CollPoll’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) Series featuring Alex Peter

AMA with Alex Peter
Contents

At CollPoll, we believe in the process of learning new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis to boost – performance and innovation. So, to focus on building learning-oriented team culture we have been running our AMA (Ask Me Anything) series, which helps our team to gain valuable insights and challenge themselves in order to obtain new knowledge, ideas, and skills.

Bringing in our next guest – Alex Peter who interacted with the CollPoll team and shared his wonderful life experiences, lessons from the past, and efforts to success. Let’s dig in to learn more about him!

About Alex Peter!

Alex is the Senior Vice President, Founder’s Office at Lummo, one of the fastest-growing fintech startups backed by Jeff Bezos and Tiger Global. He is passionate about working on things that are related to people and psychology. He started The Quartile Company; a boutique HR strategy & consulting firm which advises startups & venture capitalistic firms across SE Asia, India and Europe in Org building and hiring.

Alex holds a hands-on experience of 15 years while working in some reputed organizations – Matrix Partners, Zynga, JP Morgan & Kelly Services.

Key Takeaways from AMA Session with Alex

 

  • A Good Team Goes a Long Way


A Good Team Goes a Long Way: Alex Peter

 

During my time as an investor, I gave importance to the kind of team the startups had. Even if a product sees a failure or things don’t go the way as planned, a good team with the right dedication and attitude can still take you ahead in the game. Right team dynamics ultimately impact other key areas of an organisation.

  • Let the Sales Lead the Early Phase!


Let the Sales Lead the Early Phase!: Alex Peter

In the world of investing in venture capital (VC), while they give us fuel and money, they are also the ones who might make you lose. Some of the big number-driven VCs focus on the market size while the others focus on good founders and teams. In the early phase, when you are trying to capture the market, your Sales team will be the one striving. At this time, the company needs to step back and allow the sales team to do their work. 

Businesses are of two types: pure software-based and non-software businesses. Typically, there are 4 business stages and each stage plays a key role in growth:

  1. Sales
  2. Sales & Product
  3. Product
  4. Marketing
  • Right Marketing Techniques Boosts Business


Right Marketing Techniques Boosts Business: Alex Peter

 

Data is important to building a product. At some point, you need to take a call on when to stop the product updates. If done a little too soon, it can be catastrophic for your business but a little too late is fine. This means, that the data-driven approach is great and it goes hand-in-hand with sales (one drives another at the right time).

Marketing comes in the end and helps in the sustainability of SaaS businesses. So, using the right marketing tools is quite essential.

  • The Secret to Scaling Is a Good Talent Acquisition Team


The Secret to Scaling Is a Good Talent Acquisition Team

 

For an emerging SaaS business, it is important for all the teams including the hiring team to be a part of the Customer calls in the first week of their joining. This is critical to understand the product before working for an organization.

Investing in building a good Talent Acquisition team is imperative for businesses. This not only helps in scaling the organization but also brings in the right talent.

Alex believes, “Companies should always follow the 22:1 top-of-the fund ratio to scale properly”.

  • Mentor and Managers Are Two Different Things

 

Mentor and Managers Are Two Different Things

 

People can often confuse a Mentor with a Manager but they are totally different things. If someone is a good mentor, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can be a good manager. Mentors guide you in a lot of personal and professional areas but Managers not only guide you professionally but also monitor and assess performance as well as build the right team culture.

  • One Must Always Read Books


One Must Always Read Books!

 

No matter how good a person is with their work, I never hire someone who doesn’t like reading books. Especially for the people who are in their initial years of working, they need to gain a lot of knowledge on a daily basis.

I believe, reading books develops a curiosity in an individual related to the tasks they perform, what they do at the workplace, etc. Because if someone isn’t curious about their work, they probably aren’t the right people to do it.

  • Leaders Drive Culture in the Organization


Leaders Drive Culture in the Organization

 

Founders are the people who can drive a good culture in an organization. While the team helps in spreading the culture at the workplace, the leader has to work in the direction of creating it. In simple words, culture is more about – figuring out what the team members actually lack and then taking steps towards improving it.

A bunch of leaders might lack the ability to build good teams. However, investing more time onboarding a good team and focusing on building better work relationships, can be a way forward!

This AMA session with Alex Peter was quite insightful and covered some of the major topics – understanding the importance of different teams, using the right marketing strategies, building a good team culture, and more. Thank You Alex for such a wonderful session, we look forward to having you again!

Keep watching this space for more AMA episodes of CollPoll!