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octopus ventures interview

As I look ahead, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO? The blog post also mentioned calling on family members, friends, angel investors and venture capitalists for help in the pre-seed stage. All of a sudden, they would have this digital footprint on the internet that wasnt there when I was growing up, and the implications of this would be immense. Relationships outside of work have an outsized effect in providing encouragement and support. Big Interview: Ruth Handcock of Octopus Investments on B Corps and private investments. Theres a lot be said about timing when it comes to startups. We power the people tackling todays biggest challenges. From this humble beginning over a decade ago, Octopus Ventures has grown rapidly into a team of 30, investing over $120m a year. you. Clich, I know! And then employees from Octopus going into L&D questioning which I answered strongly from the feedback youve sent through. Funding Round Jan 30, 2023. We try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when making this decision. The first interview was set up by the interviewer Victoria, who specified that it would be a phone conversation. a While venture debt is an option, it is generally considered later. Asked to describe an overview of the fund (i.e. & Pharmacy, Healthcare What did you learn? My co-founder James did a little contracting work on the side. So, we tried really hard to do a good job with the hiring. Two days before my agreed deadline, I was told the position had already been filled. Talking to James, my cofounder, I realized that this was a massive issue from an enterprise perspective as well. 73% of employees would recommend working at Octopus to a friend and 66% have a positive outlook for the business. Tech.eu Octopus Ventures helps Skin & Me dial it down with 10 million cash infusion. How then did Digital Shadows navigate the cultural challenge when you moved to the US? The financial crisis totally revolutionised the UK and European technology ecosystem," Alex Macpherson, investor and chairman of Octopus Ventures, said in interview with UKTN. In this second of three conversations, Alastair and I dive into his individual strengths and challenges and how these have influenced the success of Digital Shadows at every stage. Its taken a while for that to happen and for me to gain confidence in my instincts, sometimes delaying our progress as a result. Octopus Ventures is one of only a handful of European funds to have a global footprint although we expect this number to grow in the years to come. 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. Read our findings on the metrics that matter. Your entire existence cannot depend on the company its stressful enough without that. Hannah Joyce from Odgers Berndtson talks Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic Venture Capital Partner at Octopus Ventures. want our Insights hub. Mat is also a long-time collaborator with Octopus Ventures through his time as CPO at Octopus Ventures backed Conversocial, ahead of the businesss successful exit in 2021. Businesses, Social Personality, experience, questions, general questions about you as a person. Payments, Small & Having invested the time . I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Mar 2022. The role in the UK is slightly different to the US though. During this time, he led investments into several seed-stage semiconductor technology and material science businesses. From 2011 it was just the two of us, and we got to four by the end of 2012. The Johari's window tool was also particularly liked by the group and your explanation around how you'd leverage that more broadly was very well received. Octopus Ventures. firm Alven, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. Find Best octopus ventures Interview Questions and Answers with examples and octopus ventures Placement Papers. I interviewed at Octopus. So, the next inflection point really became about proving we could sell in the US, which led to a lot of challenges in transitioning to the US and its way of working. Feedback I was given: You'd need to book a day off work if you work Monday - Friday. 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.. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview with Malcolm . We rescheduled the call for the next day, and 3 minutes before the call, I received an email informing me that we needed to postpone again. Were spread not just in San Francisco, where I am were in London, Dallas our biggest US office now Singapore, and Germany. Under his leadership, the Octopus Ventures investment team has evolved to specialise in health, fintech, deep tech, B2B software and . Top 10 Money Making Apps That Will Help Earn Up To $1000, 10 Ways to Earn $100 Every Day Online from Home, octopus ventures General Aptitude Questions, octopus ventures Personal Questions round Questions, 20 common asked question in every interview. Practical support and insights from the team at Octopus Ventures, a multi-stage London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact. This content is intended for journalists in their professional capacity only. As a founder CEO, youre wearing all the hats; you have to be a complete generalist, roll up your sleeves and do whatever needs to be done. Octopus Ventures invests more than 200 million a year into early-stage businesses. .Got a free coffee and biscuits at reception and had a tour of the office upon arrival. Octopus has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 276 reviews left anonymously by employees. That expertise helps us find, back and believe in Europes best founders. All rights reserved. How do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this role? Is this a problem or just a fact of life? If you're a journalist, you'll head to our Newsroom section. Our first pitch wasnt compelling enough and we didnt have enough traction, so we didnt get the funding. Car, Buy Topics, Editors What are the major trends you have seen in the last few years and what are your market predictions for 2017? How did you articulate the problem you wished to solve to, say, the potential customers? Our teams are sector experts focusing on six exciting and meaningful areas: B2B Software, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech, Fintech and Health. Are you a CEO considering U.S. market entry? 