Ciara Byrne (Fast Company), Gordon Willoughby (CEO WeTransfer), Lea Lange (Junique) & Tony Zappala (Highland Europe) All scaling companies are unique but they face similar challenges and risks. How founders manage and prepare for those risks is key to sustainable growth. Having seen first-hand many of the issues that scaling businesses face, Highland Europe has conducted research to build a deeper understanding of both the challenges and opportunities. Building on the experiences of tech founders across Europe in areas like accessing and retaining talent, creating a strong culture, pivoting the business and evolving as their own roles change, we provide a unique window on what it takes to scale successfully. During this conversation, we’ll explore this vital topic, drawing on the insights and perspectives of three entrepreneurial leaders. Tony Zappala GENERAL PARTNER HIGHLAND EUROPE Tony Zappalà is a General Partner of Highland Europe. He invests in growth-stage technology companies such as AMCS, WeTransfer, ShopFully, Oro, ContentSquare and Talentsoft. He is excited about working with passionate entrepreneurs that are making technology accessible to new markets and new users via great design and careful focus. Gordon Willoughby CEO WETRANSFER Gordon Willoughby is CEO of WeTransfer. He studied economics at the University of Oxford and completed a MBA at INSEAD. Before joining WeTransfer, he spent eight years at Amazon, in a variety of Director roles, including launching the Kindle in Europe. Gordon has also worked in a senior operations and customer support role at eBay and before that for the Financial Times group as Global Director for Marketing and Circulation. Lea Lange FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR JUNIQUE Lea has a B.A.Sc. in Finance and Accounting and an M.Sc. in International Management. She gained her first work experience in business consultancies (Ernst & Young, Hovarth & Partners, Roland Berger). With an eye for design and an avid decorator of her own apartment, friends and family often turn to her for help when accessorising and styling their homes. Several years of lending her interior aesthetic to her inner circle lead her to the realisation that there was no solution for individuals on a budget to buy and own art, without having to cave into mainstream options. And that is how she identified a market sector that was not yet being catered to. Equipped with invaluable experience and yearning for a new challenge, her entrepreneurial drive kicked into full gear. Teaming up with ex-coworkers, long-time friends and fellow design enthusiasts Marc Pohl and Sebastian Hasebrink, she took the plunge. Thus, in September 2013 JUNIQE was born: the online destination for curated, affordable art from around the world. Ciara Byrne JOURNALIST FAST COMPANY Lapsed software developer, current tech journalist and wannabe data scientist, Ciara started her career in Machine Learning research, was the CTO of a security software startup and managed suites of products before building her own. Her writing has appeared in Fast Company, Forbes, MIT Technology Review, VentureBeat, O’ Reilly Radar, Techcrunch and The New York Times Digital. In 2014, she was shortlisted for the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship At MIT and was a Significance Labs Fellow. She is the founder of MadeVivid, a content agency for tech and science companies.
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