In this episode of The Venture-Scale SaaS Operator, we had the opportunity to host Tony Jamous, founder and CEO of a billion dollar HR platform Oyster. Oyster provides tools to help with hiring, onboarding, benefits and salary management for both contractors and full-time remote employees all around the world.
Tony talks about his motivation behind starting Oyster and how he led it to unicorn status. He also shares his thoughts on becoming a better leader, creating a supportive work environment, and his life as a CEO of a billion dollar company.
Tune in to learn more about:
~ How to become a better leader.
~ Best way to lead a fast growth billion-dollar startup.
~ How to create a work environment that helps people to be their true selves.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) - Intro
- (00:32) - What Oyster is and what problem does it solve?
- (01:04) - Typical customer profile for Oyster.
- (02:05) - How much is OysterHR worth? Its mission and growth details.
- (04:00) - Flexibility and leadership during hyper growth.
- (05:14) - Advice for first-time founders on maintaining flexibility and leadership.
- (07:34) - Tony's motivation for starting another company after Nexmo exit.
- (09:55) - Motivation behind building a mission-driven company.
- (11:58) - How to be intentional about creating an impactful, high-growth business.
- (13:58) - Criteria for selecting early executives for Oyster.
- (16:08) - Creating psychological safety within the company.
- (19:22) - A typical day for the CEO of a billion-dollar company.
- (21:55) - The role of asynchronous communication and video in managing Oyster.
- (25:52) - Outro
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Mentioned In The Episode
Oyster - HR Platform for distributed workforces.
Nikolas Chapoupis
EarlyNode
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Get real stories about the birth and growth of SaaS Startups with our Host Nikolas Chapoupis (CEO @EarlyNode). Each episode gets into the trenches alongside those who were *actually* there when it happened. To reveal the full story of what's working in SaaS right now, from hiring to fundraising, marketing, and product strategy.
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