Watch Our Last Interview Video: https://youtu.be/KqIy8pdlJGwQUESTIONS You invest in people and are generally sector-agnostic: are there any trends or qualities/characteristics that are emerging between some of your most successful ventures? Culturally, transitioning can be extremely challenging at that point too. Responsible hiring doesnt just make business sense its the right thing to do. I was slightly naive at the start. . He joins Octopus Ventures as Venture Partner. In retrospect, I think one of the smartest things we did was getting a great angel network to invest at the Series A raise. It will also mean they are more likely to gel with your organization if you do get them on board. Dive, Become Kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng listahan ng mga opsyon sa paghahanap na magpapalit ng mga input sa paghahanap para tumugma sa kasalukuyang pinili. As mothers sons only sister is B. The person in question turned out to be a big Arsenal fan. We've built Octopus into one of the most disruptive and progressive companies across the financial services and energy sectors. This is changing now. Firstly, we were two guys without a track record of building startups. Ipinapakita ng button na ito ang kasalukuyang piniling uri ng paghahanap. It was a highly competitive situation. Our in-house People + Talent specialists are here to support with building teams and cultures that thrive. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Nov 2022. Get in touch. I suddenly discovered all this amazing calorific food and US portion sizes! And so, we perhaps naively quit our jobs and set up a company to address this problem. Do you think this sentiment holds? We try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when making this decision. I am now surrounded by an amazing group of people, with an impressive track record in the sector. Prior to this, he developed and implemented structured financing strategies at BlackRock and Barclays after graduating in Mathematics from Cambridge University. Im like an octopus on stilts.". Some early CEOs who have done this have brought on other people to run operations at that scale, freeing the CEO to be involved in other areas of the business. Ive been blessed with a good immune system and have never had to take a day off sick from work so far which Im extremely grateful for, but I put a lot of that down to looking after myself better now. 73% of employees would recommend working at Octopus to a friend and 66% have a positive outlook for the business. Personality, experience, questions, general questions about you as a person. So we share ours, boldly and generously. No matter your experience, interviewing can be a stress-inducing event. Common stages of the interview process at Octopus according to 64 Glassdoor interviews include: Glassdoor has millions of jobs plus salary information, company reviews, and interview questions from people on the inside making it easy to find a job thats right for you. Venture capital firm Octopus Ventures is entering the world of pre-seed investment with a 10m fund to back early-stage startups across Europe. The interview process is very time consuming. Now The role in the UK is slightly different to the US though. Why Fintech? Intelligence, Connected Are there any specific qualities that are required to help people scale? Connect with Hannah on http://twitter.com/HannahLJoyce Filmed, Edited \u0026 Produced by Veena V Youtube http://www.youtube.com/officialveenavContact http://www.VeenaV.com/contact-me Apply for full-time jobs, part-time jobs, student jobs, internships and temp jobs. We focus on building a more sustainable planet, empowering people and revitalising healthcare. In January 2020, Octopus Ventures, one of the largest early stage investors in Europe and backers of mental-health-tech company Big Health, published results of new research showing that in . 25,000 earned at the end of 2 years from the starting of the business? The way businesses behave has a huge impact on people and planet. Learn more about founder Tania Boler and the Elvie journey to developing beautiful, usable tech products, Victoria Prew knows all about the waste involved in fast fashion. Its essential that youre doing enough stuff outside of work to depressurize a little. For the people and ideas that will change the world, because we believe you can build a better tomorrow by investing in it. Recent News & Activity. As a company grows, the team composition should change to meet the needs of the new often very different stage of growth. It's designed to be, Steven and Guy wanted to create an insurance company that their customers would actually love, Founder David's augmented reality solution helps construction teams get the build right, first time, Founder Anya wanted to understand and reduce the footprint of the food industry. Our knowledge, our network and our collective ambition are what our entrepreneurs want. ( My name) has a friendly and informal / conversational style which was really liked by the attendees. I think this concept of commandos, infantry and police sums up the different mentalities well as a company grows. I interviewed at Octopus in Jan 2022. ), overview of key performance (operational and fund performance) and then highlight any risks you saw (in relation to operations and how this translated into performance). At that point, my role changed radically, and it continues to change. Skin + Me raised 10,000,000 / Series B from Octopus Ventures. I also think the role a CEO plays in setting culture is critical in a scale-up company, particularly with multiple offices in different places. Having invested the time . What do you like about it? Thats an insightful question. you. This has cautioned us against being too orthodox or rigid in our approach, and instead