octopus ventures interview
30.12.2020, , 0
I joined the Octopus Ventures team in New York at the start of 2017 having spent two years working with our team in London. It also forced us to be disciplined about how we went about our business. Id had a seven-year journey at my previous employer. 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. I applied online. 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 . Compared to our US counterparts, European investors tend to have a more limited range of platform services to offer the entrepreneurs they back. The process took 1 week. 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. The sentiment does hold in many cases, but not all. What are the major trends you have seen in the last few years and what are your market predictions for 2017? Your entire existence cannot depend on the company its stressful enough without that. Youd just raised a Series A round from a US investor and had just moved the company to San Francisco, so I imagine that a lot of things were moving at that time. Likewise, access to US venture capital is also often an insufficient reason to set up in the US because European companies are usually not well positioned to raise money from US investors before having a material presence here, despite the often-held belief that it is easier to fundraise in the US. We do not offer investment or tax advice. While venture debt is an option, it is generally considered later. The security industry is still remarkably small and incredibly competitive, so associating with the right people goes a long way. She works closely with Venture Capital and Private Equity funds to assist them in attracting senior leaders in to their own teams and portfolio companies. Octopus Ventures is one of the most active early stage investors in Europe, with offices in London and New York and Venture Partners in San Francisco, London, Singapore and China. PYMNTS Get in touch. No matter your experience, interviewing can be a stress-inducing event. A PYMNTS study, New Payments Options: Why Consumers Are Trying Digital Wallets finds that 52% of US consumers tried out a new payment method in 2022, with many choosing to give digital wallets a try for the first time. The Octopus Ventures blog: sharing experience, knowledge and insights with entrepreneurs in the startup community as well as recent news from the team and portfolio. When youre running low on energy and motivation, where do you go to seek inspiration, encouragement, support, or just general fuel in your tank? Octopus Ventures is part of Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Should we choose to hire you for the post ? 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.. 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. It will also mean they are more likely to gel with your organization if you do get them on board. Needless to say, its pretty hard to go from zero to public and successfully run the company throughout. Medium Ill take any feedback onboard. 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. Index, Data Flavia Levi, joining from the Ventures team at Plug and Play. Issued: January 2018. So annoying when you invest time and end up not receiving answers. 3. Trying to have a really up-front, authentic leadership team that gets everything out in the open is one way of dealing with this transparently and effectively as the company grows. Not being able to scale your marketing function can place significant constraints on a companys ability to grow, which can be a challenge, especially for consumer facing businesses, where you are competing with agencies and established start-ups for the best marketing talent. How did the idea of Digital Shadows first come to be? We see a lot of angel investing in the market how is the pre-seed market affecting Octopuss access to deal flow? What companies are you interested in at the moment and why? Goodwin > The Legal 500 Rankings Investment fund formation and management > Real estate funds Tier 1 Goodwin's real estate funds team is co-led by 'exceptional partner' Justin Cornelius and the 'simply outstanding' Samantha Lake Coghlan's real estate funds team is co-led by 'exceptional partner' Justin Cornelius and the 'simply And so, we perhaps naively quit our jobs and set up a company to address this problem. 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. Youve got to follow your own conviction, or gut, ultimately. This often involves both basic operational activities, such as incorporating a US company or discovering the optimal location to have a base, as well as more strategic decisions like determining who first to hire, which go to market strategies to leverage, when and how to fundraise. You need the right idea AND timing. Deep All Rights Reserved. Backing the people and ideas that will change the world. Our team in the US is focused almost entirely on helping our European portfolio scope and enter the US market. If you wait a few months, youre going to be feeling very different about whatevers going on. And, like clockwork, I have felt different every time as the company has started performing well again. Car, Buy Theyve helped to build some of the worlds fastest-growing businesses, and bring that knowledge and experience to help founders build their own teams. Firstly, we were two guys without a track record of building startups. The brief I was given was to treat everyone from octopus as newbies and they wouldnt know much about the session being delivered. For some companies we may work in a very hands-on manner and for others, it could be less frequent projects. 