From Vilnius to Empire State Building at Adform

From Vilnius to Empire State Building at Adform

Adform is a global digital advertising technology company with a major site in Lithuania. The people filling the client-facing roles work in a truly international environment with the biggest brand names in the world.

To get a glimpse of life in a global adtech company, we interviewed Karolina Baltuonytė, currently a Global Platform Solutions Consultant at Adform. She has travelled to the US & Asia to work with clients and now helps global brands with technical onboarding.

 

🔵 How would you describe Adform as a product for the people outside the adtech industry?

Adform’s business might sometimes be confusing for outsiders, but actually, most people interact with us daily! Every time you see an ad online, it might be served by us. Adform connects brands to the right audiences in the right environment, making digital advertising work in an automated and seamless way.

 

 

🔵 How did you find your way to joining Adform?

It’s an interesting story, actually! Back in 2016, some of my former colleagues were working at Adform, and I only heard the best things about this company and the work environment. I was 100% sure I also wanted to work there, even though I didn’t even know what Adform did. 

Back then, I had just graduated and went around the world travelling. Whenever someone asked about my occupation, I said without any hesitation – once I’m back in Lithuania, I’ll work for Adform. When the time came to move back to Vilnius, I sent a single CV – to Adform. I was just so sure that I’d get the job. And luckily, I did!

 

🔵 You have worked in various positions within Adform, including relocating to the US office way back in 2017. How did you get this opportunity? How did that experience go for you?

It still feels unbelievable I got to work in our New York office, in the center of advertising! I’m very grateful for that opportunity to this day.

My Team Lead at that time encouraged me to apply for a temporary position in the US, even though I had only worked at Adform for 1,5 years and still felt like a beginner. If someone had told me then that I would soon lead a client meeting in the Empire State Building, I would have just laughed.

But as soon as I moved across the pond, I was soaked in the advertising world – Our American team took me to a client meeting on my very first day. In addition to being jet-lagged, I was a bit intimidated and confused as it was a completely new experience for me. Before that, I had supported clients exclusively via digital channels and emails. So the first days felt like a lucid dream at times, but it forced me to adjust to the new situation rapidly. 

I was also living very close to Times Square, which stunned me completely. Such experiences really make you believe in the ”If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere” mentality.

Overall, it was an exceptional way to get out of my comfort zone, boost my confidence and gain more industry knowledge. The time in the US office built a solid base for my next career steps in Adform.

 

 

🔵 What were some of the US-specific challenges?

One of the biggest challenges initially was the time difference with the tech people from the Vilnius office. If I had any questions before, I could simply approach the correct person in the office. But by the time I got to the office in New York, the people in Vilnius were already wrapping up for the day. This turned out to be a great learning experience: to support clients independently and on time, I had to expand my knowledge about the various aspects of Adform’s products.

 

🔵 What did you learn about the US market from your time there?

NYC’s hustle and bustle gets you into a workaholic mode, which was very enjoyable for me! I saw the American way of doing business and pitching clients. Their style is more fast-paced than in Europe – if you don’t impress the client during the first minutes, it will be much harder going forward. It felt like a constant battle for everyone. If it’s not you, then it’s someone else. You simply cannot lose focus.

One more thing I learned – you can always blame the subway if you’re late to the client meeting. 😁

 

🔵 What’s your current role? How would you explain your job in layman’s terms?

My current job title is Global Platform Solutions Consultant, meaning I’m managing the accounts of well-known global brands. I focus on the technical side of things, for example, making sure that Adform’s products are smoothly onboarded and used across the markets the client requires – no matter if it’s the US, Spain, Japan or Australia, they all must operate in sync. Or if I had to explain this to a 4-year-old – I’m building a customized puzzle and making sure it doesn’t break.

My role is global, so working at Adform’s Vilnius office makes cross-team and cross-office communication really easy and fun! Having client support and development teams here is very convenient as you can easily have a “coffee chat” about your business case followed by a good pool game. The foreign colleagues also often visit the Vilnius office, which gives us a chance to catch up. 

I’ve never worked around such inspiring and supporting people before. Even though the company is vast, you still feel like a part of the team and working towards a united goal.

 

 

🔵 What have you learned from working alongside the biggest advertisers in the world? 

It was most interesting to see that we speak the same adtech language anywhere, but it’s wrapped in a different cultural environment. Out of personal experience – eating a fried pigeon in China or raw chicken in Japan makes you feel like a complete outsider. But once you get into the meeting room, we’re back on the same page, speaking adtech.

