David Mirzaei, Head of Marketing

4 years at byrd - Moving, growing learning

Being a part of a startup company that went from 6 to 70+ employees since 2016

The origin story

My journey at byrd began in 2016 before the company was founded and I actually never planned to join the startup. Let me explain - while I was doing my Bachelor at the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, byrd had given a project to a high-tech marketing class, a project course, which was part of the marketing specialization I pursued. Since I was unable to register for the “regular” and more popular project course with big brands, I had to enroll in this high-tech marketing course, which is known for being time-consuming and hard, in order to finish my studies. Among the 4 available projects that I could choose from, I decided to work for byrd because their idea and vision got my attention right away. As I was taking the lead for the group project, I had several touchpoints with byrd and its founder team, which later resulted in landing an internship at byrd during the summer after I had finished my degree. The internship started one day after its official foundation - exciting times.

Of course, the operational tasks I fulfilled were not what I studied for at all, but taking responsibility and having this hands-on experience was exactly what I was searching for.

Early days of a startup with hands-on experience

Having pursued Entrepreneurship & Innovation as a second specialization during my bachelor's degree, I already knew that I wanted to work in the startup industry which motivated me to complete the internship at byrd back then. During that time, I helped byrd to ship the first parcel from a small room in the i2c incubator of the TU Vienna, while at the same time I worked on the website and joined meetings to get public funding. Those were exciting times for byrd and from the beginning, I knew that my performance was important to the development of the company as a whole. Of course, the operational tasks I fulfilled were not what I studied for at all, but taking responsibility and having this hands-on experience was exactly what I was searching for. This same sense of being in the front lines and assuming responsibility for the company's growth is still true today.

Flexibility

Since I got accepted for the marketing management master, and I wanted to accompany byrd on its journey, I decided to work part-time for the startup while pursuing my full-time studies. Luckily, with very little structure and processes, the employment facilitated maximum flexibility. I could work late in the evening, from the university between courses or from home. Such flexibility was mainly possible due to one of our core values, namely “trust is our foundation”, which, among other things, facilitates that employees can work quite flexibly and independently; and this still applies to today’s working culture. What matters at byrd is the output that you produce and not the number of hours you work or how you tackle your workload. This philosophy also made it possible to work for one semester from abroad in Lisbon. Something that would not be possible, should I have been working for any other company.

Taking responsibility

After coming back from Portugal I had more time to focus on byrd since there was less work to do for my master’s degree. One of the byrd’s co-founders and CCO, Petra, encouraged me to get into the topic of digital marketing as we were starting to run Google Ads. This is something that I value greatly at byrd to this day: when you have ideas or the motivation to take responsibility for projects, you will get the possibility to take the lead, and as a consequence, have a considerable impact on the company’s projects, development, and success.  After finishing my studies, I had to make a tough decision about the career path I wanted to pursue. The choice was to either join some of my colleagues and pursue the popular career ladder via consulting companies and other large corporations or sticking with the startup business.  You know the story already by now - I stuck to my guns and stayed at byrd because I already had experienced considerable growth of the startup which had increased the number of employees to more than 30 people. During that same period, I had experienced how pivoting works, what financing rounds with VCs are like, and could benefit from many more learnings. As a consequence, I was convinced that staying with byrd will give me the possibility to have a considerable impact on building something meaningful.

Team first - everything else second

Working full-time for byrd gave me the opportunity to further increase my responsibility for the marketing department. This was a steady and natural process and after a few months, the founder team granted me the chance to officially take over the marketing department. Today, the marketing team consists of 4 people in total and I am really happy to be surrounded by my fellow marketers. Our core value team first - everything else second, is also something we take seriously in our department. Luckily, I did not have to tell anyone about this core value because as a joiner at byrd, you will immediately notice this value, further motivating you and others to help each other.  Maybe this is something that dates back to the times when all byrdies from the office had to drive to the warehouse in the evening during the holiday season, to make sure all orders were shipped on time. This hands-on and solution-oriented mentality is something that definitely describes the work environment very well.

Deliver customer enthusiasm - nothing less

At byrd, you will always face new challenges to tackle - most probably with limited resources, which is normal for a startup /scale-up I would say. However, being surrounded by people who are all working towards a common goal to contribute towards the company's vision, really motivates you on every step of the way. In the end, it’s not only about our team but also about our customers and making them happy with our services and solutions - which is part of our core values as well. Since everyone is taking our values to their hearts, and by tirelessly working together, we have already achieved great milestones within the last 4 years and I am looking forward to welcoming new entrepreneurs, techies, sales geniuses, word jugglers, and technology experts who will join us on our journey of setting a new standard for e-commerce logistics.

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