Giulia Benardeau started her career in finance—working in advisory, investment banking and then private equity. That taught her rigour and how to operate at pace and under pressure. But as her exposure widened, so did a nagging realisation: she was still advising from the sidelines, not building. That insight became a turning point. She joined an early-stage B2C startup as one of its first go-to-market hires, learned sales the hard way (without a playbook), and eventually built a small team that helped take the business to profitability.
After a few years of operating, Giulia hit another crossroads. She’d grown the function—but she wanted to go back into “learning mode”, sharpen her craft in complex B2B selling, and pressure-test herself in a fast-growing, international environment. That’s what brought her to Omnea to spearhead international growth. We sat down to talk about the moves she made, what sales taught her that finance couldn’t, and what she’d say to someone from banking or an operator background considering Omnea’s Commercial Associate (CA) program.
You started out in finance. What drew you to that path—and what did it teach you?
Honestly, the finance part was a bit of “I don’t know what to do with my life so let's learn as much as possible and work somewhere impressive” Go to a good school, stay generalist, aim for the most competitive jobs — that kind of thing. A lot of my career has looked intentional on LinkedIn, but in reality I’ve often done things by intuition, by guts.
My very first internship was controlling in luxury fashion. I realised quickly: I like finance, but I don’t want to be a back-office function. I wanted to be closer to decisions — front office, client-facing, high standards.
I got into investment banking quite scrappily. My school organised a Women in Finance breakfast with Lazard, I went, spoke to a partner, emailed them, got into interviews. I moved around because I was always trying to increase the difficulty and the exposure — advisory, then more international exposure, then investing.
And whatever you think about finance, it did teach me a lot: pressure, attention to detail, deadlines, presentation — you learn to perform under intensity.
What made you realise it wasn’t going to give you what you wanted long-term?
I think the big realisation came when I reached what was supposed to be the “holy grail” — the investing side. The team was incredibly smart, and I’m still close to a lot of people there. But one of my bosses put it in a way that really landed: even when you’re an investor, it’s not your money that you’re investing. You’re still advising — you’re still not really the one building.
We also had these amazing operating advisors, like Sir Terry Leahy, around the investment committees — people who’d actually built and scaled companies. I remember thinking, “I want to be like these people.” I didn’t want to just be on the advisory side, even at a high level. I wanted to be on the operating side — building companies, making them grow, getting my hands dirty.
That was the crossroads for me. On paper it looked like the perfect path, but internally I felt like I was still a step removed from ownership and from the real work of creating something.
Why move into startups/tech—what did you think it would give you that banking couldn’t?
I knew I wanted to be a founder at some point. Finance was teaching me a lot, but I wanted to build the operating muscles that come from being closer to customers and execution. I’m never necessarily going to code the product — but I wanted to become the business person who can sell it, build the GTM engine, understand customers, hire people, do the messy part.
So I made a bet. It was a salary cut. My family literally thought I was having an early midlife crisis. They were like, “Why would you go to this tiny company? Go to Revolut, go to Salesforce.” But I had a gut feeling that I needed immersion — the kind of learning that only comes when you’re learning by doing.
And honestly, part of it was also the logic of upside. You don’t get rich on salary — you get rich on shares. So if I was going to take risk, I wanted it to be the kind that compounds.
"Finance was teaching me a lot, but I wanted to build the operating muscles that come from being closer to customers and execution."
Why go-to-market specifically? What about it felt like the right operating skill to learn?
Sales wasn’t this childhood dream. It was the fastest way to learn a lot about business. A mentor told me something that stuck: good salespeople who can do complex sales are actually rare. And if you can do it, it opens a lot of doors.
But beyond the career logic, you put yourself on the line. You’re always auditioning. You’re on Zoom all day, you see your face 24/7, you get rejected every week. And the job constantly puts you in front of your insecurities and your blind spots — so you’re always working on yourself.
It builds confidence in a very real way. Through work and improvement.
And then there’s the network. In sales, the number and quality of people you meet is insane. It compounds faster than in almost any other role. If you ever want to lead a team or build a business, that combination — confidence, communication, network, resilience — is unbelievably transferable.