Jokes aside, onboarding large multinational advertisers usually means staying with one account for at least two years, as it takes a while to build that customized puzzle across all the markets. In the end, you are so involved that it almost feels as if you’re working at the company. It is a priceless experience as I get to see the digital marketing strategies in different industries – retail, automotive, telecommunications. Not to mention meeting the brightest, most inspiring people along the way!

 

Check out Adform’s open positions on MeetFrank:

 

🔵 And finally, you have now worked in Adform for nearly six years. What has kept you in the company for so long?

I previously thought that even three years at one company would be too long. But here we are… 😁

Adform keeps challenging me to this day, and I still see a lot of opportunities to grow. That’s the most important thing for me. Additionally, the team is hands-down one of the best things in Adform. It’s difficult to explain to people outside the company, but we have a special vibe that all our people share due to Adform Guiding Principles, the seven of them in total. It really is a great environment for kick-starting or accelerating your career!

 

Facing hypergrowth with Kilo.Health

Facing hypergrowth with Kilo.Health

Every now and then, a start-up goes into hypergrowth. Kilo Health is the perfect example of this by more than doubling both the revenue and size of the team in 2021, with similar goals for the coming year. Of course, hiring at such a rapid pace means a lot of thinking about how to scale the culture of the company.

This is why we were excited to interview Juste Vižinytė, Chief People Officer at Kilo Health. We asked her about the thinking behind “spoiling the employees” with perks and benefits, why they discarded all rules regarding the working location, and much more!

 

🔵 Before we get to the exciting growth story, could you please explain what Kilo Health does? What are your most popular products, who are your clients, and where are they located?

Kilo Health is one of the leading digital health and wellness companies in the world. We’re also among the fastest-growing health tech companies in Europe with 500+ employees. Our headquarters are in Lithuania, but we also have offices in Berlin and Kyiv.

We have plenty of well-performing products, from mental health apps to weight management programs. We’re also providing tools to prevent, manage, or treat various health conditions, focusing on developing chronic condition management products.

Some of the most popular products include:

  1. Klinio – for diabetes management 
  2. Sensa – for mental health and wellness support
  3. Cardi.Health – for cardiovascular health
  4. Keto Cycle – for keto-powered nutrition
  5. DoFasting – for following a healthy intermittent fasting routine

Our largest market is the US, but other English-speaking countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, also play a significant role. Other important markets for us include Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Middle Eastern, and Scandinavian countries. Anyone who wishes to have a better, healthier lifestyle might be our client. 

 

🔵 Thinking about Kilo Health, the first thing that comes to mind is explosive growth. Could you give some insight into how quickly your business is accelerating?

Both the team and revenues are indeed growing at breakneck speed. We have hired 365 new people in 2021 so far. Next year, we plan to double our revenues, which already means generating a nine-digit revenue in 2022. 

 

 

🔵 How is the size of the team holding up?

We’re facing hypergrowth. Every week, 4–10 new people join our team, so you can imagine the challenges we have. We put a lot of effort into the first onboarding day so that new hires may experience our culture and meet as many colleagues as possible. Still, the most important factor is how they feel during the first few months.

Additionally, we want to create a supportive, inviting, and challenging environment that keeps people working with us for a long time. That’s why we’re expanding not only the talent acquisition team but also hiring people responsible for motivation and personal development. 

We don’t want to simply grow our teams, but to make sure that everyone who already works at Kilo Health is happy and sees meaning in their work and our mission. This is the only way to push Kilo Health to the next level.

 

 

🔵 Facing the hypergrowth of the team, have you opened any new offices lately, or have you opted more for a hybrid or remote work approach?

We have surveyed our people and learned that there is no one-size-fits-all option. As a result, everyone now works the way they want – anyone can find a place in the office, but if you prefer, you can work from anywhere in the world. We certainly do not apply strict rules.

One of our core values is ownership, freedom and creativity so each employee can make their own decisions on how and where to work – you do you, as long as the job gets done. Still, we try to make our offices as inviting as possible, so that more people want to come and work from there. We have offices in Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities, as well as spaces in Berlin and Kyiv.

 

 

🔵 With the team constantly expanding, high-performing employees should have good options for career growth. Could you share some stories of rising employees inside the company?

We try to help our employees grow by acquiring additional skills and promoting people from within the company. We create authentic leaders because Kilo Health’s culture is unique. Also, it is really valuable to train our existing employees for higher positions because they already know our culture.

An excellent example of this is one of our first teammates Kristina Zalnieraite who joined Kilo Health as a nutrition specialist back in 2018. Today, she is the Head of Nutrition and Wellness with 15 nutrition experts, dietitians and fitness consultants in her team.

Of course, we are always looking for external talents to join the ranks of our leadership team or as senior specialists. This ensures that we broaden our horizons as a company and soak in the best practices from different industries.

