How to lure corporate talent to a startup?
04/06/20 • 42 min
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How to lure corporate talent in a Startup?
I think most entrepreneurs will know that it never goes right ... you see stories in the media of overnight successes ... but most founders will know this is not the case.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
The FounderWe talk to William Laitinen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-laitinen-93282/, https://twitter.com/WilliamLaitinen), co-founder of Exige International an executive search agency (https://www.exigeinternational.com/).
During this interview, we are talking to him not only as a founder, who bootstrapped his company, sleeping on his cousins’ couch, but also who survived the global financial crisis starting in 2008.
A lesson to learn - from early on as possible - is: You are going to be facing problems in your team and your organization.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
Affiliate LinksThe hard thing about hard things
https://amzn.to/2S62X30Ben Horowitz tells his story from an employee, afraid to lose his job to CEO of a company caught in the dotcom bubble to VC investorZero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future https://amzn.to/37H2MSpPeter Thiels, the famous investor tells you his mental framework to think about innovationBlitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies https://amzn.to/2Ob0xySReid Hoffmans, the founder of LinkedIn, advice on scale fast
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Read-worthy book to familiarize yourself with economic theory, or learn more about how to apply it.Need a bank account? Try our partner Pentahttp://bit.ly/3bdHX3dNeed space to work? Try our partner WeWorkhttps://we.co/2GYbxvSLooking for someone to design a logo, do a transcript or a voice-over? Find all of it and more at our partner Fiverrhttp://bit.ly/2S0f2YFYou can listen to Venture Capital books or entertainment on your way to work with an audible subscription – you get the first month for free
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00NTQ6K7E?tag=startupradi0e-21
The Startup William started headhunting in financial services (Mergers and Acquisitions) and strategy consultancies during the early 2000s, with a laptop and a phone. He classically bootstrapped his company, starting crashing on the couch of his cousin and working his way up from there. He called it “the golden age of headhunting,” and like many others he thought it would always go on like this. So, he was in a great spot, just before the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers which almost froze hiring in Investment Banking and strategy consulting.
I was in the worst place you could be in the financial crisis ... I didn’t do a deal for 18 months.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William used the global financial crisis to change his focus and now is working primarily with insurance companies in Western Europe, specifically in Switzerland, as well as with insurtechs.
You will face a whole heap of problems and challenges starting a company ... Who you want to hire is really really important in overcoming the problems you will be facing.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
Advice in Hiring
People leave their job for just two reasons: Logic and emotions.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William talks about hiring for startups, especially about the importance of the first hires. He is recommending looking for four core values in the new hires:
IntegrityHumilityAssertiveResilienceYou could add curiosity
I love hiring people smarter than me! You turbo charge your environment.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William also encourages founders to look for cognitive differences, especially in the first employees. Ideally, you hire someone smarter than you with different thinking, so he/she will be able to attack problems in another way. He is recommending a different gender, ethnicity or different demographics.
Lay down your val...
---
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/support
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Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policy
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
How to lure corporate talent in a Startup?
I think most entrepreneurs will know that it never goes right ... you see stories in the media of overnight successes ... but most founders will know this is not the case.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
The FounderWe talk to William Laitinen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-laitinen-93282/, https://twitter.com/WilliamLaitinen), co-founder of Exige International an executive search agency (https://www.exigeinternational.com/).
During this interview, we are talking to him not only as a founder, who bootstrapped his company, sleeping on his cousins’ couch, but also who survived the global financial crisis starting in 2008.