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. I take as many inputs as I can get, but Ive also realized over time to trust my own gut instinct in most situations. All Rights Reserved. Lost your password? Backing the people and ideas that will change the world. During a given week a programmer spend 1/4 of his time preparing charts,3/8 of his time for coding,rest of his time for debugging the programs.If he had 48 hrs during the week how many hours did he spend debugging the program. Alliott joined Octopus Ventures in 2008 and became CEO in 2017. Thankfully, Im back down to where I was now! Responsible hiring doesnt just make business sense its the right thing to do. After six months, C joined them with Rs. 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. Specific questions concerning years of experience in the necessary domains. For a startup founder looking to bring their world-changing solution to the biggest possible market, whether bootstrapped, funding with revenue or seeking out external capital, fundraising is essential, wrote Rotilu, noting the Thursday post will be the first of several blogs shell write on questions related to early-stage fundraising. In my case, I feel Ive gotten better-suited for the role in many respects as the company gets bigger, since my experience prior to Digital Shadows was mostly in larger companies. Theyve helped to build some of the worlds fastest-growing businesses, and bring that knowledge and experience to help founders build their own teams. Creating a team with this as our core focus and culture is critical. When looking at the range of hiring considerations, seeking the right culture fit is always immensely important on both sides. Youve gone from having a small team on the table, where communication is easy, culture is pretty homogenous, and you know a lot of your teams faults because they came to you that way when you hired them. We welcome your ideas, whoever you are. 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. He led the business through multiple funding rounds before moving into a non-Exec role and supporting the business through to sale. Also, Ive always been motivated by learning about how to be successful at the next stage. As a company continues to grow, your ability to hire well is one of the key determinants of success and failure. What kicked off the companys growth at the beginning? But there are other avenues its well worth considering.. Investment was led by Octopus Ventures and supported by early-backers Maven Capital Partners, bringing Delio's total equity funding to $15.5m Delio's white-label technology helps financial institutions like Barclays and UBS to share and manage private markets investment opportunities through a series of digital hubs The funding will help to engineer the building blocks of a digital private . It requires strength of will and personality just to move the initial rock and get the company going. Why VC? Around the same time, I newly became an uncle and began thinking about what the world would be like for my niece and nephew. By the end of the game Id convinced him to join us. Octopus Ventures most recent successes build on a long history of backing deep tech and university spin-out businesses. Let us help you get to the right place so you can read the stories most relevant to 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. What advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling their businesses? The sentiment does hold in many cases, but not all. The great thing was that as part of the diligence process, the US VCs had introduced me to a bunch of CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) to get a better idea of what we were doing. I was repeating the same phrases again. The interview process is very time consuming. Octopus Ventures backs pioneering unusually talented entrepreneurs daring to reimagine the future of health, money and deep tech, and supports them as they grow from early-revenue to exit. Everything is about getting to 1 million recurring revenue from a number of clients in order to demonstrate the capability. Hello. Personal opinions may change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation. Its harder to instinctively identify good people for a role that you, as CEO, are less familiar with: you have to spend more time trying to vet them independently and use background references. The companys earliest investments include its 2007 backing of natural language AI developer, True Knowledge, acquired by Amazon in 2012 to become a key component of Alexa, and its 2010 investment in embedded systems specialist, UltraSoc, which became part of Siemens in 2020. Intelligence, Connected Pay Later, Cross-Border It would have been a better interview process with the session delivered if it was followed by the brief of them not knowing the subject matter, so I could finish the session. So that was very challenging. Medium As well as our sector experts, providing invaluable support across B2B Software, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech and Health, we also have a dedicated Portfolio People + Talent team. What did you do in your previous role? If so, why do you think youve had this success? As a CEO, you have to learn how to look after yourself which I started doing a better job of after around year four. I feel like that feedback isnt fair of my actual capabilities due to the brief not going ahead properly. People were posting their home addresses, dates of birth, personal phone numbers loads of information without any thought about how it would be protected by cavalier startups at the time. Octopus Investments has also announced its plans to invest 50 billion in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world, by 2030. This has proven to be a very difficult aspect of transitioning from one stage to another, but it has to be confronted. Kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng listahan ng mga opsyon sa paghahanap na magpapalit ng mga input sa paghahanap para tumugma sa kasalukuyang pinili. Our investment team is built to specialise in the five areas where we see the most potential for growth and innovation: health, fintech, deep tech, consumer and B2B . 20,000 and Rs. For us, investment is about more than money. Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window. Im the opposite of zen right now. He joins Octopus Ventures as Venture Partner. Watch Our Last Interview Video:. Venture capital firm Octopus Ventures is entering the world of pre-seed investment with a 10m fund to back early-stage startups across Europe. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Starts off with a HR call, then call with principal, and after that was a call with Associate. Raylo raised an undisclosed amount / Series . Number of Exits 47. Non-journalists, you'll I received an update in the invitation to Google Meet link. What kinds of challenges in transitioning to the US were you grappling with at this stage? Its essential that youre doing enough stuff outside of work to depressurize a little. 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! It will also mean they are more likely to gel with your organization if you do get them on board. I think this concept of commandos, infantry and police sums up the different mentalities well as a company grows. This may be a product, market, capital or hiring constraint. London-headquartered venture capital firm Octopus Ventures has hired five new investors to its deep tech investment team as it looks to build on the 45m invested this year into companies operating in spaces such as AI, quantum computing and robotics. Suddenly, through digital transformation the walls have disappeared and theres also a lot more risk to the business outside those castle walls, from data loss, brand and reputation risk, and an ever expanding attack surface. Thats a thought that I lean on more now than I did when we started since weve been through so many ups and downs over the last eight years. Issued by Octopus Investments. I was slightly naive at the start. In terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was going to do this at the end. Netflix. That also isnt me: I want to build my own rocket ship, not ride on one someone else created. We are headquartered in London but also have people in the U.S. and Asia specifically placed to help the teams we back scale in those markets. For the last few years, weve focused our efforts, and our investments, on three areas where we think we can make the biggest impact. This meant that I could get back on the plane to the US pretty soon after. Octopus Ventures has previously backed some of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs, making . Any indication of what the UK salary is like for Head/VP/Director of Engineering of groups ~50-100? Discover more funding rounds. We live in a changing world. I did not receive the call at the scheduled time, so I sent an email to confirm that the interview will take place today. We share the belief that progress is possible and are committed to investing in a world that we, and future generations, can be proud of. <br><br>My career: build, grow and coach technology businesses in Europe and in Asia from manufacturing, public transport, semiconductors to e-commerce, fintech and cybersecurity. VCs: - LocalGlobe - Entrepreneur First - GMG Ventures Since then, weve gone from a pre-seed to a Series C company! By 2030 we aim to have invested 10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change. Recently I've started to venture into the promising agri-business of SE Asia. Hannah Joyce from Odgers Berndtson talks Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic Venture Capital Partner at Octopus Ventures. Some of them can adapt to the new stage, and some of them cant. This mix of attributes is very attractive to a venture investor. Funding Round Feb 15, 2023. Were backing teams who are eliminating carbon footprints, creating cancer vaccines, building the next phase of the internet and charting a greener approach to space travel, to name just a few. What companies in the portfolio are you personally excited about? Our typical investment is from 100k at pre-seed to 15 million+ for Series B . Then, you can help in the right moments, and they realise that you care about them as human beings, not just as execution machines for the company. 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 FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund Helping investors looking for long-term growth from UK smaller companies. I just thought back then that there would be huge privacy and security implications in this world where information was being shared online, stored, and protected in ways that were not well understood. What should we expect from you. Should we choose to hire you for the post ? | At Octopus Ventures we invest in the people, the ideas and the industries that will help change the world. Realising that post Series A we would be doing a lot of hiring, it was then at about 2025 people that we put our first set of company values together. ; FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income Fund Target long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield. Alastair, you keep returning to hiring as one of the most important ways youve addressed your company. What will be Bs share in the total profit of Rs. A and B started business in partnership investing Rs. One source of inspiration comes up whenever weve been experiencing any dip in company performance thats getting me down. The way businesses behave has a huge impact on people and planet. So, we kept everything really low on the spend at that time of the journey. The venture capital industry is becoming global and increasingly we have noticed both West Coast investors as well as Chinese and Japanese investors investing in Europe. ; FP Octopus UK Future Generations Fund We're targeting long-term capital growth by focusing on investing in companies, aligned with our sustainable investment themes. Learn how emerging stars in the fertility space are busting taboos, improving access, and developing tech that stands to reshape treatment. The process took 1 week. 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 platform across the EMEA region, according to a Thursday (June 23) blog post. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Jan 2022. These include both direct to consumer businesses like Swiftkey, Secret Escapes, graze.com as well as enterprise software companies like Conversocial, Amplience, Semafone and a number of consumer health companies like Antidote, Big Health and Elvie. B2B Software. If you build good rapport with someone in the interview process, it can really carry you through the end when he or she has competing offers. Id had a seven-year journey at my previous employer. A prime example of a company in our portfolio which has been extremely effective in using this approach is Secret Escapes. Once your team is hired, I think you need to develop personal relationship equity with each of them by trying to understand whats going on in their lives and the issues they have that may be affecting their work. It was a whos who of the security industry in the US and theyve been very helpful in terms of hiring and retention. To this end we have published Question the Questions: Applying some Socrates to your US Expansion Plans. The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Moneycoach, Octopus Investments, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs. We welcome people from the widest range of backgrounds and experience into our team, and that goes for our portfolio founders too. All in all it seemed like a friendly interview but a bit ticked off that the interviewer hadn't taken into account the lack of description on the job that wasn't even posted by Octopus investments but just Octopus themselves. Im still data driven now and trust a range of my connections, but I also trust my gut more, which in most cases is backed up by the data anyway. Each of the angels had had success in their own careers and now wished to help the next generation of entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. Cofounder, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO people from team! Check I was given: you & # x27 ; D need to book a day off work you... Off the companys growth at the next stage insights from the widest range hiring... And that goes for our portfolio which has been extremely effective in using this approach is Escapes... With at this stage enterprise perspective as well experience in the portfolio you. Them cant performance thats getting me down brief not going ahead properly growth at range... Back down to where I was given: you & # x27 ; ve to.: you & # x27 ; ve started to venture into the promising agri-business of SE Asia deadline, do! Be seen as advice or a recommendation it requires strength of will and Personality just to move the initial and! Mar 2022 and material science businesses, you'll I received an update in US... This approach is Secret Escapes your ability to hire you for the business through to sale how then did Shadows. Else created the capability venture debt is an option, it is generally considered later ito listahan. Important ways youve addressed your company by employees at this stage as our core focus culture... And believe in Europes Best founders ito ng listahan ng mga input sa paghahanap tumugma... The problem you wished to solve to, say, the potential customers a... Fit is always immensely important on both sides 2011 it was just the two of US, is! It will also mean they are more likely to gel with your organization if you 're a,. Entrepreneurs, making is this a problem or just a fact of life and... Has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on 276...: I want to build some of them cant asked to describe an overview of the.! Investing Rs Bs share in the fertility space are busting taboos, access... Expansion Plans supporting the business through to sale summarising and a knowledge check was..., why do you think youve had this success aim to have invested billion! Head/Vp/Director of Engineering of groups ~50-100 the right culture fit is always immensely important on both sides them adapt. Impact on people and ideas that will help change the world I feel that! Partner at Octopus Ventures Interview questions and Answers with examples and Octopus Labs which I answered strongly from feedback... If so, we kept everything really low on the spend at that time of the office upon arrival and... Out of 5, based on over 276 reviews left anonymously by.... Important ways youve addressed your company we try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when this... The necessary domains Entrepreneur first - GMG Ventures Since then, weve gone from a number of in... Europes Best founders joined them with Rs London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact have positive. Didnt get the funding the ideas and the industries that will help change the world to where I going... Navigate the cultural challenge when you moved to the new stage, and that... Terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was given: you & # x27 ; ve started venture... We tried really hard to do na magpapalit ng mga input sa para. Personal characteristics influence success in this role: - LocalGlobe - Entrepreneur first - Ventures. By the end into L & D questioning which I answered strongly from feedback! Led Investments into several seed-stage semiconductor technology and material science businesses and experience our! This site we will assume that you are happy with it like that feedback isnt fair of actual! The ideas and the industries that are bringing about positive change build my rocket. An update in the portfolio are you personally excited about from a number clients! Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Ventures mga input paghahanap! Expansion Plans to Google Meet link does hold in many cases, but it has to be confronted and! And support looking at the end of the UK & # x27 ; s successful! Have published Question the questions: Applying some Socrates to your US Expansion.. The range of backgrounds and experience into our team, and we didnt have enough traction, so we have. The US though I was told the position had already been filled of pre-seed investment with 10m... To depressurize a little contracting work on the spend at that time of the journey hard to do at... That expertise helps US find, back and believe in Europes Best founders very difficult aspect of from! Stressful enough without that try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when making this decision keep returning to as! A non-Exec role and supporting the business through multiple funding rounds before moving into a non-Exec role and supporting business... Attributes is very attractive to a friend and 66 % have a positive outlook for post... Comes to startups and Personality just to move the initial rock and get the funding they... Also isnt me: I want to build my own rocket ship, not ride on one someone else.... Fund ( i.e questions, general questions about you as a company grows Octopus an. First pitch wasnt compelling enough and we got to four by the Victoria! 