 

🔵 Even among startups, Kilo Health stands out for an extensive list of perks and benefits. Could you highlight some of them?

We just opened our new office, and we can call it Disneyland for our employees – we will have a massage parlour, gym, a bar, and just about anything you need to stay healthy, happy, and inspired. One of the recent must-haves is flexible private health insurance – as a company that works in the wellness industry, it was a no-brainer. We also provide 5 additional days off whenever you need it, workations, and all the learning opportunities you want, among other things. 

We don’t think the fridge full of food, a taxi budget, or a game room is a perk. It’s just a part of creating an inviting environment and allowing some time to recharge and rest. We focus on making sure that employees’ ideas are heard, the work is challenging, the teams are inviting, and our people can ambitiously grow together with the company.

 

🔵 What’s the philosophy behind “spoiling your employees”?

If you love your teams, they will love their work. If you give your heart to your colleagues, they will share theirs.

 

 

🔵 If MeetFrank’s monthly leaderboards are any indication, Kilo Health is unquestionably one of the hottest Lithuanian startups to work for in 2021. How much interest in the company do you see among candidates?

We need to headhunt people like everyone else, but I think it is a bit easier for us at this point. We emphasize our culture and hire based on cultural fit and expertise.

We have already reached our yearly employee hiring goal for this year. We have a diverse group of colleagues – from Kyiv or Berlin to the Philippines or the UK. All of them provide Kilo Health with a diverse and global mindset. 

 

🔵 Kilo Health has a particular company culture, amplified by prominent employer branding. In your opinion, what kind of qualities should the person have to fit into the team?

We look for people with a heightened sense of ownership but are also free, positive, straightforward, ambitious, flexible, fast, agile, and have a good sense of humour – those who wish to grow together and push the company to become better. 

 

Check out Kilo.Health’s open positions on MeetFrank:

Or view all openings.

 

🔵 And finally, where do you see Kilo Health in the next few years?

Kilo Health was founded to design the most engaging and effective digital lifestyle interventions that lead to a healthier life by preventing, managing, or treating various health conditions. Our vision is to become the No. 1 digital health company in chronic condition management globally with the steady and constant growth we’ve maintained so far.

 

How to get your first job in a start-up? – Part 2

How to get your first job in a start-up? – Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the guide on how to get your first job at a tech company with Giedre Dubisevaite. She is a People Manager at Whatagraph, a SaaS platform for collecting and visualizing marketing data gathered from many channels. Whatagraph has tripled its team to 60+ people in 2020 with ambitious plans for 2021 as well. 

If you haven’t already, make sure to read Part 1 of the interview, which covers the first steps for getting a job, including building a LinkedIn profile and sending an outstanding application.

 

The Interview

🔵 We pick up the conversation from Part 1 at a place where the candidate has cleared the first hurdle and left a good first impression on the recruiter. What happens next? How does Whatagraph’s hiring process look and how long does it usually take to complete it?

It actually very much depends on the role and the team. As a rule of thumb, if we receive an excellent candidate, we do not wait a month to send an offer but rather do it straight away. So if you hesitate whether to apply, today is always better than tomorrow.

In terms of the hiring process, the candidates usually go through the following steps:

  1. Application (can be done via email or by applying on our careers page)
  2. Screening
  3. Interview with a team lead
  4. Assignment
  5. Meet the team / Cultural fit interview
  6. Offer

We are big fans of adjusting the hiring process to the specific position, so the candidate gets the opportunity to show off the specific skills as well as get to know the team before deciding to join. After all, it’s an evaluation journey for both parties.

For example, when hiring for a Sales role, we usually invite candidates for a role play with our team. Also, they get to participate in the Experience day, where you get to meet the team and see how your daily tasks will look. For a position like Product Designer, we might give you a scenario with a real UX problem to solve to see how you approach challenges. 

 

 

🔵 How different are the recruiting processes for various positions, for example, technical vs non-technical roles?

I wouldn’t make a distinction between technical and non-technical roles because each position is different. We look not only at professional experience but also at soft skills that are specific to the position. 

Almost every role we are recruiting for will have an assignment step – technical or non-technical. We have found it works well for understanding the candidate’s approach to tasks in general, but it also allows them to show off their practical skills.

 

🔵 What’s your favourite question to ask at interviews? Why?

While our Team Leaders focus on more technical questions, I like to pay close attention to the personality and cultural fit. When we hire people, our goal is to onboard them on a long-term journey with Whatagraph, so we make sure the new hires share our vision, commitment and values. So my favourite question is “Where do you do your best work?”. It might sound like a simple question, but it actually gives a lot of insights. 

