Dan Westgarth - How to establish yourself as a leader in tech!

Jun 16, 2023

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👉🏼 About the Guest:

Dan Westgarth (COO at Deel, ex-Revolut, Expansion Capital) is the COO of Deel, building everything you need to scale a global team. Dan has been building businesses since he was 10 and is now breaking down international borders, allowing companies and workers across the world to come together.

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 20,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and runs a newsletter called Sharath's CliffNotes alongside hosting this podcast.

👉🏼 Description:

Tune in as Sharath and Dan discuss Dan's fintech career journey, the immigrant hustle, and his main customer-forward learnings.

Timestamps:

0:00 | Episode highlight
00:30 | Intro to Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel
1:37 | Schedule of a COO: Priorities, customer support, and more
3:16 | How to prioritize a new project
5:18 | Dan's first business at age 10: PlayStations, cell phones, and beyond
7:28 | The best part about running any business
9:35 | Business lessons from 10-year-old Dan
12:36 | The immigrant hustle: How Dan got his hunger
15:50 | How Deel is changing the world of immigration
18:09 | Dan's journey to tech and COO at Deel
20:10 | How to take care of your customers so they never leave
21:51 | Going from Product Management to COO Learnings from both sides
22:40 | What Product Management and Ops have in common
24:06 | How networking helped Dan become COO at Deel
26:13 | What COOs can learn from General Managers
29:05 | Dan's learning frameworks to get info fast
31:25 | How to shrug off imposter syndrome
33:18 | Exciting updates at Deel: automating HR, reducing admin work
36:00 | Advice for people breaking into tech
38:30 | Outro

👉🏼 Resources:

Deel: http://deel.com/
LegalPad: https://legalpad.io/

👉🏼 Where to find Dan Westgarth:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanWestgarth
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-westgarth-710650a4/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/