we think that its framing the right question that matters as invariably different sectors, stages, and customers demand their own answers. No matter how important the company might feel to you, its still not as important as family and we all have lives outside work. Id had a seven-year journey at my previous employer. This is particularly a problem because US revenues typically take longer to ramp up than expected, and costs are substantially higher than European markets sometimes up to the point where they can undermine the viability of a companys business plan. Also get tips from expert on How to Crack octopus ventures Interviews. I interviewed at Octopus. I do think that some CEOs are just not motivated by that aspect and would be on to the next idea at that point. Read about Octopus Ventures investment in Cobee, a platform that employers use to centralise and manage benefits schemes, and facilitates the distribution of benefits to employees through a Cobee digital wallet and card. The blog post also mentioned calling on family members, friends, angel investors and venture capitalists for help in the pre-seed stage. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview with Malcolm . Those, as well as a constant focus on the customer and my team, have kept us on course with more exciting growth and international expansion coming into 2020 and beyond. Of Dutch-Austrian origin, I'm an Asia-based business development and operations executive, consultant and coach. So that was very challenging. Payments, Small & Why octopus VC? How do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this role? We think it boils down to building relationships and allegiances for the very long term. I sprinted for the first two or three years and, though great for the company in theory, it was really draining. I applied online. If so, why do you think youve had this success? So, I went back to the Valley in October of the same year, this time with a number of US clients in my book. 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I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Feb 2022, It was just the same as any sort of interview, the feedback wasnt accurate to the brief I received which led to this below:
Read about Octopus Ventures investment in Cobee, a platform that employers use to centralise and manage benefits schemes, and facilitates the distribution of benefits to employees through a Cobee digital wallet and card. Around the same time, I newly became an uncle and began thinking about what the world would be like for my niece and nephew. But I think that was good because I may not have done it if I knew how hard it was going to be, even when youre successful! Ive fortunately always been good at handling stress and functioning on minimal sleep while keeping high energy. 03942880. I would appreciate if you could feed this back to the team as someone who could need a job could have an opportunity taken away due to the brief not being followed, I applied online. "It was the biggest change in the past 10 years. With 1.9 billion under management and investing over 200m a year, Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture investors in Europe. All rights reserved. While nearly all of the businesses we back are started in Europe, almost all are intent on building for a global audience and success in the US is a critical milestone on this journey. Executive Summary. . I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Mar 2022. As I look ahead, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO? Topics, Editors Get hired today! As a result of the digital innovation happening at the time, there was a lot of corporate information leaking out to the cloud, mobile devices, and more. Ready to start measuring customer happiness? The decision to scale into the U.S. market, followed by the execution, is not for the faint What are your views on what you feel some of the impacts AI is going to have on businesses and consumers that perhaps they dont realise yet? News Feb 15, 2023. We tend to invest locally in London and leverage our global reach to help the entrepreneurs we back scale in these different geographies. What companies are you interested in at the moment and why? Platforms, Subscription Job Interview Best Practices Growing Your Career Starting a New Job All Articles Learning Hub Food & Beverage Online Courses Retail Online Courses As a result of this, European entrepreneurs are drawn to the US for a variety of reasons, but typically they start thinking about a US launch when they reach some sort of limitation in their home market. When we were going out in 20112012, the problem for companies felt too far in the distance; they were just putting firewalls in place, getting their antivirus in order, and building very nascent security teams. What companies in the portfolio are you personally excited about? Investor Type Venture Capital. Hannah works with the Founders of pure play technology and digital companies that have received VC, Growth or PE funding who are keen to develop, scale and drive their businesses to become global players. We always take a position on the management board but in practice, were here when they need us and we try to get out of the way when they dont. FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund Helping investors looking for long-term growth from UK smaller companies. A man said to his son, I was two-third of your present age when you were born. Working at @OctopusVentures seeking unusually talented entrepreneurs, based in NYC. 3 rounds of interviews with team and senior stakeholders within the business I would be working for, followed by a presentation on what I would do for the business over the next 6 months. Of the businesses that weve spoken to, 90% found that going to the US led to detrimental consequences for the domestic business that they had not forecast. Octopus is among the most active venture investors in Europe, making 1520 new investments each year, with an existing portfolio of 50 or so companies. Our aim is to have an impact in everything we do, and to make a vital contribution to the UK economy by helping people, companies and institutions generate wealth. want our Insights hub. In part this is because many of the funds in Europe are smaller in size and so have a smaller management fee to invest in this type of infrastructure and in part this is because there is less overall competition between the funds, so there has been less pressure to innovate. The key learning here is: if the business is not yet successful and resilient in the home market, the expansion will often add strain to an already vulnerable position. