The Tech Leaders Podcast #45 - Steve O 'Hear - VP of Strategy at Zapp
Steve O’Hear has been providing commentary during one of the most exciting periods of tech innovation in the UK. A highly respected, prominent journalist for ZDNet and Tech Crunch, Steve covered the rise of Monzo, Wise and Starling Bank as well as other FinTech and general tech advances throughout the period dubbed Web 2.0
But Journalism wasn’t all Steve planned to achieve in his career. He tried his hand at entrepreneurship with Beepl, and talks candidly about this experience and what lessons he learned that made him a better writer and leader.
Steve is currently the VP of Strategy at Zapp - an e-commerce convenience grocery company, who are attempting to disrupt the already competitive, convenience retail space.
Talking Points
02:05 - Intro to Steve
03:43 - How did Steve get into Tech Journalism?
05:02 - Web 2.0
08:52 - What Tech Companies has Steve Seen Rise?
10:52 - Fin Tech
11:30 - What Prompted the rise of FinTech?
15:25 - Beepl
17:20 - Lessons learned from Beepl failures
19:00 - Entrepreneurial advice to those starting a venture
20:25 - Changing careers from journalism to Zapp
24:00 - Why will Zapp change the convenience retail space in the UK?
28:05 - What tech innovations is Steve excited about?
30:50 - Steve's advice to young journalists.
32:50 - Stories that inspired Steve.