Fintech Masterclass Podcast - Hiring

Welcome to the first of our Masterclass podcast series. Every month we bring together experts from the Tier One People network to discuss a particular aspect of scaling a Fintech.

In this episode Dexter Cousins is joined by two special guests from the world of Talent and People to discuss hiring.

Emma Jones of Project F and Sophie Theen of Oakam group.  

The core to success of every tech business is hiring a diverse group of talented people. The stats show diversity isn't just the right thing to do for society, but it makes a positive impact on a companies financial performance. But with Fintech lagging behind other sectors when it comes to diversity, how can founders go about bridging the gender gap and build diverse teams?


About Emma Jones

Emma Jones has amassed a career in all things talent, spanning more than 25 years across global markets.  After building an enterprise channel for tech start-up recruitment specialists Mitchellake Emma joined fast growth SaaS company, Ansarada as Global Head of Talent, scaling to more than double its headcount in two years.

Emma founded Men Championing Change (Sydney & Melbourne) before embarking on her current venture, Project F.

Project F is a for-profit, social impact business helping companies around the world to surface and remove the systemic and structural derailers that cause women to quit tech mid-career.

To find out more about Project F and the 50/50 Program mentioned in the show: https://www.projectf.com.au/program-50-50

Men Championing Change: https://www.meetup.com/Men-Championing-Change-Meetup/

About Sophie Theen

Sophie Theen is a Talent and HR professional with a focus on Fintech. Studying a Bachelor of Engineering at Monash and MBA at Melbourne Business School, Sophie has gained notable experience in Australia and Europe.

As first HR person at Revolut, Sophie helped scale the business from 30-500 people. She then joined 11:FS as Global Head of HR and Talent supporting 300% growth.

Now at Oakam Group as Chief People and Customer Officer, Sophie brings a unique approach and perspective to the role of Talent and HR within tech startups.

Sophie's work is consistently recognised by the Fintech industry as a Standout 35 of the Innovate Finance Women in Fintech Powerlist 2018, 2019, 2020 Diversity Advocate and Leader


You can connect with Sophie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophietheen/

And find out more about Oakam - https://www.oakam.com/about-us/careers/

81: Ansarada, Stuart Clout

In episode 81 on Fintech Chatter Podcast Dexter Cousins is joined by Ansarada's Stuart Clout, Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder.

This is Stuart Clout's 2nd time on the show, he first appeared in episode 4, the last episode pre-covid, when we talked about his business at the time, thedocyard.

It's been a big 14 months for Stuart. We talk about an audacious merger with Ansarada and how by bringing thedocyard and Ansarada together, there’s a real opportunity to create another Aussie Fintech unicorn.

About Ansarada

Founded by Sam and Rachel Riley in 2005 Ansarada. In late 2020 Ansarada merged with thedocyard and Athena Board.

May 4th is not only Star Wars day but also marks the launch of Ansarada Deals. A comprehensive solution for transactions, the Deals solution tackles three of the biggest challenges facing every exec team and board, workforce collaboration, data security and compliance.

It's an exciting time for the business as go for global domination.

Stuart shares his approach to being a founder and some of the lessons he has learned along the way. We talk about the advantages of being open to opportunities and having a flexible approach to growth and scaling.

Find out more about Ansarada

Follow Stuart here