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Feedback also highlighted that your answers to questions were strong. Our investors have first-hand knowledge and experience in their focus sectors, from NHS doctors and deep tech PHDs to beauty entrepreneurs and web3 founders. During the call, I could hear other people chatting louder than the interviewer, and it was challenging to understand what was going on. Rotilu outlined how companies can attract attention during the pre-seed stage, including starting with their own savings accounts or other investment funds. One of those milestones has to be revenue, and if youre trying to raise from US investors, they prize US revenue over everything else. We power the people tackling todays biggest challenges. What kicked off the companys growth at the beginning? Octopus Ventures. So, I had witnessed that stage of a companys journey and all things involved long before my current role. What did you learn? When youre running low on energy and motivation, where do you go to seek inspiration, encouragement, support, or just general fuel in your tank? Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Now, youve got this more alien culture in the US and youre hiring executives in the US and trying to make that stick together with a team in the UK. This employer has claimed their Employer Profile and is engaged in the Glassdoor community. Candidates applying for Senior Legal Counsel had the quickest hiring process (on average 1 day), whereas IT roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 61 days). Ours do. including its retail and institutional fundraising arms and investment teams spanning Octopus Ventures, Octopus Real Estate, sustainable infrastructure and listed . In the seed stage, one of the first VCs we actually spoke to was Octopus Ventures! This mix of attributes is very attractive to a venture investor. Personal opinions may change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation. Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Investments, is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in Europe. Glassdoor users rated their interview experience at. The sentiment does hold in many cases, but not all. A few years ago, South African documentary filmmaker Craig Foster felt burnt out from years of working on arduous nature films. Thanks for the response. All rights reserved. Weve not got all of our hiring right over the years, but the key is to recognize when youve got it wrong and, brutal though it sounds, make the changes quickly. Ill take any feedback onboard. Flavia joins Octopus Ventures from Plug and Play, an early-stage investor and corporate innovation platform connecting startups to corporations globally. Deep I had a bad interview experience with Octopus for a project manager position in London. Were a leader in one area investing in female leaders but we need to do more to support not just women but everyone, regardless of culture, race, gender, orientation or economic status. My focus is on finding people and teams from across UK and European universities who are working on science and technologies with the potential to breakout into the market at scale and impact the huge challenges facing humankind and our planet.. We bootstrapped and funded ourselves from a number of government grants and angel investment. What is it about Octopus that appeals to you? From speaking to our portfolio and other European start-ups, weve found that a strategy that can work very effectively is building up an in-house marketing function whilst also using external agencies tactically to achieve specific goals, such as managing staffing shortfalls, coping with rapid periods of growth, exploring new channels, optimising existing channels and entering new markets. You need the right idea AND timing. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Nov 2022. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Jan 2022. I applied online. We were owed money from many banking clients that were taking a long time to pay us. Maiuran joins from the Family Office of East African Holding, based in Addis Ababa, where he focused on business transformation for portfolio companies and new investments into early-stage ventures in a rapidly transforming economy. So, its been quite a shift! The concept hasnt really changed from then until now. Octopus Ventures has closed a $12.3 million pre-seed funding round that the company plans to use to continue the expansion of its B2B FinTech . , and it continues to change Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Investments is... Family members, friends, angel investors and venture capitalists for help in seed. You think youve had this success is very attractive to a venture investor growth the... Entrepreneurs, based in NYC if so, why do you think had. Would i make a great public company CEO a companys journey and all things long. 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