Welcome to this episode, brought to you by Reka, a developer of industry-leading, multimodal, AI models that enable individuals and organizations to deploy generative AI applications.
Agility requires an attention to process and a commitment to continuous improvement. It also requires a culture of agility. Today we’re going to talk about talent in an AI environment, and the critical role that human teams play in an AI environment.
To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff at Reka.
About Eugenie Lamprecht
Eugenie is the Chief of Staff at Reka, where she oversees day-to-day operations across People, Finance, Legal, and other core functions, making sure the company stays on track and aligned. Eugenie works closely with the CEO to help execute the company’s priorities and keep things moving behind the scenes.
Resources
This episode is brought to you by Reka.ai
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Transcript
Greg Kihlstrom (00:01)
Welcome to this episode brought to you by Reka, a developer of industry leading multimodal AI models that enable individuals and organizations to develop generative AI applications. In the previous episode sponsored by Reka, we spoke with Danny Yogatama, CEO. Today we’re going to talk about how culture powers agility and Reka’s approach to building AI with a lean high impact team. My guest is Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff of Reka.
and she’s going to be sharing how they foster a culture of agility, efficiency, and innovation, all while operating as a lean team empowered by the very AI tools they build. Eugenie, welcome to the show.
Eugenie Lamprecht (00:41)
Hi, Greg Hi, everyone. Great to be here.
Greg Kihlstrom (00:44)
Yeah, looking forward to talking about this topic with you. And, you know, as chief of staff at Reka we want to learn from you, you know, what it takes for Reka to not only develop cutting edge tools, but also use them internally to work smarter, faster and leaner. So let’s let’s talk about culture first. How would you describe the culture at Reka? And, you what are some of the core values that guide how the team works together? Yeah.
Eugenie Lamprecht (01:11)
Sure. So at Reka, we believe that doing something truly meaningful in this new era of AI, it takes more than just great tech skills. It takes a group of really talented and world-class individuals that are aligned and work together towards the same goal. And of course, technical excellence matters a lot, but just as important as character, especially in a startup, things move fast and there are lots of highs and lots of lows. So you definitely need to be resilient and you need grit.
And our team definitely has that. One thing that we also really care about is diversity, ⁓ not just in backgrounds, but also just the way that people think. Everyone brings something unique to the table, and that’s where the magic happens. And our culture is all about curiosity, ownership, and the willingness to experiment. So we want people to take initiative, try new things, and learn by doing. And to make that possible, we focus a lot on creating psychological safety.
And then maybe more than anything else is just keeping things simple, like clarity of processes and then trust of a bureaucracy and micromanagement. And that’s what helps us stay focused, keeps us agile, and keep us focused towards the direction that we’re moving in.
Greg Kihlstrom (02:26)
Yeah, yeah. And definitely as a as a startup, mean, really as an organization of any size, but particularly as a startup, that’s so key to, you know, be able to have clarity and everybody kind of ⁓ marching in the same direction, so to speak, because there can be a lot of priorities and there can be a lot of different even misalignment if you if you don’t do things properly. So, you know, from your lens as chief of staff,
How do you support that alignment and as well as the momentum of a startup across the team as the company continues to grow?
Eugenie Lamprecht (03:05)
Yeah. So right now we’re a team of about 50 and we’re growing and we’re also fully remote. So staying aligned is super important for us. As we scale, we try to be intentional about finding the right balance between having some structure, but also still keeping things flexible. So we’ve got a few internal rituals that help us stay connected and so that everyone knows what’s going on. Things like regular stand-ups, weekly company-wide sinks.
asynchronous updates, but we try to keep those light so that it’s not just about checking off boxes, but it’s about sharing real context so that people know what is going on and where we’re going. And we’re very thoughtful about the tools we use. So for us, it really comes down to just keeping the communication very clear and have people on the same page.
Greg Kihlstrom (03:57)
Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, 50 people, that’s a that’s a good size. You’re continuing to grow. ⁓ But even, even 50, it’s relatively lean team to do all of the work and accomplish all the things that you’re doing with the growth that Reka has achieved and, you know, thinking ahead and continually thinking ahead. How does the team avoid burnout? mean, I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are motivated. You know, they want to do great things and do the, you know, the next best thing.
But how do you help them avoid burnout and what’s the secret to making that work?
Eugenie Lamprecht (04:32)
Yeah, yeah. That is definitely something that we pay close attention to. Being a lean team means that we have to stay focused and intentional. We don’t have the luxury to spread ourselves too thin. One of the ways that we do that is just prioritizing clarity over chaos. So everyone is very clear on what matters most, and we’re not afraid to say no to things that doesn’t line up with our goals. Burnout often feels like you’re sprinting in the dark, so we try to keep things transparent and human.
We also try and keep the processes light, so the asynchronous updates and the handles, we don’t want to burn unnecessary energy on meetings.
Greg Kihlstrom (05:12)
Yeah. And what’s the what’s the culture aspect of this? You know, in addition, obviously you need the right processes. You need the right tools in place. But, you know, the people part of that people process platform kind of ⁓ equation. You how do you how do you look at the culture aspect?
Eugenie Lamprecht (05:29)
Yeah, definitely. I think what is important is just creating a real sense of psychological safety and trust. People at Reka feel comfortable speaking up when they stretch too thin or if something isn’t clear. And then we’re very intentional about the people that we bring onto the team. People at Reka aren’t just super talented. They’re incredibly kind and supportive and thoughtful.
So when someone is going through a tough time or they need to just take a step back, the team will naturally step up, no questions asked. So this kind of empathy is something that we actively look for when we’re hiring.