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. Do you think this sentiment holds? The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Moneycoach, Octopus Investments, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs. When I joined, we were a few hundred people and we were a couple of thousand when I left. yield based/capital appreciation etc. Ive always believed that ethics, integrity, diversity and values can have a big impact on why people join you and our VP Sales for the Americas, Maria, was kind enough to write about that here. We bootstrapped and funded ourselves from a number of government grants and angel investment. 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. The entrepreneurs we back are reimagining how whole industries behave. 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. I didnt think about this much when I first started the journey, but it really is a marathon, not a sprint. The hiring process at Octopus takes an average of 23.13 days when considering 64 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Feedback I was given: 25,000 earned at the end of 2 years from the starting of the business? What will be Bs share in the total profit of Rs. 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. Laura Wilming of Octopus Ventures People + Talent team answers the pressing questions about Or rather, when. Was there some point when things began to move forward quickly? Those conversations came out really positively and the good news is that I managed to convert a number of those into sales by the end of the year. That was really disappointing, and we came back with really low funds. 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. Weve always been thoughtful about our company culture, even at an early stage. What kicked off the companys growth at the beginning? Personal opinions may change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation. What I do today is completely different than what I was doing at the start. 15,000 respectively. But we believe that a new world is possible one where the most successful companies are a force for good. Kapag na-expand, nagbibigay ito ng listahan ng mga opsyon sa paghahanap na magpapalit ng mga input sa paghahanap para tumugma sa kasalukuyang pinili. How would you structure your investment DD? 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. The person in question turned out to be a big Arsenal fan. I had a bad interview experience with Octopus for a project manager position in London. I wouldnt want to crush any of that spirit that you need at the beginning, but I think you need to know that success takes 10 years, not 10 months. What advice would you give CEOs when they are scaling their businesses? What do you know about Octopus? 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. Cliche, I know! Octopus Ventures. Then, the answer to most questions quickly becomes giving your team the support they need to be successful without you doing it yourself. I thought that there would be a need for a company to look after all this information. List of Investors and Details. This was the evidence we needed to convince the UK VC community to put money in, and our original seed round happened with Passion Capital around this time. Since Europe also picked up again at that time, we ended up with about five term sheets and closed out a Series A at the end of the year. 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? News Feb 15, 2023. & Pharmacy, Healthcare Ultimately, when we back a company, were backing the entrepreneurs behind it. .Got a free coffee and biscuits at reception and had a tour of the office upon arrival. 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. Meet the manager: Watch a video interview . How would you feel about working for a younger manager? For us, investment is about more than money. If the present age of the man is 48 years, find the present age of the son? 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. The role will almost always be a tough, long one, even if youre successful. The role in the UK is slightly different to the US though. Case study: provided a fund performance pack with key metrics. <br><br> Designed . 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. 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. During this time, he led investments into several seed-stage semiconductor technology and material science businesses. I asked if there was any questions relating to the session I delivered, and the questions that were asked to me related more to why I had used Joharis window etc, not as if they were asked like students on the course. I applied online. We focus on building a more sustainable planet, empowering people and revitalising healthcare. Minimum, a Y Combinator backed start-up that helps businesses across all industries to make their [] What did you do in your previous role? 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. Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported. 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. 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. 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. Our teams are sector experts focusing on six exciting and meaningful areas: B2B Software, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech, Fintech and Health. By 2030 we aim to have invested 10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change. ( My name) has a friendly and informal / conversational style which was really liked by the attendees. "It was the biggest change in the past 10 years. It was a highly competitive situation. One of those milestones has to be revenue, and if youre trying to raise from US investors, they prize US revenue over everything else. 