"Once the foundation is set, changes can be taken with ease."
Meet Kaidi Ruusalepp, Founder and CEO of Funderbeam, the global funding and trading platform for private companies. Funderbeam enables companies to raise funds and investors to invest with liquidity, also lists existing shares, employee shares, and investments of private companies.
The platform has investors from 130 countries and is awarded as the Best European Fintech startup in 2017. Kaidi is a former CEO of Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange and of the Central Securities Depository. Co-Founder of Estonian Service Industry Association. Ex Member of Startup Europe Advisory Board at European Commission. The first IT lawyer in Estonia, she co-author of the Estonian Digital Signatures Act of 2000 — landmark legislation that enables secure digital identities and, in turn, the country’s booming electronic economy. Fifth-year running listed among TOP 50 Europe’s most influential women in the startup and venture capital space. Entrepreneur of the Year, 2018, Technology Playmaker Awards (booking.com global award for women in tech). Person of a Year, 2016, Estonian ICT Association.
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We’re happy that you could join us today! Please introduce yourself to our readers. What’s your story?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: I am the first IT lawyer in Estonia to help Estonia to build the foundation to its world famous e-country. At the age of 25, I became the CEO of Estonian Central Securities Depository and at the age of 29 the CEO of Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange. I was the first Estonian female founder to raise funds from Estonia to my startup and most probably I am the first female to ever build up a stock exchange from the scratch. There are many “first evers” in my story and it has been hard work, breaking barriers and habits during these years. By now Funderbeam, the stock exchange for global startup shares, is pioneering the new stock market business model.
CEOs and leaders usually have different motives and aspirations when getting started. Let’s go straight to the beginning. What was your primary goal for starting your business? Was it wealth, respect, or to offer a service that would help improve lives?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: In Estonia, every parent, mainly mothers, can take 18 months of paid maternity leave when the baby is born. So after all those hardworking years, I stayed home with my second child from the Nasdaq Tallinn CEO position. It gave the crucial time to think about the past and the future. I always say that in every entrepreneur there’s a secret animal living and one day you just have to let it out. So I decided not to go back and found my own company instead. Coming from the industry, I understood the technology, securities trading, post-trade services, and the local nature of these services due to an old business model. At the same time private markets were growing and here is where I saw a problem and an opportunity – a truly global exchange for private companies.
Tell us about 2 things that you like and two things that you dislike about your industry. Share what you’d like to see change and why.
Kaidi Ruusalepp: In the startup sector, I love the passion of founders and the dedication from VCs and other investors to support the passion. A good founder with a right-minded investor can change the world for the better. I also love the fact that the startup industry lives 5-20 years in the future. It’s not about the fear of missing out on the competition right now, it’s about the fear of missing out on the future. At the same time, the financial sector (investments and secondary trading) is the most regulated industry in the world. It has no common sense anymore and is very local. But the world is global and connected, so very often the regulation is the blocker, not the enabler and protector.
Companies around the world are rapidly changing their work environment and organizational culture to facilitate diversity. How do you see your organizational culture changing in the next 3 years and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Funderbeam is already global and diverse. And I mean diversity in gender, age, culture, religion, languages. I have never seen diversity as something we need to force or implement. It’s just how things are – global offices with global talents and respect. Being a female founder in the financial sector and coming from Estonia it does not make sense to build a new company with barriers.
According to the Michigan State University “An organization’s culture is responsible for creating the kind of environment in which the business is managed, and has a major impact on its ultimate success or failure.” What kind of culture has your organization adopted and how has it impacted your business?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: We created a culture of respect and innovation. To build up a new stock exchange business model from the scratch using all available global jurisdictions requires respecting the rules and regulations, but at the same time hacking these rules and regulations. We have to respect each other as team members, our opinions but also people around us who do not believe we will ever succeed.
Richard Branson once famously stated “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.” and Stephen R. Covey admonishes to “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. What’s your take on creating a great organizational culture?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Company culture starts from the founder and CEO. You have to lead by example. We have as many different cultures as there are different leaders. There is no right or wrong culture in general, but there is a right or wrong fit. And not many leaders and academics can make the difference between these two.
The overwhelming majority of more than 9,000 workers included in a recent Accenture survey on the future of work said they felt a hybrid work model would be optimal going forward, a major reason for that being the improved work-life balance that it offers. How do you promote work-life balance at your company?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Very simple thing – we ask people to spend weekends and take holidays. We ask them not to miss kids’ school celebrations and important family events. And in return, we get hardworking and loyal employees.
How would you describe your company’s overall culture? Give us examples.
Kaidi Ruusalepp: In startup, the main culture is all around and about change. Once the foundation is set, changes can be taken with ease.
It is believed that a company’s culture is rooted in a company’s values. What are your values and how do they affect daily life at the workplace?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: It’s respect, trust, freedom, and innovation. This means we have strong executives and team leads, I respect and trust them. The team has enough freedom on how to deliver the results and when “we can’t do this” situation arises, we have to solve the situation. If needed, innovate a totally new way.
An organization’s management has a deep impact on its culture. What is your management style and how well has it worked so far?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Management is diverse, lean, and global. We have CFO and CLO in London, CTO, CCO, CEO, CPO, compliance, and operations leads in Tallinn, and the CEO of the Exchange business in Singapore. This means we have to operate and lead against all traditional management standards and guidebooks.
Every organization suffers from internal conflicts, whether functional or dysfunctional. Our readers would love to know, how do you solve an internal conflict?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Team building and the most importantly – hiring people with the right values – is done during the recruiting process. So we don’t solve internal conflicts because we have recruited the right people.
According to Culture AMP, Only 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process at their organization (versus 70% of men), which leads to job dissatisfaction and poor employee retention. What is your organization doing to facilitate an inclusive and supportive environment for women?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: In Funderbeam we make no distinction between genders, ages, nationalities, and other similar groupings. We work with professionals and we respect and listen to professionals.
What role do your company’s culture and values play in the recruitment process and how do you ensure that it is free from bias?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: We recruit people based on values. Yes, CV and professional background do the shortlisting, but values pick the winner. Would my team like to work with this person and would this person fit into the team? We also call our team Funderfamily, so picking a family member is about picking the person you’d like to spend the most productive hours of the day with. And we ask teammates to join the interviews so that not only HR and management have the decision power.
We’re grateful for all that you have shared so far! We would also love to know if there was one thing that you could improve about your company’s culture, what would it be?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: Sometimes I wish the team would question less and think along more.
This has been truly insightful and we thank you for your time. Our final question, however, might be a bit of a curveball. If you had a choice to either fly or be invisible, which would you choose and why?
Kaidi Ruusalepp: I would fly. I don’t want to be invisible as I would like to trust people and hope they trust me. With or without my presence. But flying would take me anywhere anytime I wish to go. Places that are unreachable otherwise, like the most unbelievable treasures in nature and the rooftops of New York:)
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Kaidi Ruusalepp for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Kaidi Ruusalepp or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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