Everybody is an owner here: My first six months at StellarAlgo

By Karan Baidwan

When Karan Baidwan joined the StellarAlgo team, he was looking for a growing startup culture and the opportunity to build with the company. 

Now six months into being the Technical Project Delivery Lead, he shared how he’s felt ownership and trust from the start, and advice for future candidates on how to thrive in a startup environment.

What interested you in joining the StellarAlgo team?

I really wanted to be part of a startup culture and an organization where I feel that I’m delivering value to the end client. What we’re building in the sports analytics industry doesn’t really exist in the market, which makes the company’s growth trajectory really exciting. 

It’s always a risk joining a startup, but I’d been working at a big company and I found with large teams, I could be spending more time getting approvals and stakeholder buy-in than doing the actual work. Working at StellarAlgo is the opposite. We move fast and are a team of builders motivated to find new ways to help our clients.

What surprised you during your first few months working at StellarAlgo? 

When I started at StellarAlgo, the first thing I noticed was that everybody was an owner. Everyone is trying to go above and beyond and deliver on client expectations and the business’s goals. This was surprising because I’ve found it’s rare to actually see people in different departments all so focused on the same end goal with very limited politics. It’s not that there wouldn’t ever be conflict, but there’s a good feeling of trust in each other’s work and skills. 

Being a startup, I wasn’t expecting much structure. But during my first week, the team scheduled meetings so I could get to know key stakeholders and build those relationships from day one. Through lots of initial chats and events like ProBowl, our annual in-person retreat, I quickly realized this is the sort of company that values personal connection. 

How do you feel ownership and trust in your work on the Leagues and Federations team? 

As Technical Project Delivery Lead, my role was created to help streamline how we implement the platform for teams and leagues. We were doing great project work, but because it was a small team managing project delivery sometimes things could fall through the cracks. 

I knew when I joined the team I was helping to solve the challenge of how we streamline delivery and create the best experience possible for clients. I’ve felt trusted to lead this work from the start. I help build that structure and delivery framework as we grow and take on more major league clients. My role is both project manager and stakeholder liaison, where I work with a Data Engineer and an Account Manager on each project. I enjoy being in an environment where I can take on ownership of projects and learn so much from the Data Engineering and Sales teams I work with. 

I also work remotely and with a hybrid team, there’s a layer of trust and flexibility incorporated in the culture.

What do you find most rewarding in your role?

The most motivating thing is to deliver the product to clients and see them smile when they get what they’re looking for. They’re able to extract the information that was ever so elusive to them before using our platform. Now they can envision new ways to reach fans and grow their business. 

It’s a big win for them, and being able to see and feel the impact of our work in those moments where they’re amazed is exciting. There’s instant gratification when clients actually see the platform working exactly how they hoped.

What’s an example of one of those impact moments where you helped a client go from elusive to amazed after using the product? 

Last week I had a call with one of our WNBA clients and they were so happy seeing how they could finally access data using the platform. Before working with StellarAlgo, they had been using Excel spreadsheets to pull data manually. We showed them how they could access fan data, and use that to grow revenue, ticket sales and attendance at their games.  

We have implemented our TDP (Team Data Platform) for LV Aces, Seattle Storm and LA Sparks more recently. Our clients access data through the front end, a web app known as StellarAlgo TDP. I work as the delivery lead so my role ends once the platform is delivered to the client in these meetings where we get to see the impact. Our Account Managers work with them on an ongoing basis to ensure they are getting the most value out of the platform.

What advice would you give to candidates thinking of joining StellarAlgo? 

StellarAlgo is for people excited about challenging work and building new ways to help our clients. If you’re curious and the kind of person who goes out of their way to learn new things, and implement them in your role day to day you would excel here.

This startup environment may not be for everyone. If you’re looking for a more stable, defined role with lots of structure, this may not be the right place for you. 

In my first six months, I’ve felt trust and belonging on this team already. I knew it was a risk joining a startup, but it’s been an amazing journey for me so far. There are so many growth opportunities here and as the company continues to grow, those will only continue.

Learn more about job opportunities at StellarAlgo here. 

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