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. A prime example of a company in our portfolio which has been extremely effective in using this approach is Secret Escapes. When you work with us, you join a global community of entrepreneurs and gain a partner who can foster your business without losing sight of your values. We welcome your ideas, whoever you are. This mix of attributes is very attractive to a venture investor. Thankfully, Im back down to where I was now! Youve got to be a lifelong learner and be prepared to be a sponge for new ideas and best practices every day. She mentioned that Innovate UKoffers grants that help build a startup without any dilution to ownership and grants present another viable option. 18 Nov 2022. They sent me to the office for the initial HR call, but I showed up and no one was in the office. What candidates say about the interview process at Octopus Energy. Hannah Joyce from Odgers Berndtson talks Venture Capital Trends with a fantastic Venture Capital Partner at Octopus Ventures. 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. Practical support and insights from the team at Octopus Ventures, a multi-stage London VC backing unusual talent intent on global impact. How do a CEOs personal characteristics influence success in this role? I was repeating the same phrases again. On the other end, there are those who prefer to grow existing ideas, with little role in idea-creation. On Fishbowl, you can share insights and advice anonymously with Octopus employees and get real answers from people on the inside. This meant that I could get back on the plane to the US pretty soon after. Ive been able to tell myself weve been through quite a few of these. The decision to scale into the U.S. market, followed by the execution, is not for the faint You'd need to book a day off work if you work Monday - Friday. We are a team that backs entrepreneurs. Octopus has an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on over 276 reviews left anonymously by employees. A man said to his son, I was two-third of your present age when you were born. As a company grows, the team composition should change to meet the needs of the new often very different stage of growth. PYMNTS Data: Why Consumers Are Trying Digital Wallets. ; FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income Fund Target long-term growth and an attractive dividend yield. Skin + Me raised 10,000,000 / Series B from Octopus Ventures. Various factors seemingly contributed to the maturity of the sector. Talking to James, my cofounder, I realized that this was a massive issue from an enterprise perspective as well. Q: tell me about your background and experience. 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. What Should You Focus On During The Interview, How to Get a Better Job Based on Your Skills, McDonalds Interview Question and answers, Buy Best Term Insurance Plan and Policy in India 2022, How To Take Benefits From Social Media Sites. This is changing now. My co-founder James did a little contracting work on the side. Everything is about getting to 1 million recurring revenue from a number of clients in order to demonstrate the capability. . Netflix. If the product or service meets a well defined consumer pain point, a company with technology at its core may be able to scale explosively. This button displays the currently selected search type. A huge transformation was going on in 2010 to 2011 with everyone becoming active on social media. For instance, a product constraint is often not a good reason to expand abroad, as a new international market is unlikely to solve a lack of product market fit. Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window. How is A related to C, if B is the mother of Cs daughter ? (Fortunately, it was a 11 game). We care about how we do business. Investor Type Venture Capital. Alastair Paterson is the co-founder of Digital Shadows and has been its CEO for 8 years since its founding. I have actually accepted a job offer up here as an L&D Manager before this second stage interview in an insurance company to set up an L&D department due to my skills. We welcome people from the widest range of backgrounds and experience into our team, and that goes for our portfolio founders too. In most roles, you get to moan to your co-workers about challenges in your job. Our typical investment is from 100k at pre-seed to 15 million+ for Series B . Needing . What is it about Octopus that appeals to you? Why VC? Richard Anson comments: Im super excited to have joined the Octopus Ventures deeptech team. Our in-house People + Talent specialists are here to support with building teams and cultures that thrive. Related: VCs Say EU Firms Can Still Win Big Without US Expansion. Payments, More Staying really active helps lower my stress and generally keeps me healthy and able to deal with the challenges of my role. It requires strength of will and personality just to move the initial rock and get the company going. Issued by Octopus Investments. Ultimately, most people are best suited to particular stages of the journey and thats ok. Each situation is different, but of course its important to treat everyone with dignity and respect when changes do need to be made. 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. It was quite funny coming out to the US; in the first six months I put on five kilos. 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. His new Netflix film is called My Octopus Teacher. How well has it been received by the Asian market? Perhaps some CEOs brains are wired for ideas and are best at coming up with new concepts but lack the execution discipline to focus beyond the initial stages. Creating a team with this as our core focus and culture is critical.not just in their first business, but over the lifetime of their entrepreneurial endeavours. 