Greg Kihlstrom (06:09)
And so I want to I want to get back to a point we touched on briefly a few minutes ago, but, as thinking about agility in, you know, in an organization again, regardless of the size of the organization, but, you know, working with a relatively lean team, there can be a lot of priorities and, know, as a startup, there’s all kinds of stakeholders and, you know, from customers to investors and all those kinds of things. How do you look at prioritization when
everything. know what? mean, there’s a saying, you know, when everything’s a priority, nothing’s a priority. But you know, how do you how do you actually prioritize when everything feels important?
Eugenie Lamprecht (06:48)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a tough one. In a startup, everything can feel important, especially when you’re trying to move product forward, you’re trying to build a team, you’re trying to grow the business. But for us, it really comes down to alignment and clarity. ⁓ We’re always asking ourselves, what is actually moving the needle forward? Not just what’s urgent, but actually genuinely meaningful. It’s very easy to slip into this reactive mode.
especially in AI where things are shifting and there are updates daily. So we make time to check in regularly, zoom out and ask ourselves, like, is this still the right thing to work on? And if the answer is no, that’s fine. Like we are okay with making that decision and just tell ourselves like, this might be important, but just not right now. So we’ll move the priorities around. And I think prioritization isn’t static. ⁓ So that’s something that we definitely do.
quite often. And then being a lean team, I think that is actually our strength. We can’t do everything. So that really forces us to keep focused on what really matters.
Greg Kihlstrom (07:57)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love that you said that, you know, prioritization isn’t static because I strongly believe that I think that’s it’s a false way to kind of fall back on on, you know, what we should be doing when, know, when we don’t kind of rethink priority and rethink objectives and stuff like that in a meaningful way. So that’s that’s great. From an advice standpoint, you know, what’s what’s one low lift thing that ⁓ enterprise leader or other leaders can do?
to build a more agile, empowered culture like you have at Reka.
Eugenie Lamprecht (08:30)
Yeah, I really believe that it comes down to the experimentation mindset. It’s all about creating the space to actually try new things. And it doesn’t have to be this big top-down initiative. You can start small. It’s just something as simple as carving out a few hours a week for an internal team to try an AI tool or just creating like a simple automation for some manual task. Yeah. And it’s about like creating a safe space to experiment without the pressure of it having to be perfect. And that’s where the innovation really happens is where people can learn fast, but they don’t have the pressure to deliver this polished result. And I think maybe also just something as simple as just removing friction so that a small team can move faster. And then that kind of mindset takes root. It starts spreading naturally and it will spread to to other teams.
Greg Kihlstrom (09:28)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it’s so powerful to for leaders to really understand that when they expect an experiment cannot always end perfectly. So in other words, like learning is if learning is the objective, then you don’t really mess up ever or you don’t you don’t fail. Right. It’s you know, when when when perfection is the only possible outcome, everyone’s going to be afraid to innovate. Right.
Eugenie Lamprecht (09:55)
Yeah, definitely.
Greg Kihlstrom (09:57)
So looking ahead a little bit and just thinking about how others can build ⁓ an agile culture, really that’s what we’re talking about is building an agile culture and one that’s able to innovate. What’s a moment at Wreka that made you go, this is what agile culture looks like?
Eugenie Lamprecht (10:17)
Yeah. One moment that really stood out for me was just after I joined in 2023. Danny, our CEO, had a request for our tech team and it was a bit, it wasn’t unusual, but it was outside of their day-to-day scope. But without hesitation, the team jumped on a call. They figured out what needed to happen and they had like an MVP ready within 24 to 48 hours. And what was impressive to me wasn’t just that it was fast, it was
so focused and full of energy. And everyone rallied around this one goal and just got it done. But honestly, the mindset kind of shows up every day. For example, like during our company syncs, different teams will share updates or wins or context. And you’ll often see people jumping in to help with a project that’s not even in line with their day-to-day responsibilities or scope. And then…
When things feel unclear or misaligned, someone will always spun up a quick call and get everyone on the same page to keep things moving.
Greg Kihlstrom (11:25)
Yeah, so there’s yeah, so there’s accountability, but also it sounds like curiosity to help maybe in ways that are not necessarily, you know, if there’s strict job descriptions, you know, sometimes those things fall outside of those lines, right?
Eugenie Lamprecht (11:39)
Yeah, definitely.
Greg Kihlstrom (11:41)
That’s great. Well, Eugenie, thanks so much for joining today. One last question before we wrap up here. I’d like to ask this to everybody. What do you do to stay agile in your role, and how do you find a way to do it consistently?
Eugenie Lamprecht (11:55)
Yeah, so in my role, where I come across a lot of the operational details, it’s very easy to get pulled into the weeds. And although those details matters, I’ve learned that I need to take a step back and deliberately zoom out and look at the bigger picture. That really helps me to prioritize or focus on the right things. And then to stay agile, I try to build some structure to prioritize things without being too rigid. So on days where I don’t
where I can control my schedule, I’ll start off by just quickly scanning, so not actually reading, but scanning my emails and my Slack messages for anything urgent. If there are no fires to put out, I’ll start with smaller tasks and check-ins. And I know that seems counterintuitive, but for me, I found that once I get those things out of the way, then I can spend my afternoons more with deep work and bigger, longer longer term projects. And then before the day wraps up, I’ll clear out my inbox so that I don’t carry extra clutter into the next day. But I would say beyond the logistics, I think staying agile is also a mindset. It’s about being okay with plan shifting and just creating enough process to support that chaos without slowing things down. So for me, it’s like a, it’s a constant dance between planning and improvising and being intentional about both.