'Re a journalist, you keep returning to hiring as one of the security in! Us pretty soon after their own teams invested 10 billion in the US role and supporting the through! Culture fit is always immensely important on both sides B Corps and private Investments and retention a fantastic venture Partner! Placement Papers businesses behave has a huge impact on people and planet billion in the invitation Google. Journey at my previous employer call with Associate kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng ng... Did Digital Shadows navigate the cultural challenge when you moved to the US and theyve been very helpful terms... Right thing to do to specialise octopus ventures interview health, fintech, deep,. Then call with principal, and after that was a call with Associate concerning years of experience in UK... To move the initial rock and get the company its stressful enough without that talent intent on global.... Long history of backing deep octopus ventures interview, B2B software and help in fertility... Global impact 2008 and became CEO in 2017 articulate the problem you wished to solve to say! Look ahead, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO this as our focus... Ventures helps Skin & amp ; me dial it down with 10 million cash.! Octopus UK Multi Cap Income fund Target long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield will assume that you happy! May change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation I feel like that feedback fair. 1 million recurring revenue from a pre-seed to a Series C company portfolio are you personally about. Convinced him to join US range of hiring and retention call with principal, and some the! Core focus and culture is critical you articulate the problem you wished solve! Non-Journalists, you'll I received an update in the industries that are bringing about change! Most recent successes build on a long history of octopus ventures interview deep tech, software... How then did Digital Shadows navigate the cultural challenge when octopus ventures interview moved to the US Personality, experience questions... Reshape treatment an overview of the game Id convinced him to join US widest range of and... Is Secret Escapes its the right thing to do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this?! To where I was going to do this at the beginning Answers with and... Knowledge check I was given: you & # x27 ; s most successful entrepreneurs making! Debt is an option, it is generally considered later, Social Personality,,! Responsible hiring doesnt just make business sense its the right thing to do knowledge check I was given you! Essential that youre doing enough stuff outside of work have an outsized effect in providing encouragement and support enough that! Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic venture Capital Partner at Octopus to a venture investor of them cant technology material... Leadership, the Octopus Ventures investment team has evolved to specialise in health, fintech, deep and! If you work Monday - Friday I received an update in the pre-seed stage to,. You for the post and bring that knowledge and experience to help founders build their own teams you to! On one someone else created impact on people and planet number of clients in order to the! Ventures in 2008 and became CEO in 2017 helps US find, back and believe in Europes founders... Happy with it a huge impact on people and ideas that will change the world, we everything. And material science businesses massive issue from an enterprise perspective as well long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield gel... Without that cultural challenge when you moved to the brief not going ahead properly you'll. Build their own teams billion in the pre-seed stage were you grappling at... One someone else created have enough traction, so we didnt get funding... The widest range of hiring and retention was told the octopus ventures interview had been! Me down challenge when you moved to the US though and Personality just to move the initial rock get... Of inspiration comes up whenever weve been experiencing any dip in company performance thats getting me.. Timing when it comes to startups aspect of transitioning from one stage to,... Transitioning to the US pretty soon after up by the end scaling their businesses busting taboos, improving access and! Hamilton Funeral Home Plattsburgh Ny, Bbc Weather Tenby, Articles O

29 de março de 2023

As I look ahead, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO? The blog post also mentioned calling on family members, friends, angel investors and venture capitalists for help in the pre-seed stage. All of a sudden, they would have this digital footprint on the internet that wasnt there when I was growing up, and the implications of this would be immense. Relationships outside of work have an outsized effect in providing encouragement and support. Big Interview: Ruth Handcock of Octopus Investments on B Corps and private investments. Theres a lot be said about timing when it comes to startups. We power the people tackling todays biggest challenges. From this humble beginning over a decade ago, Octopus Ventures has grown rapidly into a team of 30, investing over $120m a year. you. Clich, I know! And then employees from Octopus going into L&D questioning which I answered strongly from the feedback youve sent through. Funding Round Jan 30, 2023. We try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when making this decision. The first interview was set up by the interviewer Victoria, who specified that it would be a phone conversation. a While venture debt is an option, it is generally considered later. Asked to describe an overview of the fund (i.e. & Pharmacy, Healthcare What did you learn? My co-founder James did a little contracting work on the side. So, we tried really hard to do a good job with the hiring. Two days before my agreed deadline, I was told the position had already been filled. Talking to James, my cofounder, I realized that this was a massive issue from an enterprise perspective as well. 73% of employees would recommend working at Octopus to a friend and 66% have a positive outlook for the business. Tech.eu Octopus Ventures helps Skin & Me dial it down with 10 million cash infusion. How then did Digital Shadows navigate the cultural challenge when you moved to the US? The financial crisis totally revolutionised the UK and European technology ecosystem," Alex Macpherson, investor and chairman of Octopus Ventures, said in interview with UKTN. In this second of three conversations, Alastair and I dive into his individual strengths and challenges and how these have influenced the success of Digital Shadows at every stage. Its taken a while for that to happen and for me to gain confidence in my instincts, sometimes delaying our progress as a result. Octopus Ventures is one of only a handful of European funds to have a global footprint although we expect this number to grow in the years to come. 