I left Meltwater in April 2006 when I was at a peak in my Meltwater career. I was 28-years old and during the 18 months prior to leaving, Meltwater had lived up to all its promises; I had been given opportunities and responsibilities that oftentimes take years to obtain elsewhere. I had hit all my sales targets, established one office from scratch, managed the Stockholm office and was even promoted to a partner in the company.

In 2006, Meltwater’s management structure was quite flat. As I climbed my way up through the ranks, I wanted to continue getting more responsibility, but at the time, I didn’t see sufficient growth opportunity from where I was. I did not know anything about all the future growth and new career avenues that would arise as the company doubled in size and entered new international markets. I came to the conclusion that Meltwater would not be able to offer me new challenges, so I left to continue developing my career outside Meltwater.

When I left the company, I naively thought the outside world was just like Meltwater. From my sales experience, I knew all about door knocking and rejections, asking for business and at a young age, I knew how to manage people and build a tight office culture. These proved to be very valuable qualifications– so I could cherry-pick between job offers.

For the next 2.5 years, I tried working at some of the largest media houses in Scandinavia. I noticed that the sales forces in these companies kept selling to the same customers over and over again and didn’t appear to be proud of working in sales. They did not have a mindset of building the sales momentum because that reminded them that they worked in sales (in short, sales was stigmatized in other companies). I, on the other hand, enjoyed obtaining new clients, so I kept cold calling just like my Meltwater days and as a result, I brought in a lot of new clients. I soon started feeling unchallenged. Despite having well known company logos and impressive titles on my CV, I missed Meltwater. I missed the “no sharp elbows” culture and the fun we had while doing business.

I continued changing jobs to find the culture fit that was right for me, but I never found it elsewhere. At Meltwater, I loved the cheerful, ambitious, winning and respectful culture that you feel just by entering any office.

In September 2008, a Meltwater executive and old friend called me and asked if I wanted to come back to the company and set up an office for a new product, Meltwater Drive. I came back because of the culture. For me, it’s important to work in an environment where success, ambition and respect are important values.

And it is just fantastic to be back. Meltwater has doubled in size and established new product divisions. This represents career opportunities many years ahead for me. I have had the chance to see the outside world, but my conclusion is that without the culture fit, a job becomes just a job. With the right culture, work is fun and a place you look forward to going to every morning.