PART ONE

We've got friends in high places. Jane Lu, CEO of Showpo and proud Maccas alum, was kind enough to give us a tour of her CV #goalsaf

This convo had so much gold in it, we broke it into two parts. Click here to find out about Jane’s first big break, must-haves, and what’s next for Showpo.

Bio

NAME: Jane Lu

AGE: 32

CURRENT POSITION: CEO

FOLLOW HER: @thelazyCEO

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN A HASHTAG: #StartedFromTheBottom

Key Skills

• Social Media
• Marketing
• Content creation
• Creating spreadsheets for all facets of life and business

Current role

I've loved running my own business from day one. But now, as Showpo has grown to a team of over 50, I’ve been able to carve out all the tasks I don’t like doing – or that I know someone could do better – and spend my time doing the things I enjoy most about work: business strategy and marketing, which is where I spend 80 per cent of my time. I also work really closely with the content team, dreaming up fun ideas and working with them to execute. It’s far different from the role you'd imagine for a typical CEO… but we work in the digital world here at Showpo!

First job

My first job was at Maccas – not showing off, but I’m by far the fastest person behind a till. McDonald’s has great systems and processes, so I no doubt subconsciously learnt a bit about that. I think starting work at 15 is great for developing work ethic.

Worst job

I really hated my last job, where I was working as a business analyst in corporate finance at one of the Big Four [Australia’s four largest accounting and auditing firms]. I studied accounting and finance at uni, so thought I’d be good at it… but I learnt the valuable lesson that what you learn versus how things are in practice are vastly different. I also realised it’s hard to excel at something you have no interest in. Honestly, if that job wasn’t so terrible, I may not have had enough motivation to quit it and start my own business.

Strengths

• Analytical
• Organised
• Problem-solving
• These qualities go pretty hand in hand and I think they’ve made me the businessperson that I am.
• I think pressure suits me, too. I’m a bit of a crammer. I generally push things until the last minute… and then leave them until the point where I have to do it.

Weaknesses

• Staying focused. I’ll often have 3–4 different ideas in one sentence, then I always manage to take the conversation off on a tangent! Like, I’ve gotten distracted and done at least 10 other tasks whilst doing this Q&A!
• Attention to detail. I say it’s cos I’m a big picture person, but really, it’s just cos I’m lazy and only scan over things.
• Confrontation and having tough conversations. This is something I’m working on, but I don’t expect to ever be particularly good at it.

References

Alex [Durkin], Showpo’s General Manager. She can vouch for me as Spreadsheet Queen, but probably also tell you how easily distracted I am (so don’t ask her about that!).

I’ve been very fortunate to have two people on my team who’ve helped me beyond expectation. Alex, and our Head of Product, Amber [Hodgman], are both women younger than me who have given me so much guidance and inspiration – personally and professionally.

Want to hear more from Jane? Check out part two.