In most recruitment processes, candidates only meet with company leaders after first interviewing with their potential manager and coworkers — if they meet them at all. Given the recent rise of remote work, this approach appears a bit outdated. Today’s tech workers have no shortage of options when they hit the job market, and meeting an inspiring leader who is passionate about their work and has big plans for their team can go a long way in selling a candidate on a company.
Newly hired leaders are especially able to articulate both the opportunity at hand and why it’s worth reaching out and grabbing. If you’re considering a career move, continue reading to learn more about why three of Austin tech’s newest leaders joined their companies — and what has them so excited about their new teams and roles.
What they do: For years, virtual reality has been touted as the next big thing in entertainment and gaming, but Immersed is focused on a different application: productivity. Immersed enables users to bring their computers into VR and work on up to five virtual monitors at once, either alone or alongside teammates or other users in virtual offices and coworking spaces.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background? Why were you brought on to lead this team?
My name is Romeo Cabrera. I’m Ecuadorian, and I recently joined Immersed as a computer vision/deep learning researcher and engineer. In my professional life, I’ve had extensive experience as a software engineer and then as a technical project manager for operations and business support systems for the largest telco in Ecuador.
Five years ago, I decided to complement my undergrad computer engineering education with a Master of Science of Computer Science degree at Georgia Tech, specializing in machine learning. After that I joined Banco Pichincha, the largest bank in Ecuador. There I became one of the very first data scientists and then became product owner in its new advanced analytics department.
Immersed provides the opportunity to conduct research and build the future of collaboration and work in the emergent field of virtual and extended reality.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
Immersed provides the opportunity to conduct research and build the future of collaboration and work in the emergent field of virtual and extended reality, or VR and XR. This is what drew me to the company. It’s very thrilling to work on research to use computer vision and machine learning to enhance the experience users have in VR/XR.
The challenge consists of capturing, processing and making sense of real-time data in order to offer users a seamless and productive virtual experience. My combined experience as an architect, designer of business-critical systems and a facilitator between team members, stakeholders and users of those systems will help tremendously in building the future of AR/VR here at Immersed.
What they do: Signing a child up for a sports team is incredibly easy, but what if they want to play “Fortnite” instead of football? Then things get a little trickier, which is where PlayVS comes in. PlayVS is an e-sports company that provides a turn-key solution for setting up youth, high school and collegiate gaming leagues.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background? Why were you brought on to lead this team?
I joined PlayVS after spending nearly a decade in the entertainment and video game space. I knew I wanted to continue shaping the industry and elevating e-sports, and PlayVS was a very natural next chapter for me. Passion for video games led me to be the former head designer of the Curse Voice app — the predecessor of Discord — which was later acquired by Amazon and became the Twitch desktop app. After the acquisition, my team managed the Twitch design system and the company’s most recent product rebrand.
Personally, I feel very connected to PlayVS and its mission. I’ve been playing video games since the age of seven, and as a kid I could never have imagined making a living playing competitively. But, after witnessing the tremendous success of young streamers, I was amazed at how much interest and opportunity the space has generated.
E-sports today has a rich global ecosystem, with paths ranging from college scholarships to specific job disciplines, and every single one of them starts with student engagement. I’m very excited to see how we can help this next generation turn their passion into a profession.
Our team has a unique opportunity to set the benchmark for what other e-sports products will aspire to.”
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you hope to apply this in your new role?
As a “captain” of my team, I view my job through the lens of three pillars: unify, motivate and grow. My mission is to enable everyone to do their best work while being positively challenged and inspired. Lastly, I strive to outline clear career paths for my team with actionable steps to help them get to where they desire to be.
Something that excites me a lot when I think about designing in the e-sports space is how fresh and innovative it is. It is a very new industry and the Wild West for product design. Our team has a unique opportunity to set the benchmark for what other e-sports products will aspire to. PlayVS should look good and feel like a top-tier digital experience, but not for the sake of aesthetics alone.
Every design decision — from how we design components to illustrations and choices about color — should be intentional. We aim for consistency and delight. One of the first projects I rallied my team around was solidifying and building out our design system, Nexus. This will lay a solid foundation for scalable and effective product development.
What they do: Spruce has designed an app for property managers that enables residents to book a variety of household services from their phone, including house keeping, laundry services and dog walking. Spruce is currently available in more than 500 apartment communities across several states.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What position are you stepping into? What’s your professional background? Why were you brought on to lead this team?
Earlier in my career, I worked in business development and product marketing at early stage startups. After receiving my MBA, I was recruited into a venture studio — New Age Ventures — where I had the opportunity to invest in amazing startups and partner with founders on day-to-day operations. I was drawn to the chief of staff role at Spruce given the match between the role responsibilities and my blended experience, the strength of the executive team and the trajectory of the company’s growth.
My number one priority right now is coordinating all aspects of the Series B process.”
Beyond onboarding and getting up to speed on the internal workings of your new team, what’s your first order of business in your new role?
My number one priority right now is coordinating all aspects of the Series B process, including helping to build the pitch deck, creating and populating the data room, identifying target funds and more. Truly, it’s a big team effort to prepare for the fundraise as it touches every area of the business. Outside of the capital raise, my next highest priority is ensuring that the senior leadership team is performing at the highest level, which involves closing communication gaps, improving alignment, identifying weak spots and delivering critical feedback when necessary.