A lesson to learn - from early on as possible - is: You are going to be facing problems in your team and your organization.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
Affiliate LinksThe hard thing about hard things
https://amzn.to/2S62X30Ben Horowitz tells his story from an employee, afraid to lose his job to CEO of a company caught in the dotcom bubble to VC investorZero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future https://amzn.to/37H2MSpPeter Thiels, the famous investor tells you his mental framework to think about innovationBlitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies https://amzn.to/2Ob0xySReid Hoffmans, the founder of LinkedIn, advice on scale fast
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Read-worthy book to familiarize yourself with economic theory, or learn more about how to apply it.Need a bank account? Try our partner Pentahttp://bit.ly/3bdHX3dNeed space to work? Try our partner WeWorkhttps://we.co/2GYbxvSLooking for someone to design a logo, do a transcript or a voice-over? Find all of it and more at our partner Fiverrhttp://bit.ly/2S0f2YFYou can listen to Venture Capital books or entertainment on your way to work with an audible subscription – you get the first month for free
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00NTQ6K7E?tag=startupradi0e-21
The Startup William started headhunting in financial services (Mergers and Acquisitions) and strategy consultancies during the early 2000s, with a laptop and a phone. He classically bootstrapped his company, starting crashing on the couch of his cousin and working his way up from there. He called it “the golden age of headhunting,” and like many others he thought it would always go on like this. So, he was in a great spot, just before the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers which almost froze hiring in Investment Banking and strategy consulting.
I was in the worst place you could be in the financial crisis ... I didn’t do a deal for 18 months.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William used the global financial crisis to change his focus and now is working primarily with insurance companies in Western Europe, specifically in Switzerland, as well as with insurtechs.
You will face a whole heap of problems and challenges starting a company ... Who you want to hire is really really important in overcoming the problems you will be facing.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
Advice in Hiring
People leave their job for just two reasons: Logic and emotions.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William talks about hiring for startups, especially about the importance of the first hires. He is recommending looking for four core values in the new hires:
IntegrityHumilityAssertiveResilienceYou could add curiosity
I love hiring people smarter than me! You turbo charge your environment.
William Laitinen, CEO and Founder Exige
William also encourages founders to look for cognitive differences, especially in the first employees. Ideally, you hire someone smarter than you with different thinking, so he/she will be able to attack problems in another way. He is recommending a different gender, ethnicity or different demographics.
Lay down your val...
---
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/startupradio/support
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policy
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Previous Episode
This Month in German Startups - March 2020
This Month in German Startups - March 2020If you are new to our podcast(s), we are wrapping up the startup news of the German-speaking area in a monthly recording from Frankfurt and New York. Have a look at our website www.startuprad.io or www.startup.radio and you will find all the links to our recordings and the articles we are quoting from there. Some of the source articles are in English, some are in German.
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Find the hosts here:Jörn “Joe” Menninger [email protected] / Twitter / LinkedIn / Video Interview (2018)
Chris Fahrenbach [email protected] / Twitter / Homepage / Video Interview (2018)
Note that Chris decided to stay in New York to be able to report from there, which is the epicenter of the US corona outbrake! Thank you for that!
EnablerThis recording was made possible by (Hessen Trade and Invest). Learn more about our enabler here: https://www.invest-in-hessen.com/
Together with our enabler, we are running a podcast called “Tech Startups Germany”, which will focus on startups at a Serie A stage or even more mature. You will also find all the videos we produce for this podcast on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/startupradio. This podcast is available directly on our device as audio and video podcast, yes, Startuprad.io makes the first downloadable video podcast. Find all options to subscribe here:
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Our affiliate partners:Startup in need of a bank account? Try our partner Penta http://bit.ly/3bdHX3d
Looking for a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Try our partner Bitwala: http://bit.ly/2w01Zye
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______________________________________HousekeepingNo bragging this time.
Now there is
đź’˘ Fintech Germany by Startuprad.io iTunes: http://apple.co/2lLRlpG Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2m8HWsbđź’˘ Security Sutra by Startuprad.ioiTunes: https://apple.co/2K0qLlHSpotify: https://spoti.fi/33rrlADđź’˘ Deeptech GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2oWO3Sl Spotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8đź’˘ Blockchain GermanyiTunes: https://apple.co/2O2jwLxSpotify https://spoti.fi/2qucve8German Startup News (Video)iTunes https://apple.co/3agUim9 German Startup News (Audio)iTunes https://apple.co/2Jg2fMw Spotify https://spoti.fi/2UeZ3ah
Coronavirus / Covid19We will bring you weekly short updates, called Corona Flash. This is meant to keep you updated on the most recent developments, relevant for startups.
