On April 1, 2004, Eileen Burbidge stepped off the overnight flight from San Francisco to London. After years of working in various roles at Silicon Valley companies such as Apple, Yahoo and Sun Microsystems, she was taking up a job in the UK as Skype’s product development director.

The internet video calls company then employed about 20 people across offices in London and Tallinn, Estonia. Ms Burbidge’s plan was to go to her hotel for a shower, then head straight to work to show how keen she was. But before she could even wash, her eager colleagues sent a message asking when she would arrive.

Her arrival was a matter of urgency because of the speed at which Skype was expanding. She describes the next year as the “rocket ship” phase. Given her prior experience, she could advise how to steer it. “It helped that somebody had a playbook in mind, to map how we should grow.”