
Why I left big tech to build again: The reality of being a founder
From MarsBased podcast - Life on Mars by MarsBased
May 12, 2026 · 46 min · Season 2 · Episode 115
About this episode
Emma Burrows discusses her transition from big tech to founding her own company, sharing insights from her career at Google and Stripe.
What is the real difference between a CTO and a VP of Engineering? How do you build a technical team from scratch in a non-tech company? In this Road to CTO episode of the MarsBased podcast, we sit down with Emma Burrows (Ex-Google, Ex-Stripe) to talk about her incredible career path. From her time at Google to leading as CTO at Stripe Payments UK and her current jump into the founder world with Resonant, Emma shares the lessons learned at every stage of the journey. Support the show 🎬 You c...
People in this episode
Guest: Emma Burrows
Topics covered
- founder journey
- technology leadership
- building teams
- career transition
- entrepreneurship
Keywords
- CTO
- VP of Engineering
- technical team
- founder
- career path
- entrepreneurship
- Resonant
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Google, Stripe, Resonant, Stripe Payments UK
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