S7: E7. Culture and trust-building advice from a climate CEO ft. Dimple Patel (NatureMetrics)

12/17/24 • 55 min

The first few hires in any team are key but what about scaling beyond that as you progress through funding rounds and possibly acquisitions and exit?

Dimple Patel is currently CEO at NatureMetrics and as a highly accomplished entrepreneur, she’s seen it all, from MVP to new markets and fundraising stages right through to exit. A strong team is what gets you there, to secure funding and drive growth, so she knows how vital it is to build a team of A players.

During this series, we’ll be discussing the art of building strong, high-performing teams to give your startup the best foundation possible.

I’ll be speaking to industry experts about inclusion, employer branding and establishing culture, plus I’ll be hearing both the VC and founder viewpoints and experiences when it comes to finding and supporting the best talent.

So, whether you’re a founder starting to scaling your team, a hiring manager looking for top talent, or simply curious about how diverse teams are tackling the planet’s most pressing challenges, this series is for you.

1:31 - Dimple’s journey from banking to coffee to tech to biodiversity.

5:35 - Why did you choose to join NatureMetrics?

9:49 - What stage was NatureMetrics at when you joined and how have things changed since you joined a year ago?

14:42 - What is the culture like at NatureMetrics and how does your mission feed into that?

19:16 - How do you show up as a leader and how do you feed into the culture?

24:27 - What challenges and lessons have you learnt across the variety of businesses you’ve worked in?

27:29 - What are some ways to build trust between team members?

32:47 - When you’re working in an early-stage industry, how does that impact finding the right talent?

38:02 - Advice for leaders who are scaling their business and maybe the people who were in the business early-on aren’t right for the long-term.

45:15 - Have mentors helped you understand team building?

48:26 - How important do you think it is to be part of industry communities?

53:07 - What key piece of advice would you offer for building a culture that will endure?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first few hires in any team are key but what about scaling beyond that as you progress through funding rounds and possibly acquisitions and exit?

During this series, we’ll be discussing the art of building strong, high-performing teams to give your startup the best foundation possible.

1:31 - Dimple’s journey from banking to coffee to tech to biodiversity.

5:35 - Why did you choose to join NatureMetrics?

9:49 - What stage was NatureMetrics at when you joined and how have things changed since you joined a year ago?

14:42 - What is the culture like at NatureMetrics and how does your mission feed into that?

19:16 - How do you show up as a leader and how do you feed into the culture?

24:27 - What challenges and lessons have you learnt across the variety of businesses you’ve worked in?

27:29 - What are some ways to build trust between team members?

32:47 - When you’re working in an early-stage industry, how does that impact finding the right talent?

38:02 - Advice for leaders who are scaling their business and maybe the people who were in the business early-on aren’t right for the long-term.

45:15 - Have mentors helped you understand team building?

48:26 - How important do you think it is to be part of industry communities?

53:07 - What key piece of advice would you offer for building a culture that will endure?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

S7: E6. Laying the foundations for scalable people processes ft. Sherry White (Oxford People Solutions)

As any team starts to scale, it becomes more and more important to have sustainable and repeatable processes in place. But it’s also not uncommon for that to be overlooked in favour of things like sales and fundraising.

Sherry White is a consultant who works specifically with startups and scale-ups to tackle challenges, unblock and improve leadership, establish good foundations, face tough questions and get things moving fast!

She covers everything from culture and employment law, through to health and safety and commercial balance.

During this series, we’ll be discussing the art of building strong, high-performing teams to give your startup the best foundation possible.

1:34 - Sherry’s journey from lab spaces to HR.

3:34 - Are there any particular challenges that you see come up in STEM environments?

6:28 - What are the main things you work with people on in early-stage businesses?

7:47 - What parts of HR and People processes do you often see neglected?

8:40 - What basics should people look at getting in place early?

10:20 - Can startups write their own policies or do they need templates or a consultant?

11:50 - How can startups offer good benefits on a tight budget?

14:25 - Thoughts on equity as part of a compensation package.

16:11 - What makes a good onboarding process?

19:08 - Tips for scaling onboarding as the company grows.

20:53 - Can video recorded onboarding work or should it always be in-person?

22:05 - Is it a good motto to hire slow and fire fast?

24:24- What are the legal requirements when letting someone go?

26:19 - Being aware of disabilities in hiring and firing.

32:57 - How early should you consult with an HR expert? Is it ever too early?

34:53 - How often should you review your HR policies?

36:36 - How to get in touch with Sherry.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

S7: E8. How to get the 'people part' right from day one ft. Geraldine Butler-Wright (RorCas)

Establishing a culture where team members can thrive is vital, but with the move towards hybrid and remote work over the last few years, it can sometimes be hard to know where to start when people aren’t spending as much time with each other.

Geraldine Butler-Wright is a chief people officer with far-reaching experience across multiple areas of tech, international businesses and in both startups and scale-ups, which have operated as fully remote, hybrid and on-site. She’s seen it all!

She helps companies establish people processes and supportive cultures that make team members want to stay. As the founder of RorCas, she works as a consultant to guide startups and scale-ups to get the “people part” right, so focus can be on revenue, product-market fit, investment and growth.

During this series, we’ll be discussing the art of building strong, high-performing teams to give your startup the best foundation possible.

2:16 - Why do you love working with small, early-stage companies and teams?

3:35 - Do you see patterns in people-related challenges within early-stage businesses?

5:00 - How do you guide people who might never have run a business or managed a team before? How do you learn to be a leader?

6:26 - Are some people not suited to being a leader?

7:33 - At what stage do you think companies should start to think about career pathways?

11:01 - How can you reconcile the tension that can come within startups where employees want career pathways but the direction of the company can change as it scales, meaning opportunities change.

13:29 - How do you help hiring managers to set the bar and understand what makes an A-player for their team?

19:02 - How can leaders handle the feeling of perhaps wondering whether they haven’t done enough to support an under-performer?

21:07 - How can companies build a positive and supportive feedback culture?

24:45 - How do you advise people to manage a function or role, when perhaps that’s not their background and they don’t have direct experience of doing a role?

27:43 - What should founders be mindful of when building remote or hybrid teams?

32:32 - How do you ensure continuity of culture when some people are remote and some are in the office?

33:58 - What mistakes do you see keep coming up with remote work?

36:38 - What are some easily transferrable culture creation tips that could be applied to other companies that came up from your time at Healthily?

40:37 - What important lessons have you learnt about scaling at pace and maintaining a great culture whilst you do it?

44:50 - How do you handle urgency-bias and ensure it doesn’t cause cultural problems down the line?

48:09 - As a startup changes during growth, how do you advise people to handle those difficult conversations when someone who was right for a role at the beginning, isn’t the right person further down the line?

53:20 - What are some simple practices and boundaries you would recommend to founders to protect their mental health?

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