For example, it shows if you are a team or an individual player, what motivates you and what management style is the best to support you. Also, it highlights if you thrive in a fast-paced environment full of challenges and if you feel comfortable working at a startup like Whatagraph.

My second favourite would be “What would motivate you to stay in the company for the next 5 years?”.

 

 

🔵 Let’s say the talent has triumphantly completed the hiring process and is ready to start their career at Whatagraph. How does the onboarding process look like when most of the team is (presumably) working remotely?

When a new person joins the company remotely, the first week is booked with meetings – we believe it is important to see the faces of the people you will be working with daily. 

During your first week, you get to know our Operations and HR team, have intros with your own team and get to meet our CEO Justas. We make it clear that everyone in the company is approachable, and each question is important. Weekly check-ins also help to keep the pulse of the new hire. 

To meet people from other teams, we have regular Whatachat events. It’s like speed dating with your colleagues, where you get matched with random people for 5-minute video conversations, which is quite fun. 🙂

 

🔵 How has the year of remote work changed how Whatagraph operates?

We learned a lot over the past year about working remotely, and although it hasn’t affected how we work that much, there were a few things that we learned to do better.

Communication, for example. It’s easy to set up all day meetings to give everyone a sense of ‘working together‘, yet it’s time-consuming and tiring, especially when working from home. 

Instead, we worked a lot on documentation – writing up the processes step by step, creating handbooks, guidelines and explainer videos. We also use task management platforms that give a transparent view of where everyone in the team is, and we moved a lot of conversations offline.

 

🔵 What should a person expect from his/her first-ever job in a start-up? 

I would compare working at a startup to riding a bullet train – you jump in and ride at full speed from day one. It’s not really about lounging on bean bags and playing Playstation 4 hours per day. 

At Whatagraph, the pace indeed is fast, which can be challenging for some. But what you get in return is the environment to grow rapidly both professionally and as a person. It would take twice as long to become an outstanding talent in any other company. Here, you can do that in a few months, guided and supported by our experienced Team Leaders.

We trust our people to take ownership and get hands-on tasks from day one. And sometimes, mistakes are made, but it’s a risk we are willing to take. We say that a bad page can always be edited, but a blank one – cannot. Getting our hands dirty is how we deliver more than expected and how we grow at scale.

And amidst the thriving environment for talent, we have our team. We are all very different, complementing each other with skills and knowledge, but what unites us is the sense that we are all together in this magical journey. Everyone is super supportive and friendly – we leave our egos at the door and focus on collaboration every single day. 

🔵 Are there any things specific to SaaS companies compared to start-ups in other areas? 

When working in a SaaS company, a focus is on the product and the service we offer. To succeed in any of the teams, you need to know the product exceptionally well because you will be either making it, selling it, supporting it or marketing it. So this knowledge is essential. 

In their first week, new joiners meet our Customer Success team, where they thoroughly learn the platform and have a knowledge building session to cover the use cases of how marketing professionals use Whatagraph to become data scientists.

 

🔵 Maybe you can give some examples of team events or routines that are unique to Whatagraph?

Even though we are over 60 people now, sometimes it still feels like a small family. Current situation and remote work has put a lot of stress on how people feel in general, and for us it is important to have this sense of community alive, and to support each other. So we have remote team activities where we connect people from different teams and give them time and space to talk while doing something fun, not work-related. For example, the bi-weekly Whatachat events mentioned earlier.

Obviously, we dearly miss our office activities like weekly team breakfasts, hearing the gong from the sales room every time we have a new customer onboarded, or a bell ping every time a demo is booked, going for a team picnic outside, or just getting together for a beer or two. The time away from the office provided us with a lot of space to get new ideas of activities inside and outside the office, so I’m really looking forward to implementing them! For example, enabling our teams in Vilnius and Klaipeda to switch offices – who wouldn’t want to work with a view over the Curonian Lagoon during the day and then chill by the sea in the evening?

Check out Whatagraph’s open positions on MeetFrank:

 

🔵 Especially at the start of your career, you might find out that your initial career path is not the best fit for you. How easily can you move between different teams and roles within Whatagraph?  

Easy. That’s the best part about working in a fast-growing company like Whatagraph. I joined the company five years ago as a Marketing Specialist, and during my time here, I had a chance to work in Customer Success, Product and Operations teams. This experience helped me find the areas I enjoy most, and now I found my place as the People Manager. 

Marija, our Head of Operations, started her career as a Partnerships Development Executive in our Sales team. Žilvinas, who leads our affiliate marketing program, worked as an Outreach Specialist before taking up the new position. 

