This was basically my role out there - to instil the culture and make thing seamless between how things are in London, Cardiff, etc.
It was challenging - the vast majority of staff we get in the UK, they know all about Monzo before we hire them, they are passionate about it, they use it, their friends use it. They know about the company, that we’re ethical and transparent, that we celebrate diversity, and that we treat our staff well.
We didn’t have that luxury out there. So it was literally starting from nothing.
I hope I did a good job and I believe that I did. The Vegas team (aka The Sin City Squad as they’re called internally) are an amazing bunch of people and I miss them dearly! They are hugely passionate about Monzo, despite the fact that they can’t yet have accounts themselves. (Although we’ve set up staging/demonstration accounts and have Android and iOS devices in the office to help them diagnose some issues).
I absolutely could not have done it on my own and the way we rallied together as a team to deal with issues (especially things we’d never seen before!) was absolutely inspiring and something I’ll never forget. Literally everyone paid attention to every last detail to make the place magical, and I believe we’ve done that!