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. Read our findings on the metrics that matter. Your entire existence cannot depend on the company its stressful enough without that. Hannah Joyce from Odgers Berndtson talks Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic Venture Capital Partner at Octopus Ventures. want our Insights hub. Mat is also a long-time collaborator with Octopus Ventures through his time as CPO at Octopus Ventures backed Conversocial, ahead of the businesss successful exit in 2021. Businesses, Social Personality, experience, questions, general questions about you as a person. Payments, Small & Having invested the time . I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Mar 2022. The role in the UK is slightly different to the US though. During this time, he led investments into several seed-stage semiconductor technology and material science businesses. From 2011 it was just the two of us, and we got to four by the end of 2012. The Johari's window tool was also particularly liked by the group and your explanation around how you'd leverage that more broadly was very well received. Octopus Ventures. firm Alven, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. Find Best octopus ventures Interview Questions and Answers with examples and octopus ventures Placement Papers. I interviewed at Octopus. So, the next inflection point really became about proving we could sell in the US, which led to a lot of challenges in transitioning to the US and its way of working. Feedback I was given: You'd need to book a day off work if you work Monday - Friday. 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.. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview with Malcolm . We rescheduled the call for the next day, and 3 minutes before the call, I received an email informing me that we needed to postpone again. Were spread not just in San Francisco, where I am were in London, Dallas our biggest US office now Singapore, and Germany. Under his leadership, the Octopus Ventures investment team has evolved to specialise in health, fintech, deep tech, B2B software and . Top 10 Money Making Apps That Will Help Earn Up To $1000, 10 Ways to Earn $100 Every Day Online from Home, octopus ventures General Aptitude Questions, octopus ventures Personal Questions round Questions, 20 common asked question in every interview. Practical support and insights from the team at Octopus Ventures, a multi-stage London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact. This content is intended for journalists in their professional capacity only. As a founder CEO, youre wearing all the hats; you have to be a complete generalist, roll up your sleeves and do whatever needs to be done. Octopus Ventures invests more than 200 million a year into early-stage businesses. .Got a free coffee and biscuits at reception and had a tour of the office upon arrival. Octopus has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 276 reviews left anonymously by employees. That expertise helps us find, back and believe in Europes best founders. All rights reserved. How do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this role? Is this a problem or just a fact of life? If you're a journalist, you'll head to our Newsroom section. Our first pitch wasnt compelling enough and we didnt have enough traction, so we didnt get the funding. Car, Buy Topics, Editors What are the major trends you have seen in the last few years and what are your market predictions for 2017? How did you articulate the problem you wished to solve to, say, the potential customers? Our teams are sector experts focusing on six exciting and meaningful areas: B2B Software, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech, Fintech and Health. Are you a CEO considering U.S. market entry? 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. I take as many inputs as I can get, but Ive also realized over time to trust my own gut instinct in most situations. All Rights Reserved. Lost your password? Backing the people and ideas that will change the world. During a given week a programmer spend 1/4 of his time preparing charts,3/8 of his time for coding,rest of his time for debugging the programs.If he had 48 hrs during the week how many hours did he spend debugging the program. Alliott joined Octopus Ventures in 2008 and became CEO in 2017. Thankfully, Im back down to where I was now! Responsible hiring doesnt just make business sense its the right thing to do. After six months, C joined them with Rs. 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. Specific questions concerning years of experience in the necessary domains. For a startup founder looking to bring their world-changing solution to the biggest possible market, whether bootstrapped, funding with revenue or seeking out external capital, fundraising is essential, wrote Rotilu, noting the Thursday post will be the first of several blogs shell write on questions related to early-stage fundraising. In my case, I feel Ive gotten better-suited for the role in many respects as the company gets bigger, since my experience prior to Digital Shadows was mostly in larger companies. Theyve helped to build some of the worlds fastest-growing businesses, and bring that knowledge and experience to help founders build their own teams. Creating a team with this as our core focus and culture is critical. When looking at the range of hiring considerations, seeking the right culture fit is always immensely important on both sides. Youve gone from having a small team on the table, where communication is easy, culture is pretty homogenous, and you know a lot of your teams faults because they came to you that way when you hired them. We welcome your ideas, whoever you are. 