There are plenty of opportunities, and with the current pace of hiring, they are coming up all the time. It’s the matter of you taking that step and making good use of it.

 

 

How to get your first job in a start-up? – Part 1

How to get your first job in a start-up? – Part 1

Tech companies are attractive employers in many industries and ready to offer young talents remarkable growth opportunities. However, getting your first job, in a start-up or otherwise, might seem daunting. How to stand out from the other candidates? How to present yourself to a recruiter? 🤔

To find answers to all those questions, we interviewed Giedre Dubisevaite, People Manager at Whatagraph, which is a SaaS platform for collecting and visualizing marketing data gathered from many channels. She is a perfect interviewee because Whatagraph has been on a bit of a hiring spree lately, tripling its team to 60+ people in 2020 with ambitious plans for 2021 as well. 

The interview is divided into two parts: this article will cover what recruiters look like besides the work experience, how to make your application stand out, and how to build a professional LinkedIn presence. The second part focuses on everything that happens after you have been invited to an interview.

 

 

The Interview

🔵 The summer is nearing, which means people are out there eyeing a new job, maybe their first job ever. Suppose you are such a person without a lot of industry experience. Do you really have a chance in the job market at all when every job seems to require previous work experience?

Absolutely, the beginning of a new season tends to summon the longing for change, right? The good news is that Whatagraph already has several entry positions open, and we will have a lot more in the next few weeks. It’s enough to have strong motivation and interpersonal skills to apply for entry positions – we invest heavily in new people and make sure they receive sufficient training to succeed. 

Of course, there are positions where experience is a must, like leadership roles. And having worked in similar positions is always seen as an advantage. That said, when we are recruiting for junior positions at Whatagraph, experience is not the only thing we look at, but also things like internships, volunteering projects, courses, and life experiences that might have developed the skills needed.

 

🔵 Could you give a specific example of what you look for in candidates applying for junior positions? Besides the relevant work experience, of course.

Sure, let’s take our Partnerships Development Executive (PDE) role as an example. It is a junior sales position, so I do not expect people to have a strong B2B SaaS sales knowledge. Instead, I look at:

LinkedIn profile. PDEs will be communicating a lot with our leads, so it is crucial to have a LinkedIn presence. Is the profile filled out? Is it professional? Does the person know how to sell himself or herself? If yes, then there’s a huge chance he/she will know how to sell to others as well.

Life experience. You can gain the skills needed to excel as a PDE anywhere: Customer-facing positions, fast-paced environments, even leading a school committee – all these experiences tell a story. When I read ‘a waiter’, I see a person who is most likely used to working long hours under pressure. When I read ‘studied abroad’, I see a person who is not afraid of challenges. These are all super beneficial skills when working in our Sales team at Whatagraph.

 

 

🔵 There’s, of course, truth to the fact that your first job might be one of the hardest to get, even if you have been active as a student. How should you present yourself as a junior to be seen as a serious candidate by recruiters? 

1️⃣ First, put the effort into the application. There’s nothing worse than getting just an attached resume in an empty email. Spend some time saying hi, explaining why you are interested in this position and what makes you a good candidate. It doesn’t have to be too long – a few accurate and witty sentences are more than enough.

2️⃣ Second, show that you know the company. Do your research. Offer solutions/ideas. For example, we had a developer applying for a position where instead of sending a resume, he researched our website and sent a list of possible improvements. Guess what? He got invited to a job interview and was hired soon after.

3️⃣ Third, adapt your resume to the position. Look through the job specs – what skills are we after? Try to showcase them in your resume and application letter. Tell a story of how you have gained these skills through previous experiences.

4️⃣ Fourth, make sure your social media presence shows the best side of you, especially the LinkedIn profile. Don’t just leave it empty and thus open for interpretation. 

5️⃣ Fifth, and probably most important, show your motivation and excitement to join a company like Whatagraph.

 

 

🔵 You mentioned building a LinkedIn profile, which is a fascinating subject in itself. Do you have any tips on how to present yourself professionally on LinkedIn? Are there any red lines that the candidate should avoid at all cost?

There are so many things that make up a good LinkedIn profile! We could do a separate interview just on this. 🙂

First of all, if you do not have a LinkedIn profile already, create it. An up-to-date LinkedIn profile works as your resume, so in many cases, it is enough to apply for a job at Whatagraph.

Your profile photo leaves a first impression. It will do you a favour if it’s recent and professional. Avoid cropped images where your face is invisible as well as too distracting accessories. 

Your LinkedIn headline is also one of the main fields that make up the first impression when someone lands on your LinkedIn profile. It should be quite generic but still reflect what and where you do.