German Government in Talks With Startups on Survival Package - Bloomberg https://buff.ly/2vB6zmu
Related
Covid19 response by the German Government
50 bn € aid for freelancers and SMEs
400 bn € guarantees and 100 bn € for equity stakes
100 bn € for liquidity aid via KfW
DER SPIEGEL https://buff.ly/3bnrc54
Important Knowledge Sources for Startups on Covid19 and policy responsesSARS-CoV-2/COVID-19: Collected Best Practices of the German Startup Scene - German Startups Association - The only English source we could find:
They launched a specific website”The Startup Corona Handbook” https://buff.ly/2J4UOI0 There is ...
Next Episode
Meet Berlin-based cryptocurrency challenger bank Bitwala
Meet Berlin-based cryptocurrency challenger bank Bitwala“We let people buy and sell bitcoin directly from their bank account”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
This interview is our Easter Special. Keep safe, stay at home and enjoy the video. Please note at the very bottom of this post, there is a link where you can give us direct feedback.
The founderIn this interview, Joe from Startuprad.io talks to Benjamin Jones (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminpeterjones/), CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala (https://www.bitwala.com/). Bitwala is a challenger bank, based in Berlin which offers shifting from fiat currency (Euro) into Bitcoin and Ethereum on their app.
Benjamin is originally from Bristol and studied Philosophy and Economics in London. He traveled one year in South America and became ...as he says, “became a hippie.” An internship than took him to Berlin, where he worked in a startup. He tried out many things, including a company builder which aimed to become the “Rocket Internet of Cryptocurrencies.”
“Core banking is relatively unexciting. That’s not where the innovation is happening”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
______________________________________________
Affiliate LinksLooking for a bank account to shift between crypto and fiat? Sign up with Bitwala here. Due to regulations, Bitwala can only accept customers resident in the European Economic Area (EU plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Lichtenstein), with a few exceptions like US citizens.
____________________________________________________
The Startup“A [bitcoin to cash] transaction takes usually 20 minutes”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
The name Bitwala comes from a computer bit, and wallah. In India, you call someone who brings the, for example, the tea a chai wallah (https://chaipilgrimage.com/blogs/journal/8413337-what-is-a-chai-wallah). The company wants to be “the bringer of bits.” Bitwala is describing itself as a challenger bank. As is typical for many challenger banks, they don’t have a banking license, but rather work together with licensed banks.
“All startups need to focus in an extreme way”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
Bitwala is a challenger bank, founded in Berlin. Their USP is the ability to shift between Euros, Bitcoin and Ethereum in their app, without the need for a cryptocurrency exchange.
“What most people got excited about crypto currencies in the earlier times was their application in the developing world. ...there is 1.7 bn unbanked.”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
Right now Bitwala does not have a third-party custodian for the crypto assets, they are offering non-custodian wallets. So the client has to take care of their crypto assets by themselves, but the client also holds her/his private keys.
During the interview, we also talk about their former product, a bitcoin credit card, which they had to drop. This put Bitwala in a difficult position, in which they decided to build the world’s first cryptocurrency bank account.
After the interview Bitwala published their number of customers, they had (at release) more than 50.000 clients in 32 countries (Link opens PDF).
The Video Interview is Our Easter Special – It is set to go live on April 10th 15.00 CET (10 am East Coast Time, 14.00 London)https://youtu.be/DuomByTCLKk
Venture Capital Funding
Bitwala is looking to raise a Series B in Q3 2020 of 15-20 million Euros (up to 22 mn USS). Keep in mind this interview was recorded before the Corona Virus Outbreak.
“In our last funding round, we have been in this [notary] room together for 19 hours ... but I understand why. It is just good for everybody to hear the contract one last time”
Benjamin Jones, CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Bitwala
Bitwala has already raised several financing rounds, totaling 21.8 mn US$, accord...
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podder - https://www.podderapp.com/privacy-policy
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
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