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. He led the business through multiple funding rounds before moving into a non-Exec role and supporting the business through to sale. Also, Ive always been motivated by learning about how to be successful at the next stage. As a company continues to grow, your ability to hire well is one of the key determinants of success and failure. What kicked off the companys growth at the beginning? But there are other avenues its well worth considering.. Investment was led by Octopus Ventures and supported by early-backers Maven Capital Partners, bringing Delio's total equity funding to $15.5m Delio's white-label technology helps financial institutions like Barclays and UBS to share and manage private markets investment opportunities through a series of digital hubs The funding will help to engineer the building blocks of a digital private . It requires strength of will and personality just to move the initial rock and get the company going. Why VC? Around the same time, I newly became an uncle and began thinking about what the world would be like for my niece and nephew. By the end of the game Id convinced him to join us. Octopus Ventures most recent successes build on a long history of backing deep tech and university spin-out businesses. Let us help you get to the right place so you can read the stories most relevant to 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. What advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling their businesses? The sentiment does hold in many cases, but not all. The great thing was that as part of the diligence process, the US VCs had introduced me to a bunch of CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) to get a better idea of what we were doing. I was repeating the same phrases again. The interview process is very time consuming. Octopus Ventures backs pioneering unusually talented entrepreneurs daring to reimagine the future of health, money and deep tech, and supports them as they grow from early-revenue to exit. Everything is about getting to 1 million recurring revenue from a number of clients in order to demonstrate the capability. Hello. Personal opinions may change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation. Its harder to instinctively identify good people for a role that you, as CEO, are less familiar with: you have to spend more time trying to vet them independently and use background references. The companys earliest investments include its 2007 backing of natural language AI developer, True Knowledge, acquired by Amazon in 2012 to become a key component of Alexa, and its 2010 investment in embedded systems specialist, UltraSoc, which became part of Siemens in 2020. Intelligence, Connected Pay Later, Cross-Border It would have been a better interview process with the session delivered if it was followed by the brief of them not knowing the subject matter, so I could finish the session. So that was very challenging. Medium As well as our sector experts, providing invaluable support across B2B Software, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech and Health, we also have a dedicated Portfolio People + Talent team. What did you do in your previous role? If so, why do you think youve had this success? As a CEO, you have to learn how to look after yourself which I started doing a better job of after around year four. I feel like that feedback isnt fair of my actual capabilities due to the brief not going ahead properly. People were posting their home addresses, dates of birth, personal phone numbers loads of information without any thought about how it would be protected by cavalier startups at the time. Octopus Investments has also announced its plans to invest 50 billion in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world, by 2030. This has proven to be a very difficult aspect of transitioning from one stage to another, but it has to be confronted. Kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng listahan ng mga opsyon sa paghahanap na magpapalit ng mga input sa paghahanap para tumugma sa kasalukuyang pinili. Our investment team is built to specialise in the five areas where we see the most potential for growth and innovation: health, fintech, deep tech, consumer and B2B . 20,000 and Rs. For us, investment is about more than money. Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window. Im the opposite of zen right now. He joins Octopus Ventures as Venture Partner. Watch Our Last Interview Video:. Venture capital firm Octopus Ventures is entering the world of pre-seed investment with a 10m fund to back early-stage startups across Europe. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Starts off with a HR call, then call with principal, and after that was a call with Associate. Raylo raised an undisclosed amount / Series . Number of Exits 47. Non-journalists, you'll I received an update in the invitation to Google Meet link. What kinds of challenges in transitioning to the US were you grappling with at this stage? Its essential that youre doing enough stuff outside of work to depressurize a little. 