Pay Later, Cross-Border There was a phone call, a interview with the main manager and then hr to go through personality fit. Job Interview Best Practices Growing Your Career Starting a New Job All Articles Learning Hub Food & Beverage Online Courses Retail Online Courses I had a bad interview experience with Octopus for a project manager position in London. This button displays the currently selected search type. What will be Bs share in the total profit of Rs. When I joined, we were a few hundred people and we were a couple of thousand when I left. Kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng listahan ng mga opsyon sa paghahanap na magpapalit ng mga input sa paghahanap para tumugma sa kasalukuyang pinili. In a way, we were fortunate that it took us a little while, and I think it was a good thing that we didnt get funding at the time. We bootstrapped and funded ourselves from a number of government grants and angel investment. 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. 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. Index, Data Backing the people and ideas that will change the world. As the company then grows, you have to transform yourself from being that reactive doer, moving it all by yourself, to hiring well and realizing the results through others. 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. Octopus Ventures EIS Service gives investors the opportunity to access pioneering businesses with high growth potential. Some of them can adapt to the new stage, and some of them cant. I had someone independent facilitate, and we got a great set of feedback that we then turned into the core values of the company. Two days before my agreed deadline, I was told the position had already been filled. Disparate world views and diverse skill sets, yet with a shared purpose; to invest in a world that we, and future generations, can be proud of. The highly active London-headquartered VC has built a dedicated pre-seed team led by former senior staff at Seedcamp and Uber. Given the ubiquity of mobile and cloud computing, these types of companies are also able to reach global audiences in a capital efficient way. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview . 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. Staying really active helps lower my stress and generally keeps me healthy and able to deal with the challenges of my role. 25,000 earned at the end of 2 years from the starting of the business? 73% of employees would recommend working at Octopus to a friend and 66% have a positive outlook for the business. He joined KPMGs Information Communication and Technology practice immediately following the .com crash and later co-founded Reevoo where he spent six years as CEO. In terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was going to do this at the end. What I do today is completely different than what I was doing at the start. a From this humble beginning over a decade ago, Octopus Ventures has grown rapidly into a team of 30, investing over $120m a year. Having invested the time . Culturally, transitioning can be extremely challenging at that point too. By 2030 we aim to have invested 10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change. . As a company continues to grow, your ability to hire well is one of the key determinants of success and failure. The first interview was set up by the interviewer Victoria, who specified that it would be a phone conversation. Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported. It was quite funny coming out to the US; in the first six months I put on five kilos. At the beginning I was much more data driven and trusting of other seasoned executives and advisors. 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. Clich, I know! Weve always been thoughtful about our company culture, even at an early stage. But there are other avenues its well worth considering.. & Pharmacy, Healthcare Why octopus VC? Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported. What companies are you interested in at the moment and why? And so, we perhaps naively quit our jobs and set up a company to address this problem. So annoying when you invest time and end up not receiving answers. There was a phone call, a interview with the main manager and then hr to go through personality fit. Any indication of what the UK salary is like for Head/VP/Director of Engineering of groups ~50-100? "It was the biggest change in the past 10 years. Phone Number +44 20 7776 7968. Data, Artifical Octopus Ventures, a dedicated business unit in Octopus Group, is the VCT manager. In Europe, theres an increasing willingness among established entrepreneurs to support younger startups by acting as advisers or angel investors, creating a VC climate that is ripe with opportunity today, Thomas Cuvelier, partner at venture capital (VC) firm Alven, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. We try to encourage real honesty and robust thinking when making this decision. Ill take any feedback onboard. Our belief is that you can build a better tomorrow by investing in it. The brief I was given was to treat everyone from octopus as newbies and they wouldnt know much about the session being delivered. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Nov 2022. Still, at that point as the founder and the CEO, youre just scrambling and doing everything, and the focus has to be on getting the initial customers. I joined the Octopus Ventures team in New York at the start of 2017 having spent two years working with our team in London. Compared to our US counterparts, European investors tend to have a more limited range of platform services to offer the entrepreneurs they back. Discover which UK universities are successfully spinning out companies. My co-founder James did a little contracting work on the side. Were always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England), Initial screening call with internal recruiter, 1st stage interview with financial controller, 2nd stage interview Case Study, 3rd stage interview with the Finance and operations director after the case study, I applied online. I interviewed at Octopus. The London funding environment was very different then and money was very hard to come by. So, I went back to the Valley in October of the same year, this time with a number of US clients in my book. Very quick and straightforward process. So, we kept everything really low on the spend at that time of the journey. Alastair, you keep returning to hiring as one of the most important ways youve addressed your company. Funding Round Feb 15, 2023. From a frenzy of activity in 2020-2021 it has slowed. We want to invest in an entrepreneur not just in their first business, but over the lifetime of their entrepreneurial endeavours. 