Make sure your experience section it’s updated regularly and matches your resume. Mention things like the organizations you have worked or volunteered in, add a list of specific responsibilities and note your main achievements.

The number of connections shows your social presence and reputation in a sense. If it’s 500+, you’re doing a good job. But if you’ve just created your LinkedIn profile and have two connections, I’ll tell you a secret – some tools automatically send requests to connect with people without you lifting a finger.

 

🔵 If a person has already covered the LinkedIn profile basics, then what are some of the advanced features?

Write an “About” section. It should introduce you professionally in a few sentences and cover a couple of different things:

  • What is your speciality?
  • How many years of experience do you have?
  • In what industries have you worked? 
  • Your achievements, ideally reflected in numbers. We love data.

Licences and certification. If you have something to add – do it, it does give a sense of credibility. Also, use a custom LinkedIn URL – it looks way more professional than default-full-of-random-digits URL that LinkedIn automatically generates. 

 

That’s it for this time! Check out Part Two to find out how to nail the interview and the rest of the recruiting process.

🔵 However, if the previous answers left you wondering about a career in Whatagraph, what open positions do you have right now? Do you have any entry-level opportunities at the moment?

Absolutely! Our hiring plan is ambitious, and we need a lot of people to jump on this train with us. We have openings in Engineering, Product Design, Marketing and Sales teams.

 

Check out Whatagraph’s open positions on MeetFrank:


We have already started scaling our Engineering team, so we are looking for Backend Engineers, Frontend Engineers, Engineering Managers and QA Specialists. By the time this interview is out, we’ll have settled in our new Klaipeda office overlooking the Curonian Lagoon with the perfect view for our weekly tech breakfasts. Having grown the engineering team, we’ll definitely need additional hands in the Product Design team as well.

We are also growing our Marketing team, so we are searching for Outreach Specialists, which is the perfect entry position for those looking to advance their skills in SEO. Other open positions in Marketing include PPC Specialists and Influencer Managers.

The Sales team will welcome Client Partners and Partnerships Development Executives, the latter is the perfect entry position for anyone looking to kick off their career in B2B SaaS sales.

 

Nord Security – Building a leading cybersecurity company

Nord Security – Building a leading cybersecurity company

You might have heard about the product called NordVPN, but do you know the company behind it, Nord Security? The company started its journey in 2012 inside the Tesonet accelerator, and it has rapidly grown ever since. Today, Nord Security is one of the largest tech-companies in Lithuania in its own right, with nearly 700 employees and 15 million users worldwide.

Only recently they stepped outside of Tesonet to separately start building their company culture and employer brand. We talked with Karina Dirvonskienė, Head of HR at Nord Security, about why they are doing this, how it is going and why should the talent care?

 

The Interview

First of all, congratulations on starting your employer journey. Could you tell us a bit about how it came to life? Why did you choose to do it now, and what challenges did it bring?

Thanks! Starting Nord Security’s employer journey is indeed a big step for us. 

It’s no secret that the story of our company began with the inception of NordVPN, which at the moment is one of the most popular VPN service providers worldwide. It was the 35th project developed inside the ecosystem of the Tesonet accelerator, and over time it grew beyond our expectations. Today we are a team of nearly 700 employees and have expanded our product family by adding four new cybersecurity tools (NordPass, NordLocker, NordLayer, and NordWL). And it’s definitely not the end – we are still growing exponentially. 

As it often happens, the new beginning brought us some challenges. In the past, we could rely on the Tesonet brand to fulfil our needs as an employer, but now we have to build our own employer brand from scratch. However, we’re optimistic about it since we’ve already made some progress.

 

 

Could you introduce your products to people not too familiar with the cybersecurity market? How are they received in the market so far?

At the moment, Nord Security has more than 15 million users worldwide that trust our products to ensure their privacy online. Basically, our goal is to provide true online privacy and security to as many people as we can. That also means building awareness around cybersecurity issues and their importance in the connected world. 

As I’ve already mentioned, our story began with NordVPN – currently the fastest VPN on the planet, built to protect our users’ online presence from cybersecurity threats. To put it simply, you can secure your internet data and safely access personal information while browsing with NordVPN.

We also built the same solution for businesses to ensure their employee privacy online while working – NordVPNTeams. Then, there’s NordPass – an easy-to-use password manager used for storing and creating credentials. NordLocker helps to store and share confidential files securely. Finally, NordWL – a collection of tools, know-how, and infrastructure for building your own VPN products. 

These five products form the Nord Security product family and have gained global recognition with high praise from major tech outlets and cybersec experts alike. However, we’re always looking for new opportunities to grow, so the product line-up is definitely not final.

