This article was based on the interview with Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff, Reka by Greg Kihlström, AI and Marketing Technology keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
In the era of AI-driven transformation, every company wants to be agile. But few manage to embed agility so deeply into their operating model that it becomes second nature. Reka, an AI startup developing leading-edge multimodal generative models, has made that a foundational part of how they operate—and they’ve done it with a lean, remote team of just 50 people.
In a recent conversation, Eugenie Lamprecht, Chief of Staff at Reka, unpacked how the company has achieved this. The insights are valuable for any marketing leader trying to drive cultural change, innovation, and focus—whether within a startup or a global enterprise. Spoiler: it’s not just about tools or frameworks; it’s about people, psychological safety, and ruthless clarity.
Culture First: The Prerequisite for Agility
Agility doesn’t emerge from thin air. At Reka, it’s rooted in culture. Lamprecht emphasizes that while technical excellence is non-negotiable in AI, character is equally critical. “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,” she explains.
Diversity is also seen not just as a checkbox but as a catalyst for innovation—especially diversity in thought. “Everyone brings something unique to the table, and that’s where the magic happens,” Lamprecht says. This isn’t just poetic phrasing—it’s a deliberate choice that informs hiring, collaboration, and even how feedback is delivered. Reka fosters psychological safety, encourages experimentation, and—crucially—keeps bureaucracy at bay.
For enterprise marketing leaders, there’s a takeaway here: you can’t layer agility on top of a rigid, fear-driven culture and expect it to flourish. Psychological safety isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the operating system for agile teams.
Aligning a Remote, Fast-Moving Team
Reka operates fully remotely. With a growing team of 50, alignment could easily become a casualty of scale. But according to Lamprecht, that’s where deliberate rituals and light processes come in.
“We try to be intentional about finding the right balance between having some structure, but also still keeping things flexible,” she notes. This includes regular standups, weekly all-hands meetings, and asynchronous updates—but with a twist. “We try to keep those light so that it’s not just about checking off boxes, but about sharing real context so that people know what is going on and where we’re going”.
The implications for larger organizations are clear: complexity is inevitable, but confusion is optional. Leaders must design communication rhythms that reinforce clarity without clogging calendars with pointless meetings.
Clarity Over Chaos: The Burnout Antidote
High-performing teams burn out when they confuse movement with momentum. That’s why Reka emphasizes prioritization and clarity above all.
“Burnout often feels like you’re sprinting in the dark,” says Lamprecht. “So we try to keep things transparent and human.” Meetings are only held when necessary, and teams aren’t afraid to say “no” to tasks that don’t support strategic goals. The result? Focus, sustainability, and space for innovation.
If you’re a marketing leader juggling performance targets and cross-functional demands, this is a reminder: eliminate the noise, protect the signal. The fewer things your team is doing, the better they can do them.
Prioritization Is a Moving Target
One of the more insightful moments in the conversation was Lamprecht’s take on prioritization. “Prioritization isn’t static,” she says. “We’re always asking ourselves, what is actually moving the needle forward? Not just what’s urgent, but actually genuinely meaningful”.
This might be the most difficult lesson for enterprise leaders who operate within fixed quarterly cycles and long planning horizons. Priorities must evolve as the environment shifts—particularly in fast-moving sectors like AI and marketing. Reka conducts regular check-ins to revisit its roadmap and adjust based on current needs, not just past assumptions.
This is a masterclass in agile thinking: prioritize outcomes, not activities, and be willing to reframe what “important” looks like in real time.
The Magic of Agility in Action
One of Lamprecht’s favorite examples of agility came shortly after she joined the company. The CEO made a special request to the tech team—something outside of their day-to-day responsibilities. “Without hesitation, the team jumped on a call… and they had an MVP ready within 24 to 48 hours,” she recalls. “Everyone rallied around this one goal and just got it done”.
It wasn’t just the speed that stood out; it was the collective ownership and sense of mission. This kind of responsiveness isn’t accidental. It grows out of a culture where people care, collaborate across silos, and are empowered to act.
Marketing organizations that want this kind of responsiveness should ask: do our people feel like they have permission to act? And more importantly, do they want to?
How Leaders Can Make Agility Contagious
When asked for practical advice for leaders, Lamprecht kept it simple. “It’s all about creating the space to actually try new things,” she said. “You can start small. Carving out a few hours a week for an internal team to try an AI tool… just creating like a simple automation for some manual task”.
The key? Low-stakes experimentation, without the pressure of perfection. Leaders should remove friction, reduce red tape, and shield teams from the demand that every initiative must be flawless to be worthwhile.
If marketing leaders want innovation, they need to cultivate the soil for it—psychological safety, breathing room, and encouragement to learn by doing.
Final Thoughts: The Agile Dance
When asked how she personally stays agile, Lamprecht summed it up with a metaphor that every marketing leader should relate to: “It’s a constant dance between planning and improvising and being intentional about both”.
That phrase could double as a mantra for modern marketing leadership. The best plans are living ones. The best strategies make room for intuition, feedback, and adaptability.
Reka’s approach offers a compelling example of how agility isn’t just about sprints or scrums. It’s about building an environment where people are trusted, focused, and motivated to solve real problems. Marketing leaders in large organizations may not be able to move like startups—but they can certainly think like them.
And thinking like a startup begins with choosing clarity over chaos, experimentation over perfection, and agility over inertia.
