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Founded 2023
Seed
Raised $3.3M

DREAM BIG

A CONVERSATION WITH JULIA WU

LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO, CA

A CONVERSATION WITH JULIA WU

LOCATION: SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Brex taught me that operating at all levels is the ultimate founder mode.


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Julia
Wu

Brex Alumni Class ‘22

Engineering Manager, Brex

Co-founder & CEO, Spark

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Brex was the most important and consequential step that I took toward starting my own company.

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At Brex, I started as an engineer and then transitioned into a technical lead and engineering manager. I am currently the co-founder and CEO of Spark, an AI-powered workflow tool for energy development.

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What were some of the first projects you worked on when you joined Brex?

I remember this very vividly. My first project at Brex was the receipts matching functionality. I was tasked with improving the accuracy and the processing of the contents on a receipt that a customer would send in and make sure that it matches a transaction. I was on the expense management team and worked on a bunch of spend management features, especially integrations with accounting and ERP software.

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What attracted you to Brex in the first place?

I knew about Pedro and Henrique’s story as Brazilian founders that came to the US having already exited Pagar.me. I am also a Brazilian-born student in the US and was very inspired by their trajectory even before I knew about Brex. And when some of my friends were joining Brex, some of the smartest people I'd ever met, I knew that something special was going on at this company, and I watched from my cubicle at Apple with a lot of admiration and a sense of urgency to be a part of this.

Working at Brex pushed me out of my comfort zone ever since the beginning.

How did working at Brex push you out of your comfort zone?

Working at Brex pushed me out of my comfort zone ever since the beginning. The first one was just realizing how driven, ambitious, and on top of things everybody around me was. I had never seen anything like that, even though I went to great schools. So that was the first time where I felt like I really had to be on my toes.

There were also opportunities like owning a feature, being directly responsible for releases and failures and supporting customers, and that includes the receipts matching feature over time. Working with some of my brightest colleagues to build our first accounting API, that was another opportunity. And my first time becoming an engineering manager, my manager said, you're probably not feeling ready, but we need you to do this because we need somebody to run the card fraud function. So I rose to the occasion before I thought I was ready.


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Was there a moment you felt like you really leveled up?

There are many moments where I rose to the challenge and hit new highs. I used to have that mindset of, if I haven't done this before, it's hard to actually get it done. And that includes learning a new programming language and then building features end to end. And so that was the first time that Brex taught me, you can come in here because we believe in your abilities and you can do not just this feature, but another product.

And one of the values that was touted early on was ownership. And that was very clearly given to all of us. I had never been in an environment like Brex before, even though I was part of very high caliber groups. I went to a good university. I worked at Microsoft and then worked at Apple. So places where I was always around a lot of smart people. But I remember I would describe Brex as the place where if you are ambitious and driven and if you are hungry, Brex will keep feeding you more, and you'll feel like you're constantly getting more and can barely keep up. And that's the right kind of growing pain that you should be going through.

How much autonomy did you have at Brex, and how did that shape you?

I felt a lot of autonomy at Brex. I remember my first manager actually sent me some resources when I was going to become a tech lead manager.

He said I trust you to make the call and give ownership. That was an example where I felt like I was given the opportunity to do things, own things before I was ready. And it inspired me to do that when I became a manager myself.

What did you learn about building, leading, and ownership at Brex?

During my time at Brex, I saw Brex's leadership treat everyone like adults, and that comes from being very transparent about how the company is doing. Even as an engineer, I could participate in meetings about the roadmap for the product. But over time, as I grew in my role at Brex, I could learn more about the internals of how we're doing as a business, the metrics.

Brex is extremely rigorous about its metrics, and that also taught me how on top of your game you have to be when it comes to your numbers. I also learned something that was coined after my time at Brex to operate at all levels.

I saw a leadership model where people are extremely good at what they do both as ICs and leaders. Brex taught me that operating at all levels is the ultimate founder mode.

Brex leadership treats everyone like adults, and that comes from being very transparent about how the company is doing.

What kind of people thrive at Brex?

The kinds of people who thrive at Brex are high agency and ambitious. They are able to go after something and come up with ideas without there already being a template. When I joined, the organization was flat, and I was interested in how I could grow as an engineer. I had to work with my manager to talk about what it means to be a good engineer without there necessarily being levels. I really enjoyed that exercise because it was constructive and humbling to understand regardless of levels, this is how I can improve.

We were always giving each other feedback and being very transparent. But having that internal motivation and internal focus means that you are your biggest critic, and you're always holding yourself to a high bar.

Of course, it helps when a lot of people around you are like that. A lot of my colleagues at Brex wanted to start a company, wanted to start their own initiatives within Brex, and as I mentioned earlier, Brex constantly feeds you opportunities and projects to do if you're hungry. We kept getting that and that's how we could grow as individuals and leaders at the company.

Brex constantly feeds you opportunities and projects to do if you're hungry. We kept getting that, and that's how we could grow as individuals and leaders at the company.

Everybody had a lot of drive, and everybody wanted to make something happen. While the company also made us feel like there was a lot to figure out. There was competition to beat. There were new products to bring to market.

What drove your decision to leave Brex?

What drove my decision to leave Brex was feeling like I had a personal timeline to be a founder, and I had to go before it was too late. I could see myself having a long and strong career at Brex. I loved my job, but I made a promise to myself before graduating college that I would eventually start a company, and I actually worked backwards from that goal to try to plan out my steps to get there.

But there came a time when I realized, if I keep going, I'm just going to keep going because I love this job, and my risk tolerance to start a company is just going to get lower and lower. So I actually forced myself to leave first before I knew exactly what it was going to be, and it was very bittersweet.

Brex always reminds me that there are ways through whatever we're currently going through.

What's something you carried from Brex into your current work?

There are many things I carry from Brex in my current work, and one of them is that Brex always believed in dreaming big from the beginning. Big in terms of the market opportunity, big in terms of ambitious metrics and what we shoot for. And as a startup founder, the odds are not in your favor, and sometimes there are headwinds in the market that you're in. But having seen what an ambitious and dreaming big mindset looks like from Brex always reminds me that there are ways through whatever we're currently going through, and we should be thinking bigger and doing bigger.

The other thing is being very rigorous about knowing your stuff when it comes to your business, knowing your numbers, knowing what you need to achieve to hit the next milestone. And another one that I really like is a written culture. I like to document decisions. I like to brainstorm by writing and doing that as a team. Brex was the most important and consequential step that I took toward starting my own company. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today without Brex.

I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today without Brex.

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