 

 

In your first month as a separate entity, Nord Security already became the 4th most popular company on MeetFrank in Lithuania. Clearly, there’s a lot of interest from the jobseekers at the moment. What’s special about working for Nord Security? Why should people join your organization?

Where do I even begin 🙂 Well, first of all, we’re a fast-growing company with a very dynamic environment set up for professional growth. The essential thing is that every person joining our team gets to build global solutions that solve relevant problems. You can be sure that you’ll be working with top experts from all over the world and gain valuable experience. 

Knowledge sharing is vastly promoted in our company and is, in fact, one of our key values – we have various initiatives, internal and external events, and even separate programs designed for personal and professional growth. Nord Security is also a very diverse company that gives people the freedom to act – you will find plenty of opportunities to express yourself and show initiative. 

 

Could you list some of the perks that your employees enjoy?

Our colleagues enjoy numerous benefits focused on increasing their well-being, like private health insurance, mental health programs, bonus vacation days, in-house physiotherapists, flexible work hours, and more. Also, we’re famous for our workations and various celebrations. 

However, in our opinion, all these perks are simply an addition to our main benefits – a great team, ambitious goals and exciting projects to work on.  

 

 

What about employee dynamics – do you hire more local or global specialists, and does this put additional strain on your HR team?

As our company was founded in Lithuania, we currently have more local team members. However, we’re actively growing our international ranks and have colleagues working in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, and Brazil.

Hiring worldwide and expanding our reach is certainly more demanding than hiring locally. It’s a challenge to extend a feeling of belonging to team members working remotely. However, the current pandemic situation benefited us in this regard: It accelerated our remote work practices, and now we feel that we’ve become stronger as a global employer.

 

How many vacancies do you have at the moment? Which departments of the company are you expanding the most rapidly?

At the moment, we have more than 80 vacancies waiting to be filled, and mostly we’re looking for professionals to join our teams of Frontend, Backend, Mobile, and Marketing. However, we’re actively expanding other teams as well – take a look at our Career page – I’m sure you’ll find several options, including challenging leadership roles.

View all Nord Security’s job offers on the MeetFrank app:

 

What are the most important qualities when hiring new people to the Nord Security team? Do you have any tips for the applicants to be successful in your hiring process?

We look for people who are passionate about tech and eager to learn new things quickly. The cybersecurity and IT markets are constantly changing. Breakthroughs are coming every day. As a team, we have to be ready for the shifting environment and the challenges it brings. 

We place a high value on people, who challenge the status quo, look for better ways to do things, and do not agonize over decision making. There’s also a lot of focus on teamwork – we believe that magic happens in teams, so there are no individual agents here.

 

Revenue Accelerator 70V – the Place for Stellar Growth

Revenue Accelerator 70V – the Place for Stellar Growth

70V is a revenue accelerator for B2B startups. At the moment their portfolio consists of 36 companies together with one very successful exit in their pocket. Never-mind the rewarding investment news regarding their portfolio that constantly pop up.

Together with early stage investments, 70V offers an acceleration program to help founders to build and scale their businesses. Useful connections, diverse knowhow and licence to show brilliant ideas – an attractive career path for people that love to see the birth, growth, and success of a company. 

In the light of their recent 1st startup exit, we talked with the 70V’s associate Aivaras Rastenis, who honestly admitted that he didn’t expect the first exit to arrive this soon. 

 

 

Despite that research shows that 90% of all global startups fail, 70V is a safety net for talents. In the worst case scenario, good performers (the growth journey lovers) will have a secure place in another startup as soon as possible. 💪

How do they do it? Without further ado, let’s jump and find out! 👇

 

INTERVIEW

 

We gave a little introduction to 70V, but you, as an insider, could you please open up more. What is 70V all about?

Imagine having a business idea that helps other businesses to reach their goals. And you want to go global, but lack of money and knowledge sets its limitations. What to do? 

No need to be alone in this – fundraise and find partners with experience! This is where accelerator funds, like us, come into the picture.

70V invests in ambitious B2B entrepreneurs globally. We help them to build and scale predictable sales machines with talent from Lithuania. Our predictable revenue playbook has been already used with more than 70 companies.

 

70V partner Jean-Baptiste Daguené has said “I eat SaaS for breakfast, B2B sales for lunch and data for dinner”. Is there still something new to offer to the table? 

Oh yes, there’s still plenty of room on the table!

The B2B tech startup ecosystem is an exciting space to work in. It’s a very fast paced environment with tonnes of possibilities for stellar growth. All the top Lead Research Specialists (LRS) and Sales Development Representatives (SDR) in our portfolio have been promoted within 8-12 months.

