Why I Left a Corner Office for a Co-working Space

The Golden Handcuffs

Banking is comfortable. You know exactly what you will earn next year. You know exactly when your leave days are. You have medical insurance that covers everything from a flu shot to a heart transplant.

My mother loved it. "My son is a Banker," she would tell her friends in the village. It carried weight.

But I was dying inside.

I spent 8 hours a day optimizing spreadsheets for people who didn't read them. I was a 'Contributor' in title, but a 'Spectator' in reality. Every decision had to pass through three committees (Risk, Compliance, and Strategy). By the time a 'innovation' was approved, the market had moved on.

I was sitting in a corner office on the 14th floor, watching the matatus below, feeling like I was in a golden cage.

The Itch to Build

I started attending tech meetups in Nairobi—Nairobi Tech Week, Barcamps, Hackathons. I sat in the back, wearing my suit, feeling out of place among the hoodies and sneakers.

I watched friends build things. Chaotic things. Messy things. But *real* things. - A guy building a payments API for school fees. - A girl building a logistics platform for Boda Bodas.

They weren't waiting for approval committees. They were shipping. They were solving actual problems.

I realized a fundamental truth: In Banking, you Manage Wealth. In Startups, you Create Wealth.

Managing wealth is a zero-sum game. If I win, someone else loses. Creating wealth is infinite-sum. If I solve a problem, everyone wins.

The Jump

Resigning was the hardest meeting of my life. My boss looked at me like I was insane. "You are leaving this... for a co-working space?"

Joining a venture builder (Orb21) isn't like joining another job. It's like joining a pirate ship.

• **Safety:** Gone. The payroll is not guaranteed by a multi-national conglomerate. It's guaranteed by our ability to execute this month.
• **Autonomy:** Infinite. If I see a problem, I fix it. I don't write a memo proposing a working group to investigate the feasibility of fixing it.
• **Speed:** Terrifying. What took 6 months in the bank takes 6 days here. We ship on Fridays.

Why Fintech Needs Bankers

For the first 3 months, I felt useless. I couldn't code. I couldn't design. I felt like a 'suit'.

But then I realized the secret: Techbros don't understand money.

They understand *databases*. They understand *API latency*. But they don't understand *liquidity*. They don't understand *compliance*. They think 'regulation' is a bug to be bypassed, not a feature of the financial system.

I found my role. I became the bridge. - I taught the engineers why we need KYC (Know Your Customer). - I taught them how to model unit economics so we don't go bankrupt. - I negotiated with the Central Bank because I spoke their language.

Conclusion to the 'Suits'

If you are sitting in a bank right now, wondering if there is more out there: There is.

The world doesn't need another VP of Strategy. The world needs Builders.

Your rigor, your discipline, your understanding of risk—these are superpowers in the chaos of a startup. But you have to be willing to trade the Corner Office for a shared desk, and the suit for a T-shirt.

It's scary. But I have never slept better.