Farewell Cocoon!

December 15, 2025 - 🐟 Shared on Flounder Mode

I have been deciding for a few months whether it was time for me to make the hop from Cocoon, and I decided recently that it was the right thing for me to do.

My last day was on Friday, December 12th. Here’s me about to go into my farewell zoom:

I’ve spent a long time at Cocoon – I joined from the very early Series A days (basically, right when we raised) and have seen the company through a product pivot and awesome growth.

I built some really cool features, supported so many engineers in my role, and overall learned a ton about what makes a venture-backed startup a successful one.

The makeup of the team was very different when I first joined. Here’s a picture of the team at my first EPD offsite:

Here’s a picture of the team at my last EPD offsite:

I have so much to write about Cocoon, but there are too many lessons here to fit in a single post. So for now, I will say that I had the time of my life here, and that I followed Mahima and the team through the ups and downs all because the mission has always resonated with me.

Employee Leave is a hard problem. Ask any working parent, injured employee, or exhausted caregiver how hard it is. There are so many rules and regulations you have to follow, all while going through one of the most emotional parts of your life. Capturing those rules and regulations in meaningful and empathetic software is incredibly difficult.

It’s also a much larger problem than the layman thinks it is. There are so many kinds of leave you probably don’t think about but are there in case you need it: Parental Leave, Military Leave, Leave as an Accommodation, Personal Leave, Bereavement Leave, Miscarriage Leave. The list goes on and on and the set of rules gets more and more complex.

To be motivated to work on this problem day-in and day-out for four years required dedication and passion about how painful this problem is. I’m glad I was able to find that motivation in myself to do it for so long. 4 years at a startup is a long time!

I will continue to root for this team every day from the sidelines: they’re an incredible engineering team (and they’re still hiring). For now, it’s important for me to spend more time with my family and give myself a break from the hustle-and-bustle of startup life. I’m also excited to spend some time learning more intentionally about AI tooling and technologies, which I got to experience a lot of while at Cocoon but haven’t done a deep dive into yet from a first principles standpoint. Expect more from me on these topics soon!

And of course, one of my goals is that I will keep writing here on a regular cadence. This will be a busy sabbatical for myself, and I can’t wait to keep writing about my learnings and experiences throughout it all. 🎉

But until then: Cocoon, thanks for everything. Keep empowering people to take time when they need it most. 🙂