 

Higher risk comes with higher reward.  Seeing the birth, growth and success of the company is something extremely special. Do 70V portfolio companies share their achievement stories with each other, or you keep them strictly apart?

This is a very good question!

Working in a startup and B2B sales is challenging. That’s why building a B2B community is a top priority for us. We can’t wait to get back to normal but we are very proud that we moved our community online. 

Every month we connect talents in our portfolio to share their triumphs and their mistakes. Also, 70V rewards accomplishments highly through our portfolio leaderboard where SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) compete for monthly cash prizes.

 

Could you share with us, what is the next big thing?

We search for the next big thing in the Nordics and Baltics. Each month we make two to three investments in various B2B companies. Fintech, adtech/marktech, legaltech, accounting solutions – just to name a few

Our portfolio companies might go after the same customer but with different value propositions.

As we speak, we have already invested in 35+ companies and all of them compete for the best talent!

 

Want to see the full portfolio? Click on the picture and find our out more.

 

70V together with its portfolio companies provide unique career opportunities. However, we cannot avoid the elephant in the room – the startup 90% failure rate. How does 70V provide job stability/security?

In short, 70V is like a safety net for talents. Once you pass our application process and prove that you can deliver, we will hold your back no matter what.

As investors we also think how we can minimise the investment risk and maximise the returns. We focus on identifying the top founders who are 100% committed to their business venture. It takes at least 7 qualification steps and only a small fraction of founders we meet get an investment.

In the worst case scenario, If you are a good performer and enjoy the startup journey, we will definitely secure you a place in another startup as soon as possible. When you join one of our portfolio companies, you join the 70V community as well.

  

 

Mad respect that you’re not trying to claim that the 70V portfolio always falls on the successful 10% side. The startup life can be tough and not suitable for everyone. Who are the people you are looking for to join the team?

We look for people who enjoy working with customers and are born competitors.

If you are a go-getter, speed is your religion and discomfort attracts you, then we’d be a perfect fit. However, if life is happening to you and you’re full of excuses, then it’s a no go.

The top performers earn 7000 EUR+ monthly and all of them share the values written in our B2B Sales Manifesto.

 

How do you usually find the candidates to hire? What % of hired candidates have been sourced and headhunted?

It is really the top talent that we’re looking for. The top 10% of the ideal candidates.

We combine both passive and active sourcing. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who’s reading this article was already approached by us. 🙂

Sometimes the best talent comes to us through referrals or platforms like MeetFrank. I’m extremely happy that talents who already work in 70V startups keep recommending their friends to join.

 

70V has only one religion – the TARGET. What is the key to motivate team members to make smart decisions and take responsibility for the consequences?

It’s about the mindset. When you have a sense of ownership then all of that comes naturally. We look for people who care about delivery.

The main motivation comes from the dynamic environment, speed of decision-making and clearly seeing the impact of our actions.

In the end of the day, 70V is the best B2B sales school in town. We cultivate a training-intensive environment that inspires to learn, grow and lead by example. Each new talent goes through a 2 weeks onboarding program with clear steps and training. People keep saying that after the 1st month here they feel like 3 or 4 months have passed already.  

 

You have probably sacrificed some of your weekends and holidays to work. Be honest, has the startup hustle killed your social life?

Haha. True that. However, I don’t label that as a sacrifice. I really enjoy what I do here and understand the scale of my impact to our startups and new hires. On the contrary, I have improved my social life by focusing on building meaningful relationships and giving my undivided attention to the people who are the most important to me.

And of course, the industry I am in is plenty of networking opportunities. Almost every day I meet new people and reconnect with people I know.

 

Sounds like your cup of tea? Check out the 70V openings and apply!

 

70V is recruiting for Lead Researchers, Sales Development Representatives and Account Executives. Recently they have opened a new vacancy called Sales Operations Specialist. Read more about career possibilities on 70V’s website or check out the MeetFrank app:

👉 B2B Sales Development Representative in a Startup

 

 

The Key Takeaways: 

 

💡 Besides investments from pre-seed to series A, 70V offers an acceleration program. They strongly believe that the success depends on the success of their startups.

💡 The company has invested in various B2B sectors: fintech, adtech/marktech, legaltech, accounting solutions. Their portfolio companies might go after the same customer but with different value propositions. 

💡 B2B sales is the key element of success. According to 70V, the best solution is to start having meaningful customer conversations even before building a product.

💡 70V is a safety net for talents. When you join 70V portfolio companies, you join the 70V community as well – stellar performers are always secured a job.

💡 Working at a startup is a risk with a huge upside. The top performers at 70V earn €7000+ monthly and have been promoted within 8-12 months.