GoCardless
GoCardless was a fantastic introduction to the startup world. I joined with a very loose job spec: essentially, do whatever wasn’t coding or selling. It provided a great grounding in business operations, as a day could include anything from covering support to interviewing a senior compliance hire to reviewing the annual accounts. We grew from 20 to 80 people, refined a go-to-market motion, moved upmarket to enterprise business, and launched in multiple new geographies during my time there.
I fell in love with the people & culture space, as it provided an amazing opportunity to make an organisation-wide impact, and cemented my belief that the right people working on the right things are the best tool any company has to achieve its vision.
Head of People:
Set up people and talent practices from scratch.
Increased offer-acceptance rate to >90% by changing hiring process and interviewer training.
Reduced attrition by 77% by setting up employee engagement programme and acting on feedback.
Learnt enough coding skills to own the careers page, including ATS integration and internal onboarding web app.
Owned reporting to FCA, HMRC, Delaware Division of Revenue, ICO and investors.
Designed, staffed and managed ffnance and legal functions; administered EMI option scheme and cap table, managed 3 R&D tax credit claims; also responsible for invoices, expenses management, payroll, and reviewing management accounts.
Project management: ran a 200-person hack weekend and several multi-stage internal processes (e.g. appraisals, zero-disruption office moves).