S7: E4. Culture and team building in a Series A startup ft. Seb Leape (Natcap)

There’s a lot that goes on within a hiring process but what is it actually like from the perspective of founders and the C-suite, when trying to scale a business and build out that initial team? Sebastian Leape previously worked as a sustainability consultant at McKinsey and has now turned his attention to encouraging people to embed nature into business decision-making. He is CEO at Natcap, where they offer a simple and scalable platform to bring together the world's best science, data and technology to create actionable insights and empower organisations to measure, report and ultimately act on their nature-related risks and opportunities. During this series, we’ll be discussing the art of building strong, high-performing teams to give your startup the best foundation possible. I’ll be speaking to industry experts about inclusion, employer branding and establishing culture, plus I’ll be hearing both the VC and founder viewpoints and experiences when it comes to finding and supporting the best talent. So, whether you’re a founder starting to scaling your team, a hiring manager looking for top talent, or simply curious about how diverse teams are tackling the planet’s most pressing challenges, this series is for you.1:50 - Where was Natcap in the People journey when you joined and where are you today?5:22 - How have you stayed true to your scientific and academic roots, and progressed without alienating early employees?8:43 - What challenges have you faced over the last couple of years when it comes to building out the team?11:18 - How did you plan your benefits package and what did you decide to include, particularly in light of a tighter budget as a startup?13:38 - How much did you consult with the team about what to include in the benefits package?15:14 - Where did you not do onboarding so well and what have you learnt and changed during the process?19:43 - How did you ensure that managers were able to take over onboarding as the company grew?23:24 - As your strategy and headcount have changed, how have your company values had to evolve?30:01 - Did you have any external support when finalising your branding, values and mission?32:16 - How do your values feed into your recruitment process?34:34 - How intentional were you when it comes to gender diversity and were there challenges?39:03 - How have things changed from a People perspective now that you’re post-Series A?41:41 - Have the characteristics and experience of team members changed in light of Series A and has the team changed overall?43:28 - What have been your key learnings from the last couple of years and what advice would you give to early-stage founders for team building?48:26 - Would you advise starting to hire before closing a round, as you did with your Series A, and did that room to hire slower make it better? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.