maybe this is not for you. That maybe you should just step back.
But we didn’t. And looking at everything now, it’s interesting how things unfolded.
From that experience in Austin, to the depth and intention we felt in Berlin, and then coming back home to a conversation about self-doubt and staying true to what you believe in. It almost feels like we were living the lesson before we even put it into words.
I feel like this whole month was about continuing. Staying in the process even when things don’t look the way you expected them to. Being willing to understand, to adapt, and to learn from different contexts.
At times, you don’t first understand and then go through the experience. You might go through it first, and only after, when you look back, you start to see what it was actually teaching you.
A few more things we’ve been up to this month:
We continued our discussions with Tünde, going deeper into what it actually means to build close and healthy relationships, and how to do that in a way that’s both honest and natural.
Cris spent time with students in a Q&A session, answering their questions and opening up conversations that made us realize we’d love to do this more often, to stay closer to them and to what they’re going through.
Vlad and Horațiu joined an initiative at UTCN, where they took part in interview simulations with students, helping them get a better feel for what’s ahead.
A few of us went to a stand-up show where Gabi’s brother was performing, and we all agreed his jokes are better than Gabi’s, hehe.
Tedx Avram Iancu, where Cris talked about the idea of not choosing to change the world, but choosing to become, and how things that seem impossible at first are not really impossible, sharing defining moments from his journey.
At Liceul Elf, as part of a school project, Cris spoke about how he built a business with meaning and how they can start doing the same in their own way.
We also played padel with part of the team, which turned into a really nice way to connect, especially since many of us are already into it.
A few reflections I’m carrying forward:
Growth has never been a straight line. Sometimes you win first. Sometimes you lose twice. The order doesn’t define the outcome.
You learn the room by being in it.
Technology comes from humans. Don’t forget to invest there first.
If you want to understand the culture of a team, just look at how people actually behave.
A small practice for this month:
When doubt shows up this month, is it fear telling you to stop, or is it asking you to prepare? Then change the sentence. From ‘I want this but I’m scared’ to ‘I want this and I’m scared.’ See what changes from there.
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