The other huge adjustment from banking was prioritisation. In banking you work hard and finish late, but you’re done — there’s a clear to-do list because ten people above you are deciding what matters. In a startup, you have 10,000 things you could do and you’ll never finish. You have to learn how to create signal from chaos.
“Giulia has been operating at ground zero — pioneering our growth into new industries and regions. Since she’s joined, we’ve grown from a small team of 30 to 150 and are now officially ranked as the fastest growing startup out of the UK.” Abhirukt Sapru, Chief Commercial Officer.
After building and managing a team, why did you decide to reset and join Omnea?
I’d built a team, recruited people, onboarded them — and I could feel myself plateauing. I was managing a team in one place while I was living in another, the business was mainly rooted in France and I wanted to get experience in more markets. My next step wasn’t super clear, and the company was very lean and growing in a different way. But the deeper reason was: I needed to learn again.
A friend once told me: you’re either earning or you’re learning. And she warned me — if you’re earning for too long, you can get out of the market. You plateau, you get stuck.
If I want to lead a world-class team someday, I have to learn my craft properly. And for me, that meant going into more complex B2B sales — real stakeholder groups, complex RFPs, order forms, procurement, all of that.
I also wanted to be in an environment where the learning rate is compressed — backed, scaling, moving fast — and with leaders who’ve done it before. You still figure out a lot by yourself, but having people with “not their first rodeo” experience gives you guardrails.
And honestly, I like pressure-testing myself. If it starts to feel easy, I’m like, “What’s the harder thing?”
Has it been a good move—what’s been hard, and what’s been better than expected?
It has definitely delivered — but it’s not been easy!
What surprised me at first about Omnea is something I don’t even have a perfect word for… maybe no-nonsense, but in a good way. The culture is very cut-the-crap. It’s direct. There’s less pretending, less theatre.
It’s also high impact. The talent density is honestly impressive, and it’s also very low ego / high performance in a way that feels very rare. People are team players. There’s a selflessness to it — we’re all in it to win, and to build a business together.
I really trust the leadership as well. Everyone has a track record of success to exit and working together, and that reduces anxiety. Even on hard weeks, I don’t feel like, “Is the company going to survive?” I feel like the company will succeed — it’s just how we get there.
And I love the complexity of the deals. Big stakeholder groups, procurement, finance — you learn how businesses work by looking at what they buy. Even selfishly, my network in a year has expanded massively.
Most importantly, we’re taking on a real problem, have great product market fit, and the opportunity is huge. I’m selling to some of the world’s biggest enterprises, which is incredibly rewarding.
"The talent density is honestly impressive, and it’s also very low ego / high performance in a way that feels very rare. People are team players. There’s a selflessness to it—we’re all in it to win, and to build a business together."
What would you say to someone from banking or operator backgrounds considering the commercial associate path and wondering if it’s for them?
If you’re coming from banking or an operator background and you’re thinking, “Is sales for me?” — I’d reframe it as: do you want a job that forces you to grow fast?
Sales is a boot camp. It will put you on the line. You will face rejection. You will build confidence. And if you stick with it long enough to get good, it becomes one of the most transferable skills you can have — whether you want to lead a team someday, or build a business, or just become someone who can move people and decisions.
It’s a craft that’s surprisingly well suites to generalist backgrounds, because you interact with so much of the business. You get to work closely with product and engineering, marketing, customer, legal, and ops teams — all while engaging with the market every day.
At Omnea specifically, I’ve seen how quickly people accelerate in the CA role. When I joined I worked with Sam, and he’s a great example — he moved from CA to AE in 9 months, and after working closely together, he’s way ahead of where I was at that point in my sales career. The slope is steep, but that’s the point.
And the other thing I’d say is: you don’t need to have a “sales personality.” You need curiosity, resilience, and coachability. Worst case, you do this for three or four years — you’ll learn a craft, you’ll build a network, you’ll become more confident, and you’ll have a skill set that travels a long way, no matter what you choose to pursue.
Want to learn how high-growth business’ are built? Our commercial associate program is a boot camp in modern B2B selling—high accountability, real enterprise exposure, and a clear path to AE.