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. From 2011 it was just the two of us, and we got to four by the end of 2012. The person in question turned out to be a big Arsenal fan. At the Series A, while you are trying to get the product right your product is still very much stuck together with tape and string youve got to start to show momentum. I applied online. Developing a personal relationship in the hiring process can be an essential complement to the business reasons a person might join your company. Deep Mat Munro brings fourteen years of operator experience in venture backed businesses, from founding a number of companies to leading product, design, and engineering teams at the likes of VisualDNA. Fintech Portfolio. Minimum, a Y Combinator backed start-up that helps businesses across all industries to make their [] I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Mar 2022. Now We got a big springboard in 2013 from the Fintech Innovation Lab in London. FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund Helping investors looking for long-term growth from UK smaller companies. 2022 Just Crack Interview. Were looking for founders and teams who are coming up with solutions to some of the worlds biggest problems. We power the people tackling todays biggest challenges. 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. Lots of portfolio and VC companies have expanded into the US market, where do you see the opportunities and challenges for portfolio companies that have expanded into Asia? The group joins at an exciting time for the deep tech team which saw its largest ever exit in 2021 through WaveOptics $500m acquisition by Snap Inc. Thankfully, Im back down to where I was now! In recent months we have spoken to well over 100 European founders and executives who have relevant experience of expanding into the US to learn each time what worked, what didnt, where the obstacles and bear traps lay, and the hacks, short cuts and range of side steps each entrepreneur took to make their business a success in a new market. Octopus Ventures is a part of Octopus Investments - 2023 Octopus Ventures. Should we choose to hire you for the post ? We've built Octopus into one of the most disruptive and progressive companies across the financial services and energy sectors. In London our team spend more of their time seeking talented entrepreneurs to back and then helping them day to day with the challenges that come with building a fast growing young company. want our Insights hub. Discover more funding rounds. The concept hasnt really changed from then until now. Octopus Ventures, part of Octopus Group and one of the largest and most active VCs in Europe, today announce the arrival of five new investors in the businesss specialist deep tech team. The security industry spent 20 years worrying about the perimeter and the network, trying to build up walls to keep the bad guys out. For journalists in their professional capacity only. 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: The process took 3 weeks. Related: VCs Say EU Firms Can Still Win Big Without US Expansion. We live in a changing world. Im a big Liverpool fan, so I booked us a special screening for the Liverpool vs. Arsenal game when he was next in London. There is a common sentiment in the early stage industry that founder CEOs are often not built to grow from the two-person team all the way to the CEO of a mature company, or in some cases just do not wish to do so. Octopus Ventures are launching Coaching Partners for their portfolio, and I'm really excited to have been invited! I feel like that feedback isnt fair of my actual capabilities due to the brief not going ahead properly. 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 . . Payments, Grocery Then, the answer to most questions quickly becomes giving your team the support they need to be successful without you doing it yourself. Today, Octopus Ventures backs breakthrough deep tech businesses including Orbex, which aims to make the first vertical spaceship launch from U.K. soil; Origami, an energy data platform designed to accelerate the transition to green energy and, autonomous robot creator, Dogtooth Technologies. In the second part of the conversation, Alastair and I discuss his individual strengths and challenges and evaluate how well he has applied them at each stage of Digital Shadows growth. And how has Digital Shadows grown since that beginning? Firstly, we were two guys without a track record of building startups. Prior to joining Octopus, Davis served as an investment manager with YFM Equity Partners. 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. Everything is about getting to 1 million recurring revenue from a number of clients in order to demonstrate the capability. Octopus Ventures is a collective of experts and individuals. Various factors seemingly contributed to the maturity of the sector. The process took 1 week. What advice would you give a CEO just starting out on their founding journey? All rights reserved. We strongly believe that there is no trade-off between doing good and making money, and our business can pursue purpose as well as profit. Now we are close to 180 people. 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. Let us help you get to the right place so you can read the stories most relevant to A few years ago, South African documentary filmmaker Craig Foster felt burnt out from years of working on arduous nature films. Written by Nick Sando Read more. Minimum, a Y Combinator backed start-up, raises $2.6m Seed round led by Octopus Ventures to make carbon neutrality accessible to all businesses Minimum's tech allows companies to integrate carbon calculation and offsetting directly into their business processes and customer journeys. 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. Please enter your email address. In the final part of our conversation, Alastair and I focus on hiring, founder CEOs growing a company all the way to maturity, and the advice he'd give a CEO starting the journey. I'm in wonderful company alongside Katy | 12 LinkedIn ; FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income Fund Target long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield. We care about how we do business. 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. I thought that there would be a need for a company to look after all this information. I interviewed at Octopus in Oct 2022. With a view to better helping our founders with this challenge, we have spent several months talking to over 100 European CEOs who are building their businesses in the US today some very effectively, others still on a journey to finding the right mix of team, product, go to market strategy and sales. The decision to scale into the U.S. market, followed by the execution, is not for the faint Whenever youre encountering each new issue along your journey, its important to find someone who has done it before and succeeded. 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