đ§Building the Best, with Jillian Williams feat. Tony Jamous of Oyster
Apr 15, 2024
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Jillian Williams hosts Tony Jamous, Founder of Oyster, discussing global employment strategies and scaling fintech products. They cover challenges of remote team startups, global talent recruitment, fostering remote company culture, fundraising strategies, and celebrating successes.
Oyster enables global hiring without local entities, empowering individuals worldwide.
Oyster prioritizes culture, strategic hiring, and diverse team alignment for organizational success.
Deep dives
Mission-Driven Company and Global Hiring Strategy
The founder of Oyster, Tony Jamus, was inspired to start a mission-driven company focused on global hiring after witnessing the power of global talent during his previous venture. He envisioned creating a distributed company to change lives and reduce barriers for employees worldwide. By leveraging the concept of Employer of Record services, Oyster aims to enable global hiring without the need for local entities, empowering individuals across diverse economies.
Navigating the Challenges During the Global Pandemic
Oyster faced a mix of excitement and panic at the onset of the global pandemic in 2020. Despite limited resources and a rapidly changing landscape, the company swiftly pivoted towards high-growth execution. Building a diverse team of over 600 individuals across 80 countries, Oyster focused on fostering productivity, engagement, and fulfillment within its workforce, embodying a commitment to positive impact and employee-centric practices.
Cultural Foundation and Strategic Hiring Processes
Oyster prioritizes culture alongside strategy, recognizing the vital role of intentional work practices and values in shaping its organizational identity. By acquiring a consulting firm with expertise in remote work best practices, and hiring an experienced Chief People Officer, the company laid a strong cultural foundation. Through meticulous executive search processes and a focus on productivity, engagement, and fulfillment, Oyster ensures a resilient and diverse team aligned with its mission.
Fundraising, Partner Selection, and Unique Growth Trajectory
Oyster's fundraising approach prioritized partners over valuations, seeking investors aligned with its mission and capable of providing strategic value. The company's remarkable growth trajectory, achieving double-digit ARR within its first year, stemmed from a demand-driven product strategy and a commitment to its central mission. Oyster's unique positioning in the global employment platform market led to rapid success, buoyed by the surge in remote work trends and a focus on impactful scalability.
We're back with our fifth installment of Building The Best, our podcast hosted by the fantastic Jillian Williams of Cowboy Ventures.
In this podcast, we dive deep into the fundamentals of creating and scaling transformative fintech products by interviewing the founders themselves.
In this episode, Jillian is joined by Tony Jamous, the Founder and CEO of Oyster. Oyster is an automated global employment platform that allows businesses to hire talent in over 180 countries. It lets you hire, pay, reward, and manage talent compliantly without setting up an entity in every country you want to employ people from, with an automated hiring system and deep compliance support. Oyster has raised $224 million through its Series C at a $1 billion valuation, and employs 600+ people.
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