03942880. 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. 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. We can invest from the earliest phase of business creation to later stages of growth, but our sweet spot is pre-seed through to Series A. I applied online. No matter how important the company might feel to you, its still not as important as family and we all have lives outside work. Started off with simple hellos then basic questions like what I like about the company, I had brought up that Octopus has it hands in things like energy and such. (My name) set the tone for the session well and set out clear objectives and a nice structure. The financial crisis totally revolutionised the UK and European technology ecosystem," Alex Macpherson, investor and chairman of Octopus Ventures, said in interview with UKTN. Were spread not just in San Francisco, where I am were in London, Dallas our biggest US office now Singapore, and Germany. . Also, for me, fitness is big thing I still play football, I run a lot, and I snowboard as often as possible. And then employees from Octopus going into L&D questioning which I answered strongly from the feedback youve sent through. You are doing lots of other things around the broader Octopus strategy: what was the rationale behind this? 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. All rights reserved. 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. Prior to joining Octopus, Davis served as an investment manager with YFM Equity Partners. Written by Nick Sando. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Octopus Ventures was started by four angel investors in a small country pub just outside Cambridge in the UK. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email. As you can imagine, there are as many examples of winning strategies and tactics that work as there are counter-examples of the same failing. Get started with your Free Employer Profile, Learning and Development Business Partner Interview. This year, the IPO market changed. It was a whos who of the security industry in the US and theyve been very helpful in terms of hiring and retention. 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. So, you had an idea and thought to create a company. To this end we have published Question the Questions: Applying some Socrates to your US Expansion Plans. Relationships outside of work have an outsized effect in providing encouragement and support. So, inflection point number one was having a degree of evidence that this was going somewhere, and we could build out the development team and the first version of the platform with that Seed round. From this humble beginning over a decade ago, Octopus Ventures has grown rapidly into a team of 30, investing over $120m a year. Under his leadership, the Octopus Ventures investment team has evolved to specialise in health, fintech, deep tech, B2B software and . 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). 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. We back businesses from an idea on a page all the way through a business's journey to exit. This rating has improved by 3% over the last 12 months. Getty. Founded in 2007, Octopus Ventures is a venture capital firm based in London, United Kingdom. From a frenzy of activity in 2020-2021 it has slowed. That kept the lights on. I think that, of all things, these points have been the most helpful to me along the way. Working together to unlock deep techs revolutionary potential. Ipinapakita ng button na ito ang kasalukuyang piniling uri ng paghahanap. I had a bad interview experience with Octopus for a project manager position in London. 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. In 2021 Octopus Ventures has backed deep tech startups including quantum computing firm ORCA . I went out in April 2014 to try to raise money from a number of US VCs. Candidates interviewing for Internal Communications Manager and Intern rated their interviews as the hardest, whereas interviews for IT Support and Senior Manager roles were rated as the easiest. Are you a CEO considering U.S. market entry? 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. 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? In an interview with Medtech Insight, Octopus Ventures partner Pooja Sikka explained the approach Octopus takes to investments, and the key challenges the fund wants to address. Our mission is simple to invest in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. I came to the interview as I wanted to move to London. Registered in England and Wales No. Asked to describe an overview of the fund (i.e. Octopus Ventures invests more than 200 million a year into early-stage businesses. For the people and ideas that will change the world. Developing a personal relationship in the hiring process can be an essential complement to the business reasons a person might join your company. B2B Software. 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. 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. Why octopus VC? About Octopus Ventures. I interviewed at Octopus (London, England) in Nov 2022. I'm in wonderful company alongside Katy | 12 LinkedIn Raylo raised an undisclosed amount / Series . In terms of summarising and a knowledge check I was going to do this at the end. If you find that interesting, then that can sustain you through points of rapid change. Octopus Ventures, a dedicated business unit in Octopus Group, is the VCT manager. Benjamin Davis, a 12-year veteran within the Octopus Group and current CEO of Octopus Real Estate, will succeed Ruth Handcock as of today.
octopus ventures interview