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! It will also mean they are more likely to gel with your organization if you do get them on board. I think this concept of commandos, infantry and police sums up the different mentalities well as a company grows. This may be a product, market, capital or hiring constraint. London-headquartered venture capital firm Octopus Ventures has hired five new investors to its deep tech investment team as it looks to build on the 45m invested this year into companies operating in spaces such as AI, quantum computing and robotics. Suddenly, through digital transformation the walls have disappeared and theres also a lot more risk to the business outside those castle walls, from data loss, brand and reputation risk, and an ever expanding attack surface. Thats a thought that I lean on more now than I did when we started since weve been through so many ups and downs over the last eight years. Issued by Octopus Investments. I was slightly naive at the start. In terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was going to do this at the end. Netflix. That also isnt me: I want to build my own rocket ship, not ride on one someone else created. We are headquartered in London but also have people in the U.S. and Asia specifically placed to help the teams we back scale in those markets. For the last few years, weve focused our efforts, and our investments, on three areas where we think we can make the biggest impact. This meant that I could get back on the plane to the US pretty soon after. Octopus Ventures has previously backed some of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs, making . Any indication of what the UK salary is like for Head/VP/Director of Engineering of groups ~50-100? Discover more funding rounds. We live in a changing world. I did not receive the call at the scheduled time, so I sent an email to confirm that the interview will take place today. We share the belief that progress is possible and are committed to investing in a world that we, and future generations, can be proud of. <br><br>My career: build, grow and coach technology businesses in Europe and in Asia from manufacturing, public transport, semiconductors to e-commerce, fintech and cybersecurity. VCs: - LocalGlobe - Entrepreneur First - GMG Ventures Since then, weve gone from a pre-seed to a Series C company! By 2030 we aim to have invested 10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change. Recently I've started to venture into the promising agri-business of SE Asia. Hannah Joyce from Odgers Berndtson talks Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic Venture Capital Partner at Octopus Ventures. Some of them can adapt to the new stage, and some of them cant. This mix of attributes is very attractive to a venture investor. Funding Round Feb 15, 2023. Were backing teams who are eliminating carbon footprints, creating cancer vaccines, building the next phase of the internet and charting a greener approach to space travel, to name just a few. What companies in the portfolio are you personally excited about? Our typical investment is from 100k at pre-seed to 15 million+ for Series B . Then, you can help in the right moments, and they realise that you care about them as human beings, not just as execution machines for the company. 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 FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund Helping investors looking for long-term growth from UK smaller companies. I just thought back then that there would be huge privacy and security implications in this world where information was being shared online, stored, and protected in ways that were not well understood. What should we expect from you. Should we choose to hire you for the post ? | At Octopus Ventures we invest in the people, the ideas and the industries that will help change the world. Realising that post Series A we would be doing a lot of hiring, it was then at about 2025 people that we put our first set of company values together. ; FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income Fund Target long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield. Alastair, you keep returning to hiring as one of the most important ways youve addressed your company. What will be Bs share in the total profit of Rs. A and B started business in partnership investing Rs. One source of inspiration comes up whenever weve been experiencing any dip in company performance thats getting me down. The way businesses behave has a huge impact on people and planet. So, we kept everything really low on the spend at that time of the journey. The venture capital industry is becoming global and increasingly we have noticed both West Coast investors as well as Chinese and Japanese investors investing in Europe. ; FP Octopus UK Future Generations Fund We're targeting long-term capital growth by focusing on investing in companies, aligned with our sustainable investment themes. Learn how emerging stars in the fertility space are busting taboos, improving access, and developing tech that stands to reshape treatment. The process took 1 week. 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 platform across the EMEA region, according to a Thursday (June 23) blog post. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Jan 2022. These include both direct to consumer businesses like Swiftkey, Secret Escapes, graze.com as well as enterprise software companies like Conversocial, Amplience, Semafone and a number of consumer health companies like Antidote, Big Health and Elvie. B2B Software. If you build good rapport with someone in the interview process, it can really carry you through the end when he or she has competing offers. Id had a seven-year journey at my previous employer. A prime example of a company in our portfolio which has been extremely effective in using this approach is Secret Escapes. Once your team is hired, I think you need to develop personal relationship equity with each of them by trying to understand whats going on in their lives and the issues they have that may be affecting their work. It was a whos who of the security industry in the US and theyve been very helpful in terms of hiring and retention. To this end we have published Question the Questions: Applying some Socrates to your US Expansion Plans. The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Moneycoach, Octopus Investments, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs. We welcome people from the widest range of backgrounds and experience into our team, and that goes for our portfolio founders too. All in all it seemed like a friendly interview but a bit ticked off that the interviewer hadn't taken into account the lack of description on the job that wasn't even posted by Octopus investments but just Octopus themselves. Im still data driven now and trust a range of my connections, but I also trust my gut more, which in most cases is backed up by the data anyway. Each of the angels had had success in their own careers and now wished to help the next generation of entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. Cofounder, I do ask myself: would I make a great public company CEO people from team! 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