>> From Phoenix, Arizona, the Cube at Catalyst Conference. Here's your host, Jeff Frick. (upbeat music) >> Hey, welcome back everybody, Jeff Frick here with the Cube. We are in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference, about 400 people, a great show, they're fourth year in existence. Back in the Bay Area next year, wanted to come down and check it out. So we're really excited to be here, and our next guest Mercedes De Luca, the Chief Operating Officer from Base Camp, welcome. >> Thank you. >> Base Camp, everybody knows Base Camp. >> Everybody knows Base Camp, it's been around for a long time. >> Absolutely, we use it and a lot of people use it, just one of those kind of tools that's ubiquitous, it's all over the place. >> Yeah, we just introduced our Base Camp 3 version, and now it's something we operate the business on. >> Excellent, so we talked a little bit off camera about your session, which is really about career pivots, and there's probably no place more important to be able to execute a successful career pivot than Silicon Valley. We hear about it often with companies, and usually it's associated when things aren't going so well that you have to do some type of a business model pivot or design pivot. But from a career perspective, super important. So what are some of the lessons that you shared here in your talk? >> Yeah, so one of the things that we did, was how do you sort of take the risk out of pivots, and what vectors do you move along. Basically recommending that people sort of take one vector at a time. I think getting the industry right is really important, and when I first started I had an opportunity to work in financial service or high-tech. I chose high-tech and that formed my career. And so I think getting the industry right's important. I think when you want to move to different functions, there's ways to do that inside companies, there's ways to do that when you move to a different company. >> It's interesting, there's so much pressure with kids and young people trying to figure out, you know, what's the right decision. I got to make the right decision. You don't really need to make the right decision. You just need to make a decision and get on your path, right? >> Exactly, you just want to make that next move. That's really where you want to focus your energy because as long as you're moving toward your strengths, you're beginning to amplify those, it's just about making that next step. And it's really important to talk to other people and verify that what you think you're going to be moving to is actually what's going to be happening. >> Right, so when you define some of these vectors, what are some of the vectors that are consistent or adjacent that make some of these moves easier or more successful? >> So one would be industry vector, so if you want to get out of the industry you're in, but you may still do the same function in that industry. There's the function vector, which says, I'm in a function of engineering and I want to get into marketing, or I'm in project management and I want to do engineering. And then the third has more to do with how you contribute the level you're at. Vice president, director, size of company, individual contributor versus line management. So there's a lot of different vectors, there's three basically, is how I think about it. And it's just a recommendation of how to think about making moves. >> Now, we had Jim McCarthy on earlier, who was a speaker, and he talked about making the big shift, you know. You have a life changing event, and you just decide this is not what I want to do, I want to do something different. How does that play into what you're trying to help people do, to make it successful? So you don't just drop everything and change buildings. You have to kind of work your way over I would imagine. >> Right, I think the most important thing though is focusing on your strengths, really figuring out what is it in your career. For me it's been emerging technology, it's been consumer, and it's been leadership. And culture, so when I look at those things together, it's always making sure that that next step is moving you even closer and closer to that ultimate place. Base Camp is known for its culture. So one of the things that was really important to me in this last move, was to make sure that I wound up in a company that really walked the walk. That was important to me. >> So what tips do you give to people when they're thinking about that, to figure out culture? It's hard to figure out culture. You go through an interview process, and you get to meet the person across the table, and you do a little investigative work, but a lot of times you don't really know what you've got into until you got into it. So how do you coach people to try to figure out some of that culture fit, and again what are the vectors of culture that are the big ones that you should be aligning to? >> Well, we're lucky today because there's Twitter, and there's Facebook, and there's all sorts of social media that allows us to really learn a lot more about the company and the culture, check out what the people in the company are saying about the company. In my case, super lucky, because both of the founders blog a lot on our Signal Versus Noise. They do a lot of writing, so I almost felt like I knew the culture going into it. They've written books, et cetera. But for companies that haven't written books and haven't blogged, I think you can absolutely get that by also talking to people inside the company and being clear about what you're looking for. I think that's a big part of it. >> Okay, well Mercedes, I'll give you the last word. What is your kind of parting tip to people who are looking to make a move, or just concerned, oh my gosh, I'm just locked up cause I think I have to get it right the first time? >> Don't let others define you. (laughing) >> Short and sweet. I should have asked you the bumper sticker question, give me the bumper sticker for it. Don't let others define you, that's perfect. Well Mercedes, thanks for taking a few minutes to stop by. >> Thank you Jeff. I appreciate it. >> Absolutely. >> Nice to meet you. >> So Jeff Frick here, at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. You're watching the Cube. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)